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ParentSquare App Complaints & User Negative Comments 2024
ParentSquare app received 23 complaints, negative comments and reviews by users. Have you ever had a bad experience using ParentSquare? Can you share your negative thoughts about parentsquare?
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ParentSquare for Negative User Reviews
✓ Was fantastic, but suddenly stopped getting notifications and previous ones were deletedI love(d) ParentSquare, and I rely heavily on it for school news and events, emergency notifications, district news, PTO communications, etc. Last week, I suddenly stopped getting notifications, all my past notifications are gone, and the last post I can see is from 8 months ago. The messages appear unaffected. I have all of the notification settings set to “instant” online and on the mobile app. When I run the notification diagnostics for the mobile app, all systems are green, and I get a little pop-up that says this is a test notification. But, when I go to notifications or texts, the test notification is not there. I have searched the help topics and cannot find anything to address this. I have deleted and reinstalled the app. I have turned my phone off and on. I have even checked that my son’s school registration is still active. There is no way that I have found to contact anyone for this, and this presents a MAJOR problem, as the school communicates primarily via ParentSquare..Version: 2.49
✓ Useful but not user friendlyI like having everything online and accessible but there should be different tabs or folders or something to organize information better. Have one long stream of info makes it hard to sift through what I consider to be school-related spam and find the info we actually need. School announcements, PTA notes, Teacher notes, etc. I feel like this should be a relatively simple upgrade; like gmail folders but the poster can select what folder to post in. It would be far more useful this way..Version: 2.45.10
✓ So much troubleI think the concept is a good one however, the system is constantly kicking out parents so they are not receiving any posts from me, (their child’s teacher) but they get emails from the school office. It takes a few times to put them in the system before they even receive an email. Then I have parents contact me who have been in the system and have received all the emails all year long who are getting kicked out and not receiving emails anymore. And it is a bummer that teacher’s can’t just add the parents/students into the system on our own. We have to call the school office and they have to contact PS to add parents/students. It makes the process longer and sometimes we have to ask again and again for a parent to be added because it doesn’t work the first or second time. Plus, as a parent in the district and an educator in the district, I can only see and posts for my classroom student’s. I cannot see anything for my own children who are at different schools in the district. I get the emails for my own children, however, if I click on an attachment or form or picture through the email, it takes me back to my teacher account and I can never see the links for my own children. Super frustrating..Version: 2.45.10
✓ Ok to use but needs more functionsI appreciate having a platform for school communications in one place. However, it’s hard to find info or to search for posts. If there is a new comment/update to a post there’s no way to know other than searching for the post and to open the comments. It would be helpful if the post went to the top if there was new activity/comments or an indicator for “new comment”. I’d like to be able to tap on a profile to see their info (who their child is, their contact info or posting activity etc). Posting a photo within a comment would be helpful too (now you have to create a whole new post to add a photo). Also, posting a link within a comment doesn’t seem as straightforward either (you have to leave the app for the website). It’s a simple app that could be more useful with a few more functionalities. Please make improvements!.Version: 2.44.12
✓ Parent square is a good toolParent square seems to be a good tool for parents and teacher to communicate, however I still don’t know where or what I am suppose to do to see their report cards. Kids are in 3rd grade and still don’t know what their grades are. Not very user friendly if not familiar with any of the school software programs. Wouldn’t be all that difficult to print an example out on what to do etc. after all handbooks aren’t printed anymore they surely could give examples out during the first meet the teacher or when parents go a school function. The district wants parents to be more involved and they need to be but there should be support for the parents in order to learn what needs done. And back to report cards, this takes away from having something to look back on when one gets older. I still have some of mine. Seems like it means more to have something physical to see verses looking at a screen and think whatever..Version: 2.45.26
✓ No supportMy children are in a school that uses this app. I was not able to create an account using the email I have on file with the school. I sent a message to Parent Square support via their website and received no response. No one at the school has any idea how to solve this issue and no one at the company responds to customer service requests. Without support it cannot be seen as a reliable way of staying in touch with the school. Update, April 2021: more of the same. Still no support, still unable to set up account, and still completely reliant on text messages from other parents to know what the school is sending via parent square. This app provides absolutely no advantage over email. It simply adds yet another layer of confusion. ***update 5/21: my older child is about to finish 5th grade, so that’s seven years of no support from this garbage company. No one at the school will take administrative responsibility. This is nonsense. This app does not provide any benefit whatsoever over email..Version: 2.45.10
✓ It just doesn’t work that wellStill way too buggy. The error when you start it up still happens over half the time. When you click on a notification, it needs to go to the post, not just to the general page. It does not. That last problem is magnified by the following problems: (1) the newsfeed has plenty of posts from two weeks ago but not most of today’s posts (even in groups I’m subscribed to); (2) searching by message content is almost completely ineffective. At least, if you know who sent it, name search works; (3) the fact that notifications don’t tell you clearly if it’s a post or a message or a comment, making it even harder to find. If it’s a comment; you will never find it except by guess and check. The fact that the app continues to have fewer features than the website is also really not ideal, although the website equally makes it impossible to find recent posts that are buried under weeks old ones because search doesn’t really work there, either..Version: 2.44.16
✓ Completely SurprisedI am so surprised by the positive reviews. My District changed to Parent Square this year and absolutely hate it. I had great parent communication in the past using Class Dojo - easy to use and functional on a variety of devices. Parent Square is so convoluted and does not lend it self to easy use on an iPhone 11 at all. My attempts to reach out to their supposed amazing support team has been a joke. Chat was never available only to find out they had turned off the chat feature. When I emailed with an issue their literal response was that they hadn’t seen that issue before so it wasn’t a priority for them to help me resolve it. I really wish I could wrap my head around how people find Parent Square worthy of these positive reviews...for me it has been nothing but an absolute nightmare..Version: 2.44.25
✓ More frustrating than helpful which ….…. Unfortunate. It seems like it would be a great app. No contact for the staff (at least at my child’s school) is odd. I can’t email or call because the information is nonexistent. I sadly couldn’t find much useful information in here. The holy grail was when I was going through the menu clicking everything in hopes to find something that made me keep the app. There was under “groups”,for some reason the desktop version (I believe Aries page has something to do with it?? ). Strange but it was soooooo much easier to navigate than the app. Which is a bummer. Hopefully it gets movin’ because it would be crazy helpful !.Version: 2.52
✓ Could be betterI like the idea of having communication in one spot but it is not the easiest to use. Way too many icons to click in and out of just to find information for your child/children. For a while I keep getting the message that Parent Square was having a hard time connecting to the server. It took about 10 minutes and it’s finally connected for how long not sure. Also it wasn’t known that this was an app. A lot of parents got emails (I’m one) but nothing else until we started asking on Facebook. That’s when parents said that there is apparently an app. Not very good communication from the schools..Version: 2.44.22
✓ Needs more WorkLove the app since we can work with teacher communication and school event plus more. Now what needs works: its so easy to add students and school to the app but you all make it hard to remove students once once they are no longer in ones house hold (it be foster home, divorce or ect) and thats when the other person who’s trying to log in get access and then try’s to changea specific students email verification it changes EVERYONES, and then the main person who opens the account no longer has access making it to the point that now I have to call the schools and find a way to fix or find a solution. And there is no way to contact the person who made this app to fix it (no email or phone number). You really have to go threw the schools. PLEASE FIX THIS SMALL FLAW TO WHERE WE CAN ADD AND REMIVE STUDENTS FROM THE APP..Version: 2.45.26
✓ A bit of a nightmare for meThe glitches are so annoying and make the app inconsistent and sketchy. It does take forever to start-up (in agreement w/ an earlier review), sometimes (often time) I’ll try to load a video or pic and write a message for it, and once I click the upload button it kicks me out of the app, deleting all the thoughtful words I had to go along w/ the post! The app doesn’t archive things well, either. There are items that were posted a while ago, and I just want to search a keyword from it and find it, and I can’t nor do I know where to even begin if I wanted to. I can’t stand this app, it’s partially the reason why I’m transferring my son’s school and I hope his new school doesn’t use it as a platform..Version: 2.44.21
✓ Bugs, Duplicate notifications, a hindrance to simplicityThe well intentioned developers behind this app have forgotten that most teachers and parents are not savvy users excited to explore their way through a new approach to critical communication. Old methods will still be used to fill in the gaps. That may be gaps in ParentSquare, teacher knowledge or skill, or technical limitations. This means things like Canva, PDF’s, Word DocX, HTML, and links out to other unmanaged content will persist in use. Using unmanaged content systems or external sources erodes what should have been the key benefits of a comprehensive insular system. In concept this should be a great tool for improving the quality of communication between staff and parents. In practice, however, it’s only a new email provider. An expensive, overly complicated email system with all the potential for abuse email and now a false assurance of privacy and security..Version: 2.54
✓ Missing NotificationsThis app is helpful when it works correctly. I have three children in three different schools and unless I have a particular school selected, I won’t get that school’s notifications. If I am on the high school page, I won’t get notifications that my daughter’s elementary teacher posted something. It’s extremely frustrating and I feel like I am constantly dropping the ball when it comes to special days or announcements. The teachers rely heavily on this instead of email or paper notifications (which I can’t fault them for, this seems easy enough), but I swear I miss half of the things that are posted unless I check each school individually..Version: 2.55.1
✓ Limited and Dangeous notification systemI would this app even less stars if I could. I am a grandmother who is an emergency contact for my 3 grandkids. I live three minutes away from them and help with car pools and other care giving because both parents work and are at times out of town. I am an emergency contact with the schools but if the school uses this app I am not notified. This app DOES NOT ALLOW parents to add other caretakers to it, so when notiications and emails are sent I am not informed. Parents have to forward notifications to me, which is dangerous and really problematic if they are in meetings and cannot focus on their phones. I pray there is not an earthquake or shooting when this app decides I cannot be notified. Who are you to say only parents can be added to your app?.Version: 2.56.1
✓ Teacher/Parent communicationThis app is great for communicating with parents and teachers. The problems I’m having, attachments open however most are to blurry to read. You have to sign in to google docs to view. I personally do not like having to sign in to different apps to view something. The videos are slow, you can hardly see them or hear them on IPhone. This app in my opinion is great for communicating. It would be awesome if it handled all things needed for parents to see grades, attachments, classes, videos. If I have to keep signing in and out of 2-3 different apps to find information. It’s not worth the time!!.Version: 2.44.26
✓ Great for elementary; not sure why I don’t get half the notifications for high schoolI have kids at both elementary and high schools in the same district; communications are timely from the elementary school, but sporadic from the high school. I’ve noticed that the child profiles at these two levels are structured a little differently, and the one for my high schooler is more limited; maybe that’s why? I’m not sure if this is the fault of the district or the app, but it is frustrating and has resulted in multiple missed deadlines with the high school. Our district has only been using Parent Square for a few months now so hopefully this will improve with time..Version: 2.47.0
✓ Too cumbersomeIf I was in 1 building and not a parent and a teacher I might like it. However. I work in 4 buildings and cannot combine my groups so I must send messages to students in each of my 3 elementary buildings separately . The posts come separately from each building and you must log into that building in order to see the messages and posts. There is no central location. I have a daughter in the 4th building I work in. So I get the posts -too many- from her building admin, teachers, and my students and parents. My other daughter attends the 5th building in our district. So your see there is a Constant stream of texts coming to parent square. I receive emails telling me I have a parent square and texts telling me to check parent square. Too much to keep track of. I have asked my students’Parents about it. Their students have been reminded but still miss remote classes so I asked. The parents of children in separate buildings tell me they don’t pay attention to it. They get too many texts and cannot access them easily. So, I give it a 3 because it is useful, but not very friendly for teachers in multiple buildings or for parents with more than 1 or 2 children.Version: 2.44.30
✓ Simply amazing!I don’t know when our district purchased the ability to utilize ParentSquare, but I will say this. I have utilized it now for over the past four years, first, with my stepdaughter in high school, and now with my youngest in kindergarten. I am able to constantly be in contact with teachers, the notifications, and frequency with which are extremely helpful as is the ability to customize the notifications frequency that I receive on my iPhone. I love the fact that the district or the school each child is in itself is able to put up forms to fill out for parents, polls, and other means of communication which need to be received by the school if not the district in a timely manner. This in conjunction with the SchoolTool platform works exceptionally well..Version: 2.52
✓ INFO A COMMUNICATION D-Great information on events and happenings. TEACHERS DON’T RESOND! So far, only 2 teachers ever respond to questions regarding my child, I’ve asked two. One was regarding my concern about my nephews change in energy and enthusiasm. This being his first year I wanted to see if his teachers witnessed any issues. One answer out of 7. After communicating with one teacher through my nephews account, she said she only communicates through google classroom, but doesn’t give parents access to communicate because she would get too many emails. It was appreciated and comforting to know that at least two teachers care about their students..Version: 2.44.7
✓ Great Website; subpar App FunctionalityAs a teacher who prefers to use my personal Macbook to my school issued windows device, I was estatic at being able to download a ParentSquare App. The functionality is great on my phone for sending out quick messages and posts, but the app has a couple bugs. These include an inability to dismiss a notifications icon from the widget if the message/alert has been view already on a web browser, I must open the app to dismiss the notifications from within. Further, the app does not support some of the same functions that I depend on within the browser version. This includes navigation to groups (extracuriculars) and the like. I hopeful for UI/UX improvements in future updates. :).Version: 2.54
✓ Harmful to EducationThis system, which our school district spent millions purchasing, is so dysfunctional that teachers and students are spending the majority of their time creating work arounds rather than learning substantive subjects. My own parent system has not worked for weeks now and rather than helping me directly or allowing our school district to help directly our school district is having to act as a go between. I tried to find a contact number to call the company directly but none is available (411 couldn’t even find a number). They want me to log on for assistance and I would if I could but logging on is the problem. This is the legal system of record for our county but since the teachers, students and parents are often unable to use it consistently and are resorting to creating work arounds I’m beginning to wonder the legal implications of including graded work in permanent transcripts (a child’s legal permanent record determines things like graduation, employability, college admissions, financial assistance etc). I hope it becomes more reliable and user friendly with time..Version: 2.44.28
✓ Great when it worksAs a teacher I find this to be a really useful tool to use to communicate with parents! It has a lot of features to it that eliminate the need for other sites which is helpful. I love that I can send groups messages to parents or make them individual. However, it far too often doesn’t work. When I open the app it constantly says “No posts” and will not show anything. It also frequently won’t load the messages tab. These render it completely useful for me. I also wish it had a feature to mute messages after a specific time or delay them until morning. I get messages from parents in the middle of the night. Please add a feature to help protect teachers’ mental health and well being..Version: 2.45.5
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