Comparison

Apptegy for Staff vs StartSOLE

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Apptegy for Staff

Streamline communication between school staff, families, and the community. Manage urgent alerts, classroom updates, newsletters, and social media posts from a single platform. Reach families instantly via SMS and post to your website.

Highlights
  • Urgent alerts
  • Classroom updates
  • Newsletter creation
  • Social media posting
  • Two-way messaging
  • Website posting
  • SMS notifications
Features
Read full description

Built for busy school staff, teachers and leaders, Apptegy for Staff: Communication Platform (formerly Thrillshare) makes it easy to communicate with families and strengthen your community. From urgent alerts to classroom updates, newsletters to social media posts, every message can be managed in one app. Share positive stories, send safe two-way messages, post to your website, and reach families instantly by SMS, all from your phone. Apptegy is the only platform that unifies every message, alert, website, and app into one secure experience. With proactive AI moderation, role-based permissions, and enterprise-grade compliance, Apptegy for Staff: Communication Platform protects your district from risk while empowering every role to communicate clearly, confidently, and consistently.

About

StartSOLE

This app facilitates inquiry-based learning in classrooms by providing a framework for collaborative research and presentation. It offers thousands of questions aligned to state standards, lesson planning tools, and a community for educators to connect and share resources.

Highlights
  • Thousands of big questions aligned to state standards
  • Integrated lesson plans
  • Facilitation and reflection tools
  • Global educator community
  • Continuing education units
  • Printable resources
Features
Read full description

The StartSOLE app gives you everything you need to bring inquiry based learning into your classroom. In the app you will find thousands of questions aligned to state standards, integrated lesson plans, tools for facilitating and reflecting in your class, and the opportunity to connect with a global community of educators. What's SOLE? A SOLE takes place in three parts: asking a big question, collaborating to research in groups, and then each group presenting their findings. By design SOLE requires only one internet enabled device per group and takes about 45 minutes to an hour, perfectly suited to be completed in a single class period. SOLEs focus on the process of learning and prepares learners for the future by infusing 21st century skills like critical thinking, collaboration, and communication. This concept was pioneered by Dr. Sugata Mitra, winner of the 2013 TED prize for his ‘Hole in the Wall’ Experiment. StartSOLE is designed to make this concept easy for teachers to implement anywhere, anytime. What does this app do? • Big Questions - Thousands of big questions aligned to state standards are available for your next SOLE, or you can submit your own big question to share with the community. • Lesson Planning - Create a Charlotte Danielson-aligned lesson plan in minutes, delivered to your inbox • Facilitation Tool - An easy timer and guided observation tool allows you to record key moments during your SOLE as they happen • Guided Reflection - A brief guided reflection designed to improve your practice and provide support if needed • Certification - Receive free continuing education units from Cleveland State University for your work with SOLE • Tutorials - Guides & tips from other teachers, along with an introduction to the research frameworks behind SOLE. • News feed - view SOLE sessions from around the world and connect with other SOLE educators • Resources - Dozens of printable resources from other teachers available to use with your students: rubrics, worksheets, posters and more!

Screenshots

Apptegy for Staff4 screens
StartSOLE4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: StartSOLE at 100% against Apptegy for Staff's 10%. StartSOLE also leads on rating (5.0 vs 2.0) and device support (3 vs 1). Apptegy for Staff's advantage is ratings volume (202 vs 6). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

StartSOLE holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 2.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Apptegy for Staff has 202 ratings behind it against 6, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 10% of Apptegy for Staff's written reviews are positive against 100% of StartSOLE's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Apptegy for Staff ships an update every 2 weeks, StartSOLE fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Apptegy for Staff versus StartSOLE: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterApptegy for StaffStartSOLE
PriceFreeFree
Rating2.0 (202 ratings)5.0 (6 ratings) — better
Positive reviews10.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings202 — better6
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS16.09.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size89 MB68 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperApptegyLudiVita OG

Customer experience

Apptegy for Staff

All ratings202 ratings
Positive20.3%
Neutral3.0%
Negative76.7%
Written reviews220 reviews
Positive10.0%
Neutral3.6%
Negative86.4%

StartSOLE

All ratings6 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Apptegy for Staff

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Login issues
  • Constant log-outs
  • Notifications not working
  • Inability to send messages
  • Slow performance

Requested features

5 requests
  • Dark mode option
  • Improved notifications
  • Better organization of classes/groups
  • Ability to upload videos
  • More customization options

StartSOLE

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Apptegy for Staff

No in-app purchases

None

StartSOLE

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Apptegy for Staff free?
Apptegy for Staff is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is StartSOLE free?
StartSOLE is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Apptegy for Staff or StartSOLE?
StartSOLE is rated higher. Apptegy for Staff averages 2.0 out of 5 from 202 ratings, while StartSOLE averages 5.0 from 6 ratings.
Do Apptegy for Staff or StartSOLE have ads?
Neither Apptegy for Staff nor StartSOLE shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Apptegy for Staff or StartSOLE?
Apptegy for Staff ships an update every 2 weeks, and StartSOLE fortnightly. Most recently, Apptegy for Staff was updated on October 29, 2026 and StartSOLE on October 24, 2026.

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