School Spider Parents vs Parentapps Connect
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
School Spider Parents
This app facilitates direct communication between schools and parents. Parents can receive news, view calendars, and get push notifications for important updates. It also offers features like parent surveys, booking for events, and access to forums.
- Direct school-to-parent communication
- News and blog item access
- School calendar viewing
- Push notifications for messages
- Parent surveys
- Parents evening booking
- Parent forums access
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The School Spider application is designed to make it easy for your child's school to communicate directly with you. It allows you to read news and blog items directly on your mobile phone and also see the school's calendar. Your child's school can send messages directly to your mobile phone using push notifications. Logging in as a parent enables you to receive messages from your child's teacher, access parent surveys, book on to parents evenings and view parent forums. This will require a School Spider parent account, please contact your child's school for more information. Designed & developed by School Spider
Parentapps Connect
Streamline communication between parents and schools with a comprehensive platform. Easily report absences, manage consent forms, and stay updated on school events and messages. Connect with teachers and receive important notifications directly through the app.
- Absence reporting
- Electronic consent forms
- Multiple family member access
- Calendar and term dates
- Electronic newsletters
- Messaging
- Parents evening booking
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Parentapps Connect has a whole host of features that will make staying informed about your child’s education easier than ever. Our system was built with the help of feedback from parents and schools and has a variety of useful features to help you engage with your child’s school. Welcome to the future of school communications. Features: • Absence reporting Quickly and easily notify your child’s school of any absences. • Electronic consent forms No more lost forms in the school yard or missed school trips. • Multiple family member access Invite other family members to the app to ensure everyone is up to date. • Calendar and Term Dates Never miss another event! • Electronic Newsletters Stay informed of all that is happening at your child’s school right from within the app. • Messaging Receive important messages regarding your child specifically as well as group messages and whole school notifications. • Parents evening booking system Finding a time to meet with your child’s teacher is easier than ever with Connect’s Parents Evening Booking System Important Information: • Please ensure that push notifications are enabled to receive messages through the app • In order to register and login you must have received an invitation from the school to set up a Parentapps Connect account. • If other members of your family want to login, please ensure their email address and mobile number are also registered with the school. • If you experience any issues, please email support@parentapps.co.uk
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Parentapps Connect at 36% against School Spider Parents's 26%. Parentapps Connect also leads on iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.0). 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
School Spider Parents ships an update every 6 weeks, Parentapps Connect every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 23, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | School Spider Parents | Parentapps Connect |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | — | 2.0 (4 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 26.3% of reviews | 35.9% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | — | 4 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 6 weeks — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 25 MB | 10 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | SchoolSpider | VenturEd Solutions LLC |
Customer experience
School Spider Parents
Parentapps Connect
User reviews
School Spider Parents
From App Store reviewsWhat we love
- 👍 Useful for admin
- 👍 Easy payment options
- 👍 Good for comms
- 👍 Simple and easy to use
- 👍 Intuitive design
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent logouts
- 🐛 Login issues
- 🐛 Cannot create account
- 🐛 Update problems
- 🐛 Notifications not working
Parentapps Connect
From 4 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Centralized information source
- 👍 Easy to use (when working)
- 👍 Useful for school communication
- 👍 Calendar integration
- 👍 Reduces paper usage
Room to improve
- 🐛 Constantly crashing
- 🐛 Frequent login issues
- 🐛 App not opening
- 🐛 Messages not coming through
- 🐛 Unreliable notifications
Bugs and requests
School Spider Parents
Reported bugs
20 issues- Cannot create an account
- Credentials do not exist errors
- App redirects to scam app after update
- Not all bookings show up
- Bookings show blank
Show 15 moreShow fewer
- Notifications not working
- App logs out daily
- Cannot log back in after logout
- Reset password not working
- Update failure
- School list disappeared after update
- Update notification close button off screen
- App does not load
- Cannot open attachments on iPhone
- App won't load for booking parents evening
- Clicking change school logs out user
- Cannot reply to messages
- Cannot access simple things
- Cannot log in via app but can on PC
- App doesn't load after update, shows spider web
Requested features
8 requests- Ability to see all bookings in one place
- Improve calendar user-friendliness
- Option to refine booking options
- Add a way to reply to messages
- Improve accessibility for vision impaired users
Show 3 moreShow fewer
- Allow booking for multiple days at once
- Add a create account option
- Fix update notification close button placement
Parentapps Connect
Reported bugs
60 issues- App crashes on opening
- App closes immediately after opening
- Cannot log in
- App not finding school
- Login loop
Show 55 moreShow fewer
- Swirly whirl of doom
- Hundreds of unread messages shown
- Read messages showing as unread
- Unread notifications after closing app
- Booking systems never work
- Reporting absences never works
- Server error
- Unable to open messages due to error
- Key chain doesn't save password
- Doesn't show account/schools
- Unsubscribes from school
- Cannot find school after unsubscribing
- New families waiting weeks for access
- Some families still cannot get in
- Event notifications lack detail
- Teachers/admins cannot message from mobile
- Parents cannot access desktop
- Slow and clunky
- Regularly forgets school connection
- Terrible UX
- Multiple notifications for one item
- Shows error when opening app
- Logs out frequently
- Cannot reset password
- Forms won't load
- Takes days to work
- Logs out when switching schools
- Update made it worse
- Crashes when trying to log back in
- More glitches than normal
- Not working, shows error on opening
- Keeps logging out
- Not accepting password
- Frozen on login screen
- Showing 41 notifications when all are read
- Constant errors with reminders
- Booking parents evening didn't work
- Cannot access app at all
- No longer works after last update
- Search for school doesn't work
- Stopped working again
- Keeps crashing
- Cannot log on
- Notifications pop up with high counts then disappear
- Notification comes through twice
- App badge shows incorrect unread count
- App will not find school
- Cannot open important forms
- Last update logs out of all schools
- Update made it stop working
- Cannot access messages, app shuts down
- Poor setup, URL import fails
- Setup not straightforward
- App crashes after opening (iPhone 6s/XR issues)
- App incompatible with older iPhones
Requested features
7 requests- Ability to delete read messages
- Print function for newsletters/homework
- Fingerprint access
- Flag/favorite messages
- Option for step-parents
Show 2 moreShow fewer
- Fix duplicate notifications
- Fix app badge count
In-app purchases
School Spider Parents
No in-app purchases
Parentapps Connect
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is School Spider Parents free?
Is Parentapps Connect free?
Do School Spider Parents or Parentapps Connect have ads?
Which is updated more often, School Spider Parents or Parentapps Connect?
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