Skool Loop vs Rongo
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Skool Loop
This app serves as a central hub for school communications, offering features like push notifications, interview scheduling, and digital forms. It facilitates absentee reporting and provides access to school newsletters and event calendars, streamlining communication for schools and parents.
- Push notifications
- School interviews
- E forms
- Absentee reporting
- School newsletters
- Event calendars
- Translation options
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A comprehensive school app that is a “One Stop Shop” for all school communications. Includes push notifications School interviews E forms Translations options for notices Absentee reporting, with an option of directly reporting to schools SMS Schools’ newsletter and School event calendars. A complete service for schools to use to communicate quickly and precisely to all schools throughout NZ and Australia.
Rongo
This app helps beginners practice speaking te reo Māori by focusing on pronunciation without the fear of judgment. It offers real-time feedback and guided practice through levels and phrases to build confidence and mastery of the language's sounds.
- Pronunciation practice
- Real-time feedback
- Guided learning levels
- Phrase repetition
- Confidence building
- Focus on sounds
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When you start learning te reo Māori, fear of mispronunciation can be one of the greatest barriers to you actually speaking it. Rongo gives you an opportunity to practice in a private space without the pressure and fear of being judged or annoying or offending people. Rongo is best for beginner speakers of te reo Māori as a tool to support their language learning journey. Intermediate and proficient speakers might still find it useful to see if they have formed any ‘bad habits’ along the way. In the houses of learning of long ago, students would sit in the darkness while the tohunga (expert) would recite lines of genealogy that spanned many generations. The students would learn by focussing on the words, retaining that knowledge and practice by reciting it themselves. Rongo aims to recreate this experience.By stripping away the written word, you must focus on the sounds of the language and work towards reproducing them, without being influenced by what you have read and, therefore, your existing bank of sound knowledge Like the whakatauākī of the late Te Wharehuia Milroy, a champion and master of te reo Māori, “Whakahokia te reo mai i te mata o te pene, ki te mata o te arero,' (Bring the language back from the tip of the pen to the tip of the tongue). To reach this goal of speaking te reo Māori, not reading or writing, Rongo can help overcome the barrier that fear of mispronunciation can create. This can be a difficult process or method, but with patience and mindfulness you will master the sounds while also growing your confidence. You will receive real-time feedback and be prompted to repeat and practice the words and phrases to improve your pronunciation. With over 230 phrases across 24 levels, you will master basic sounds and move to more complex sound combinations. We encourage you to find a quiet, comfortable space to practice. For example, lie down on the couch with the phone resting on your chest and close your eyes. Or find that quiet spot in your garden, anywhere you feel relaxed. With Rongo, you can just focus on yourself, your learning, your journey. Mā te rongo ka mōhio, mā te mōhio ka mārama, mā te mārama ka mātau, mā te mātau ka ora! Through listening comes awareness; through awareness comes understanding; through understanding comes knowledge; through knowledge comes life and well being. If you are an organisation that is interested in a customised experience and an app that uses words and phrases that are tailored to your industry, please feel free to contact us: awhina@rongo.app
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: Rongo at none against Skool Loop's shown. Rongo also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.6) and monetization model (free vs ad-supported). Skool Loop's advantage is update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 2 months) and ratings volume (43 vs 1). On price, in-app purchases and device support 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.
Rongo holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Skool Loop has 43 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 92% of Skool Loop's written reviews are positive against 75% of Rongo's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Skool Loop ships an update every 2 weeks, Rongo every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on August 25, 2026 and September 29, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Skool Loop | Rongo |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (43 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 91.7% of reviews — better | 75.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 43 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Ad-supported | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 14 — better | 16.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 9 MB | 90 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Sharlee Ealam | Te Reo Irirangi o Te Hiku o Te Ika |
Customer experience
Skool Loop
Rongo
Bugs and requests
Skool Loop
Reported bugs
6 issues- Notifications not arriving or arriving significantly delayed
- Signature recognition failure on absence forms
- Australian app showing only New Zealand regions
- App crashes or glitches during use
- Unauthorized charges to payment methods
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- Regional selection not working properly after reinstall
Requested features
8 requests- Dark mode for easier reading
- Calendar integration with device calendar
- Tag/bookmark feature to read messages later
- Two-way communication system
- Improved signature functionality for absence notes
Show 3 moreShow fewer
- Expand school coverage to more institutions
- Better notification reliability
- Multi-school view without switching
Rongo
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Skool Loop
No in-app purchases
Rongo
No in-app purchases







