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brightwheel: Child Care App

brightwheel: Child Care App

Manage preschool & childcare

156K ratings
519 reviews
#28 in free Education
📚 Education
💼 Business
Free

Details

Released
September 9, 2014
Updated
October 24, 2026

Features

Developer

DSSV, Inc.
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brightwheel: Child Care App screenshot #1 for iPhone
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brightwheel: Child Care App screenshot #6 for iPhone
brightwheel: Child Care App screenshot #7 for iPhone
iphone
ipad
📊no. 28
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📌Ready
Reviews summary↘︎
⭐519
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🔄6+ apps
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❓5 answered
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About

This comprehensive childcare management software streamlines operations for early education providers. It combines billing, parent communication, curriculum planning, and admissions into a single, user-friendly platform. The app helps educators save time on administrative tasks and focus more on engaging with children.

✓All-in-one platform
✓User-friendly design
✓Billing and finances
✓Family communication
✓Daily reports
✓Lesson plans
✓Admissions and enrollment
Show original description

What users say about brightwheel

Reviews of brightwheel are mostly positive: the Education app is rated 4.9/5 from 156K App Store ratings. What users like most: easy to use, ability to see photos/videos of child. Top complaints: bugs and glitches with the app, issues with billing and overcharging. Summarized from real user reviews.

Positive things

  • 👍Easy to use
  • 📸Ability to see photos/videos of child
  • 💬Good communication with teachers
  • 📊Helpful for tracking child's activities
  • 🔍Provides good visibility into child's day

Negative things

  • 🐛Bugs and glitches with the app
  • 💰Issues with billing and overcharging
  • 🔒Lack of security features like Touch ID
  • 📢Too many notifications can be annoying
  • 🕰️Slow performance and lagging issues
See all reviews

What's New in brightwheel

3.109.1

October 24, 2026

Minor improvements of user experience when offline

Charts

Top Free

📊 28

Education

The app has maintained its position at 28 recently.

Last updated on November 5, 2026.

User reviews

Most RecentHighest RatedLowest Rated

Hudson Altman

I’m watching my grandson working on all his activities and my goodness what good lunches and breakfast
BBessieH1960

Mimi's girl

Love keeping up with Teagan's day and seeing pics of her learning, playing and knowing she's in great hands
Bbeachlvr60

Excellent for parents

This app is do wonderful for parents wanting to see how their kids are doing each day and get messages, updates, signups and regular announcements from the daycare / preschool
CCCommish Court

Awesome

Awesome app
Eehs90

Let us go farther back!

I loved brightwheel for the longest time, but in the new update they limited how far back a teacher could go for pictures, and I think that’s ridiculous. I need to at least be able to go back 3 months to get photos for projects, art, and posters in our classroom. I miss when Brightwheel let you go all the way back in a child’s history to their first day at the school. We used those photos for so many cute “Then and Now” activities, and now that’s no longer an option.
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BBelaylay
See 514 more reviews

User experience

🐞

Reported Bugs

3 issues

Push notifications not working properly

Bug

Difficulty deleting accounts or disabling AutoPay

Bug

Inconsistent behavior when no balance is due

Bug
✨

Requested Features

5 requests

Batch download option for photos/videos

Feature

Ability to add comments to activity logs

Feature

Customizable notification settings

Feature

Teacher profiles or photos in the app

Feature

Integrated payment features

Feature

FAQ

What does brightwheel do?

Brightwheel is an all-in-one childcare management software designed to simplify operations for early education providers. It handles tasks such as billing, parent communication, curriculum planning, admissions, and attendance tracking, allowing educators to spend less time on administration and more time with children.

What are the key features of brightwheel?

Key features include an all-in-one platform for billing, attendance, and communication, a user-friendly design, fast and quality support, secure and reliable performance, automated billing and payments, real-time family communication with photo and video sharing, daily activity reports, calendar sharing, lesson planning tools, assessment and observation capabilities, admissions and enrollment management, and attendance tracking for students and staff.

Is brightwheel free to use?

Brightwheel offers both free and premium plans to suit different needs. While core functionalities are available, certain advanced features or enhanced services may require an upgrade to a premium plan.

What devices is brightwheel compatible with?

Brightwheel is designed to be accessible across multiple devices. It offers real-time syncing across all devices, including web browsers and mobile applications, ensuring you can manage your childcare operations from anywhere.

How does brightwheel help with parent communication?

Brightwheel facilitates seamless parent communication by centralizing messaging, newsletters, and alerts. It allows educators to share photos and videos of children's activities in real-time, provide daily reports on naps, meals, and bathroom activities, and share important dates and events through a shared calendar.