Brightspace Pulse vs STEM at SFA
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Brightspace Pulse
Stay connected with your courses on the go. Visualize upcoming deadlines, manage your time effectively, and receive real-time updates on course activities. Access course content offline and participate in discussions.
- Visualize upcoming dates and deadlines
- Receive push notifications for course updates
- Offline access to course content
- Participate in Activity Feed discussions
- Seamless browser login to D2L Brightspace
- Apple Continuity support
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Stay connected to learning anytime, anywhere with Brightspace Pulse. Brightspace Pulse gives learners and their authorized parents and guardians a convenient way to follow coursework, deadlines, progress, and important updates. Learners can: - Access their course content - View important dates and deadlines across their courses - Manage upcoming and overdue coursework - Receive notifications for Announcements, Grades, Quizzes, Assignments, Activity Feed posts, and more - Access supported course content offline, including video and audio - Participate in Activity Feed discussions - Open Brightspace in a browser to complete additional activities Parents and guardians can: - View upcoming and overdue work, grades, shared Portfolio items, and classroom updates - Receive notifications about quizzes and assignments with upcoming due dates - Follow multiple learners from one account, when supported by their school or organization Features vary by role and by your institution or organization’s Brightspace configuration. An account provided by your school, district, or organization is required. Parent and guardian access must be enabled by the learner’s school or organization. NOTE: iPhone, iPad, and Mac are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the United States and other countries.
STEM at SFA
Engage with professors on science, technology, engineering, and math topics. Explore the outdoors with a GPS-based activity feature.
- Ask professors questions
- STEM subject focus
- Outdoor GPS activity
- Interactive learning
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Ask professors questions about science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. You can also participate in an outdoor GPS activity using this app.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: STEM at SFA at 100% against Brightspace Pulse's 36%. STEM at SFA also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.8) and iOS requirement (8.0 vs 15.1). Brightspace Pulse's advantage is update cadence (fortnightly vs every 6 months) and ratings volume (271K vs 7). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
STEM at SFA holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Brightspace Pulse has 271K ratings behind it against 7, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 36% of Brightspace Pulse's written reviews are positive against 100% of STEM at SFA's.
Brightspace Pulse ships an update fortnightly, STEM at SFA every 6 months. The most recent releases landed on October 16, 2026 and September 28, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Brightspace Pulse | STEM at SFA |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (271K ratings) | 5.0 (7 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 36.5% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 271K — better | 7 |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly — better | Every 6 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Best chart rank | #55 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.1 | 8.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 55 MB | 30 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | D2L Corporation | Elemental Software, LLC |
Customer experience
Brightspace Pulse
STEM at SFA
Bugs and requests
Brightspace Pulse
Reported bugs
4 issues- Frequent log-out problems
- Inability to load course content
- Notifications not working as expected
- Compatibility issues with older devices
Requested features
4 requests- Allow file downloads and exports
- Improve notification reliability
- Optimize for tablet/iPad use
- Add more customization options
STEM at SFA
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Brightspace Pulse
No in-app purchases
STEM at SFA
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Brightspace Pulse free?
Is STEM at SFA free?
Which has better reviews, Brightspace Pulse or STEM at SFA?
Do Brightspace Pulse or STEM at SFA have ads?
Which is updated more often, Brightspace Pulse or STEM at SFA?
Other comparisons
