Comparison

Lillio vs SM Home

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

Head to head
About

Lillio

This app streamlines childcare operations with features for daily reports, attendance, and meal planning. It enhances family engagement through real-time updates, photos, and videos, while offering research-based curriculum aligned with state standards.

Highlights
  • Daily reports
  • Attendance tracking
  • Meal planning
  • Family communication portal
  • Real-time photo sharing
  • Digital curriculum
  • Enrollment management
Features
Read full description

Get all the building blocks for early education with the #1-rated childcare app! Center management features let you complete daily reports, schedules, attendance, check-ins and meal planning faster than ever before. Family engagement tools keep families informed through daily reports, pictures and videos. Simple registration and payment options make the lives of families easier. Research-based curriculum offers developmentally appropriate lesson plans aligned to state standards and pre-populated with engaging themes. Download Lillio today and experience the all-in-one solution for building a high-quality childcare program! Here is what one of our thousands of happy directors had to say about Lillio: "Lillio (formerly HiMama) has become a huge asset for our school! Families love the photos and daily reports. Teachers agree that it is extremely easy to use and replaces piles of paperwork." FAMILY ENGAGEMENT AND COMMUNICATION • Family portal - Parents and family members can view photos, videos, daily reports and schedules, update their child’s information, and message educators in their own private, secure account. • Real-time photo sharing - parents can receive timely updates throughout the day • Email, text, and in-app communication - Send messages, alerts and reminders to individual family members or to an entire group of family members at once CARING AND TEACHING • Digital curriculum - Developmentally appropriate, research-based lesson plans and activities from Funshine Express allows flexible planning and offers play-based, engaging themes and activities that are aligned to state and early learning standards • Weekly Planner - Create custom activities organized by learning areas and select developmental skills tied to your state and early learning standards. • Photo and video observations - Tag real-time observations with images from the classroom • Child Developmental Evidence Reports - Follow a child’s development across developmental domains, skills and indicators • Easy-to-use childcare assessments to support every child’s learning path CENTER MANAGEMENT • Childcare daily reports: document meals, snacks, sleep checks, toileting, activities and observations, medication and more for individual children or multiple children at once • Attendance: record check-in, check-out, drop off and pick up times, and absences • Administrative: classroom and activity reports; updatable parent and child contact, emergency, allergy, and health information; meal and snack menu planning and schedules, enrollment management for upcoming, current, and graduated children; schedule rotations Lillio is secure, reliable and easy to use, and the child care center’s information is backed up, synced and accessed through our apps and our website. We have a friendly customer support team that would happily answer your questions by phone (1-800-905-1876) or email (support@himama.com). Terms of use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

SM Home

Stay connected with your child's school. This app consolidates all school communications, including phone calls, emails, and SMS messages, into a single inbox. Manage your preferences, and optionally chat with teachers or report absences.

Highlights
  • Consolidated communication inbox
  • Manage communication preferences
  • Optional chat with teachers
  • Report student absences
  • Search, sort, and filter messages
Features
Read full description

For parents/guardians and students, the easy-to-use app allows users to quickly review any broadcast sent from the SchoolMessenger service (Phone/Email/SMS) in one place, manage your communication preferences and, optionally, Chat with teachers** or report absences.** Requires WIFI or data plan for internet access. Requires SchoolMessenger Communicate service subscription by the school or district. Note: SchoolMessenger Home is used for receiving SchoolMessenger Communicate messages sent by district or school personnel. If you are a school administrator or staff member looking to send messages, please download the SM Sender App. ** Chat and Attendance options may not be available depending on your School/District Here’s what’s new in v1 Inbox: All broadcasts sent from Communicate to you (Phone/SMS/Email) will also live in the app Inbox giving you one place to easily access all communications regardless of the delivery method. You can search, sort, filter and delete any of these communications My Profile: This is where you can see your students, manage your communication preferences, Access Help and Delete Your Account Chat**: Have one on one or class group conversations with teachers Attendance**: Report your students absent from school or respond to absences not reported to the school **Optional items and may not be available to all schools

Screenshots

Lillio4 screens
SM Home4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Lillio at 71% against SM Home's 15%. Lillio also leads on rating (4.9 vs 2.1) and ratings volume (37K vs 12). SM Home's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1). On price, update cadence, ads 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Lillio sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $2.99 per month. SM Home asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Lillio holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 2.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Lillio has 37K ratings behind it against 12, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 71% of Lillio's written reviews are positive against 15% of SM Home's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Lillio ships an update every 4 weeks, SM Home monthly. Both last shipped on October 31, 2026.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Lillio versus SM Home: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLillioSM Home
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (37K ratings) — better2.1 (12 ratings)
Positive reviews71.0% of reviews — better15.4% of reviews
Number of ratings37K — better12
Update frequencyEvery 4 weeks — betterMonthly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.1 — better16.0
Further details — not scored
Size96 MB37 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperHi Mama Inc.PowerSchool Group LLC

Customer experience

Lillio

All ratings37,341 ratings
Positive97.8%
Neutral1.5%
Negative0.7%
Written reviews186 reviews
Positive71.0%
Neutral10.2%
Negative18.8%

SM Home

All ratings12 ratings
Positive25.0%
Neutral8.3%
Negative66.7%
Written reviews26 reviews
Positive15.4%
Neutral11.5%
Negative73.1%

Bugs and requests

Lillio

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Login issues
  • Freezing and crashing
  • Inconsistent data updates
  • Compatibility problems on older devices

Requested features

5 requests
  • Time stamps for naps, meals, and activities
  • Ability to download photos/videos in bulk
  • Improved navigation and responsiveness
  • Interactive features for parents
  • More language options

SM Home

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Lillio

Subscriptions1
  • Photos Plus$2.991 Month
None

SM Home

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Lillio free?
Lillio is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is SM Home free?
SM Home is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Lillio or SM Home?
Lillio is rated higher. Lillio averages 4.9 out of 5 from 37K ratings, while SM Home averages 2.1 from 12 ratings.
Do Lillio or SM Home have ads?
Neither Lillio nor SM Home shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Lillio or SM Home?
Lillio ships an update every 4 weeks, and SM Home monthly. Most recently, Lillio was updated on October 31, 2026 and SM Home on October 31, 2026.

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