# Kaymbu for Families — user reviews > 87 indexed App Store user reviews of Kaymbu for Families by Kaymbu, rated 3.90/5 from 211 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/kaymbu-for-families/id1238915455/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/kaymbu-for-families/id1238915455.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 131 · 4★ 15 · 3★ 13 · 2★ 13 · 1★ 39 ## What do users think of Kaymbu for Families? Overall sentiment: negative **Pros** - 📸 Easy photo and video sharing from teachers - 💬 Convenient messaging between parents and teachers - 📋 Daily notes and activity logs for children - 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Centralized communication hub for families - ⭐ Responsive customer service (when available) - 🎓 Useful for documenting child development milestones - 📧 Email and app notification options **Cons** - 🐛 Frequent app crashes and freezes - ⏱️ Delayed notifications (hours late or missing) - 🖥️ Outdated and clunky user interface - 📱 Not optimized for modern iPhone models - 🔒 Serious privacy and security concerns - ⚫ Black screen errors after actions - 📵 No live updates or real-time notifications - 🔌 Slow performance and laggy responsiveness - 📥 Difficult to download photos and videos - 🔐 Excessive photo library access requirements - ❌ Broken core functionality (messaging, replies) - 📊 Limited data tracking and analytics - 🎬 Video playback issues (no sound, freezing) - 🔄 Inconsistent synchronization across devices **Commonly reported bugs** - Registration screen black screen error - Message reply function non-functional - Black screen after sending messages or drop-off notes - Duplicate logs appearing in parent app - Video download failures and freezing - Video sound not working on iOS - Photo download requiring full photo library access - Images displaying too small and blurry - Read more button not working - Unread message indicator stuck permanently - Drop-off note keyboard not minimizable - App force closing during profile switching - Daily notes failing to load or open - Bulk download function crashing - Messages truncated without full subject lines - Notification settings not being respected - Login failures on certain iPhone models - App not loading or updating properly - Developmental milestone tags not displaying - Messages showing from previous school years **Most requested features** - Live real-time updates throughout the day - Mark all messages as read functionality - Search function for posts and messages - Customizable email notification settings - Desktop/web version of the app - Photo tagging with lesson plans - Ability for parents to upload profile photos - In-app photo gallery viewer - Calendar view for browsing by date - Nap start time visibility while in progress - Refused button for potty training logs - Staff initials for diaper changes and feeding - Better message organization by child/classroom - Automatic daily sheet push at check-in/check-out - Ounce input option for bottle tracking - Parent-to-parent communication features - Multiple phone number support for alerts - Option for in-app notifications only ## Newest reviews (17 of 87) ### 3/5 — Truncated subject lines *2025-09-08, version 3.7.6* No way to see the full subject of messages in the app. So there is often missing info in the messages without that context. ### 3/5 — Outdated UI and slow *2025-07-22* App has an outdated UI and is rather slow. My biggest pet peeve is having issues downloading videos beyond 10 seconds posted by my child’s teacher. App either freezes or gives me an error message. I do not have such issues with other apps. ### 2/5 — Very buggy and slow *2025-06-10, version 3.7.5* I often get message notifications 1 to 2 hours after a message was sent. The app is quite buggy and slow. Reminds of apps from 2010. ### 2/5 — Need Improvement *2024-12-11* This app has potential but the lesson plan portion is infuriating. It would be SO quicker and easier to be able to tag the photos with the lessons so that they show up next to the activity and save yourself from typing all the information multiple times. What is the point of adding lessons if you can’t see the photo that goes with it? Everything takes twice as long to do and the sliders for bottles are annoying. Would prefer the option to be able to put in ounces for each child and it save the amount so I don’t have to choose each time. ### 2/5 — Screen goes black after sending messages *2024-10-31* The app is okay for reading updates. But it will frequently creates duplicate logs in the parent app and anytime you use send a message or add a drop off note you get stuck on a black screen and have to reload the app. Sometimes the message or drop off note doesn’t get created. It also asks you to send a message instead of a drop off note if you try to enter drop off notes for multiple kids. ### 2/5 — No search function, customization *2024-10-17, version 3.7.2* There’s no way to search for specific posts, messages, or senders. No customization on which emails you want to receive. It’s either all emails which can be multiple a day, most aren’t relevant or none. ### 2/5 — Video sound issues *2024-04-23* The app is just okay, it mostly serves its purpose. My biggest issue is I have no sound on videos! One time it suddenly worked and I was able to watch all the old ones with sound but it has never happened again since. I’ve rebooted, I’ve updated, I’ve tried it all. Please fix this issue! ### 3/5 — Unable to download images with limited access to photos *2023-11-13* This application is okay; it works for the most part and gets the job done giving me updates of my child’s school. However, when I try to download images of my child, the application requires access to my photos. While I'm fine with that, granting limited access doesn’t work. Instead, the app only gives me the option to access settings or cancel. When I access settings and grant limited permission, as suggested by the iOS documentation, the app loops me back to the same photo permission prompt. This prevents me from downloading photos unless I give full permission, which is not required according to the iOS documentation. It appears the product team overlooked this capability, making it an all-or-nothing solution. **Developer response:** Hi! Thank you so much for your feedback, this has been fixed and you should be able to download photos without giving full permission. If you are still experiencing issues, please reach out to us at Help@kaymbu.com ### 4/5 — Picture downloading daily *2023-11-13, version 3.3.0* Hi! Until last week (November 10) we were able to download the pictures posted, now we can’t anymore……please update that!!! ### 1/5 — Downloads all your photos *2023-11-09, version 3.3.0* This recent update requires access to my entire photo library for me to download photos FROM the app. This is not normal as compared to other classroom apps and an unacceptable breach of privacy. Please change this. ### 1/5 — I can’t stand this app *2023-11-06* My son’s daycare uses this app. All the pictures they post in the storybook mode come out so tiny and unclear on the parent’s side. I try to click on them to enlarge or zoom in or look on my computer and it’s the same quality. If they post announcements/documents in the storybook mode, I can’t read anything because it’s so small and blurry. Because of this, I can’t save any photos. Very frustrating. My former daycare used Brightwheel, which was much more user friendly. **Developer response:** Hi, I'm so sorry you're having issues with Kaymbu for Families. Can you please reach out to us at help@kaymbu.com with screen shots of what you're seeing? We would love to work on this with you! ### 1/5 — Worse than tadpoles *2023-11-06, version 3.3.0* My provider changed to this app from Tadpoles, and as bad as Tadpoles was, this is worse ### 1/5 — No Live Updates *2023-11-02, version 3.3.0* The daycare switched apps to this one and I have no idea what happens with my LO until I pick her up and they release the daily sheet. I do not like this app at all, I miss getting updates of my LO throughout the day. ### 1/5 — Privacy concerns with new update *2023-10-19, version 3.3.0* New update requires that you give the app access to all of your pictures just to be able to save pictures from the app. Never a requirement in the past. Don’t understand why this access would be necessary ### 3/5 — Serious Additions Needed *2023-10-18* Please have a “mark all messages as read” button. Also, I never get push notifications when I get messages. Just an email. Also I’m seeing updates from previous years that have nothing to do with my child’s current school year so I’m seeing updates about other people’s children and their pictures. Seems a bit violating of their privacy. ### 2/5 — Horrible app *2023-10-18* I have had 4 other apps for my kids daycare and this is by far the worst. You can’t save any pictures till the end of the week when you get the “digest” and even then if the picture was tagged on anything in their day you can’t save it. You have to download it as a zip file and still no picture. No desktop web page. Truly a bad app ### 2/5 — Live updates to daily sheet *2023-09-26* Please add a way for parents to view live updates to daily sheets throughout the day! This is currently only available if teachers push the daily sheet out at the beginning of the day, which is a hassle, and results in multiple daily sheets cluttering up the feed. It would greatly improve the user experience if the daily sheet was automatically pushed out when a child was checked in and closed at the end of the day, without another copy being pushed out. **Developer response:** Thank you for your feedback! We've compiled a handy website that walks you through Kaymbu for Families and what you can expect out of your experience with the app: https://kaymbu.com/for-families if you have any additional feedback or questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to us directly at help@kaymbu.com ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Reply to message does not accept inputs *2026-01-06, version 3.9.0* Replying teacher’s message simply does not work, no matter how I tap it, doesn’t activate text inputs. ### 1/5 — Barely functional *2025-12-06* Our daycare made a switch to Kaymbu when they were bought out 9 months ago and it’s been a mess. Half the time, it doesn’t load or update properly, the interface can be very hard to see, and notifications come in sporadically (sometimes not at all). It’s been a very frustrating experience as a parent. The daycare is wonderful and I can tell they’ve had it with this app, too. ### 1/5 — Unable to register *2025-12-04, version 3.8.1* Unable to proceed from registration screen, whenever i enter email or phone number black screen comes and thats it ### 1/5 — Screen goes BLACK *2025-02-25, version 3.7.2* Screen goes black after every action. I really hate this app. ### 1/5 — Lacking detail *2024-10-19* One major flaw is that the app does not tell you the initials of who changes your child’s diaper, feeds them, etc. like other childcare apps do. Parents want to know this. Also, there is no “refused” button for potty entries. This is important for children who are potty training so that parents know the potty was offered to their child but they refused. Otherwise it just looks like their kid wasn’t reminded to go potty throughout the day. When will these issues be fixed? ### 1/5 — Brightwheel is way better *2024-09-19, version 3.7.0* This looks and feels like an app created by CS students for an end of the semester project. Cumbersome to use and less functionality than brightwheel. ### 1/5 — Terrible Daycare App *2024-09-11, version 3.4.1* I have used several daycare apps over the years and this is by far the worst. The “Daily Sheet” function is useless as the teachers have to “send” it before the parents can see it. There are also NO notifications, even if my child has a temp check. I have ALWAYS had the option to get real time notifications of what my child is doing. I absolutely hate it and have yet to see any of the benefits. Everything is clunky and so much functionality is lost compared to other apps. ### 1/5 — The yearbook is a scam *2024-09-09, version 3.4.1* I ordered the yearbook in July and still haven’t received it. I’ve called and left two voicemails and sent two emails with no response. It’s now September and still no response. At this point it feels like I’ve been scammed. Very upset with the loss of the memories and now I lost out on $80.00 without and explanation or apology. ### 1/5 — Laggy, not user friendly *2024-03-12, version 3.3.0* It is not user friendly, update lags and not liking the delayed approval process to see daily update. Can’t look back at old logs, only showcases photos and no data or daily information ### 1/5 — Serious privacy concerns *2023-11-11, version 3.3.0* Our daycare uses this. We have to give Kaymbu access to our full photo library to be able to save photos. Other similar apps have ‘add photos only’ or limited photo access options. It’s ridiculous that it requires you to share so much information just to obtain the basic functionality of saving a photo. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Ms KLyne *2024-11-17* Ms Klyne is an amazing teacher. She loves all the children and has a passion for teaching. She not only had one of my little one but also my grandson. The kids run to her when they come into the class and her passion for making a difference is amazing ### 5/5 — Our parents love Kaymbu! *2020-12-14, version 2.0.2* We have used the Kaymbu App for five years now at our Montessori School. Our infant parents loved the videos and photos so much, that as their children grew older, they asked if we could use Kaymbu in our toddler and pre-primary classrooms. We use these school wide photos and videos to reach out to people on Facebook, Insta and Twitter also. It’s an amazing app that there is no downfall to. Your school will love it! ### 5/5 — Preschool Director *2020-12-14, version 2.0.2* The most appropriate and user-friendly preschool app out there. The administrative staff and developers are supportive, responsive, helpful and capable. ### 5/5 — Nice app *2019-09-26, version 1.0* I love getting updates on my child while he’s in daycare. All app functions seem to work well on my phone. I have not had any problems with it. ### 5/5 — Love this app *2019-09-25, version 1.0* Great tool for better communication between parents and teachers! ### 5/5 — Amazing app but needs an update *2019-05-21, version 1.0* Love getting photos of my kids during there day care experience is great , but needs an update for latest iOS Apple devices ### 5/5 — Palash *2019-03-12* Just love the way the daycare works! ### 5/5 — Everything in one place! *2017-11-02, version 1.0* Love that everything is in one place without having to open separate texts/email. Daily notes, photos, messages all in one place. With two kids, it’s great to have an all in one! ### 4/5 — Kaymbu *2025-10-03* I have used Kaymbu as an educator and as a parent at two different schools. Each school uses it differently but one thing I can say is that the customer service is always timely and the parents get the information they need. My first center used it developmentally and attached the skills to cater to each individual child. Parents and extended family loved seeing a snap shot of their child’s day. The second place I used it and the school used it more for daily documentation and mostly to send bulk pictures. Both worked well. I will say I wish that some features for the parent updated in real time where the parents would get notified but you have to have the app to get notifications for the child’s whole day. Also from an admin side it would be nice to be able to toggle through one child’s profile easier. All in all the app works well for multiple needs. ### 4/5 — Works fine, want more info *2024-03-01* The app is working fine and provides the basic information from our daycare. However, it would be really helpful if the app would show when a nap started while it is in progress. Currently all we can see on the parent side is that a nap is “in progress” and the start and end time are not available until the nap ends. Showing the start time of the nap would be incredibly helpful for planning and monitoring my little one’s day. --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-09-14.*