SIMS Parent vs Arbor Parent App
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
SIMS Parent
This app allows parents to actively engage with their children's education by providing access to homework, calendars, timetables, and assessment results. Parents can also track progress, view behavior reports, and communicate with schools via secure messaging. It consolidates information for children attending different schools, enhancing safeguarding and parental involvement.
- View homework and assignments
- Access student calendars and timetables
- Track assessment results and reports
- Monitor attendance and behavior
- Secure messaging with schools
- Manage multiple children across schools
- Update safeguarding information
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Please note: For security, this app requires an invitation code from your child's school. Be proactive Engaging with your children's education is key to their success. Help them stay on track with due dates by seeing their: - Homework - Calendar - Timetable - Extra-curricular activities Track progress See the information needed to understand your children's education and their overall performance better. Securely view your children's records: - Assessment results - Truancy - Behaviour: good and bad - School reports Stay connected Get alerts. Send and receive messages. Schools can send you alerts and messages straight to your phone. All your children in one place across schools With SIMS Parent, you can see all your children's data even if they attend different schools. (Requires schools to set up access for SIMS Parent) Safeguarding Help keep your children safe. In an emergency, up-to-date information helps schools meet their safeguarding obligations. Manage what information the school holds right from your phone. About SIMS SIMS: the School Information Management System at the heart of 21,000 UK schools.
Arbor Parent App
Manage your child's school life from one app. Track attendance, behavior, and academic progress. Book parent consultations, register for clubs and trips, and handle payments easily. Add medical information and check homework assignments.
- Track attendance and behavior
- Monitor academic progress
- Register for clubs and trips
- Manage payments for meals and trips
- Book parent consultations
- View child's timetable
- Check homework assignments
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Arbor lets you book parent/guardian consultation slots, register your child for a club or trip, and manage payments all from one place. You can also use it to check in on your child’s attendance, behaviour & academic progress. Arbor is only for parents at schools using Arbor Management Information System (MIS). If you’re not sure whether this applies to you, we recommend contacting your school office. Use Arbor to: - Take a look at your child’s key attendance information, including their average attendance for the year so far - Edit contact details for your child such as your home address or phone number - Register your child for an after-school club - Register your child for an upcoming school trip - Take a look at your child's behaviour information, including positive & negative behaviour points awarded this year - Manage your child’s payment accounts and pay for meals or trips directly - Track your child's academic progress, including the targets they’re working towards this year - Download report cards - Book slots at parent/guardian consultations - See your child’s timetable - Add new medical information about your child - Check upcoming homework assignments Having trouble? Please reach out directly to your school office for help.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: SIMS Parent at 2.1 against Arbor Parent App's 1.9. SIMS Parent also leads on iOS requirement (11.0 vs 15.1). On price, review sentiment, ratings volume and update cadence 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.
SIMS Parent holds the better App Store score, 2.1 against 1.9. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 20 and 8 respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 2% and 2% positive.
SIMS Parent ships an update fortnightly, Arbor Parent App monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 21, 2026 and October 26, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | SIMS Parent | Arbor Parent App |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.1 (20 ratings) — better | 1.9 (8 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 2.0% of reviews | 2.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 20 — better | 8 |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly — better | Monthly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 11.0 — better | 15.1 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 39 MB | 45 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Education Software Solutions Ltd | Arbor Education Partners |
Customer experience
SIMS Parent
Arbor Parent App
User reviews
SIMS Parent
From 20 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Useful for tracking attendance
- 👍 Useful for checking timetables
- 👍 Useful for viewing achievement logs
- 👍 Useful for viewing behaviour logs
- 👍 Useful for keeping on top of homework
Room to improve
- 🐛 Constantly crashes
- 🐛 Frequently logs out
- 🐛 Unreliable and unusable
- 🐛 Difficult to log in
- 🐛 Password reset issues
Arbor Parent App
From 8 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Versatile and has many options
- 👍 Good app for parents to view child's progress
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent login issues
- 👎 Confusing and unintuitive layout
- 🔒 Forced password changes every 180 days
- 💳 No option to add reminders for low meal balance
- 🤯 Complicated to book clubs and appointments
Bugs and requests
SIMS Parent
Reported bugs
61 issues- App crashes frequently
- App logs users out unexpectedly
- Login details are not recognized
- Password reset functionality is broken
- App is very slow to load
Show 56 moreShow fewer
- App freezes or becomes unresponsive
- Notifications are not delivered or displayed correctly
- Unable to access certain features like dashboard or messages
- App does not work on iPhone
- Account gets locked without reason
- Password reset requires unprovided security questions
- App gets stuck in a login loop
- App does not load school pages
- App does not refresh data
- App is not updated for a long time
- Unable to reply to teacher messages on iPhone
- Login details are declined
- Cannot log in with new password after reset
- App requires re-registration every time
- App signs out or bugs out frequently
- App kicks users out randomly
- App does not accept activation codes
- Login details keeps getting declined
- App is unusable at best of times
- App is missing features after installation
- App is not sending password reset emails
- App is stuck on a specific date
- App is not user friendly
- App gets stuck in an endless loop
- Two-step authentication causes immediate lockout
- Password reset button doesn't work
- Black box covers typing area on iPhone
- App is buggy and in development stage
- Login page remains blank
- App is stalking and annoying
- App constantly asks to change password, then invalidates it
- App disables accounts and won't reset passwords
- App stalls loading on different sections
- App says account already exists after deletion
- App keeps loading and then logging off
- App shows error when trying to access messages
- App has issues with multiple children at the same school
- Tiles don't load
- Homework section has disappeared
- School dinner money account tab fails to load
- App acts as a hopeless gatekeeper to website
- App logs out and takes ages to log back in
- Recognition points take ages to load
- Session expired errors
- App asks for invitation repeatedly
- App does not allow marking homework as submitted
- Cannot open links for homework or attachments
- Random notifications with nothing to view
- App is not updated for weeks
- App is not fit for purpose
- App is a complete wind up
- App is utter garbage
- App is a joke
- App is dysfunctional
- App is a waste of time
- App is a horrible, wretched app
Requested features
13 requests- Fix login issues
- Improve app stability
- Update app regularly
- Better password reset functionality
- Improve communication features
Show 8 moreShow fewer
- Make app more intuitive
- Allow easier access to support
- Improve server capacity
- Allow linking multiple schools easily
- Fix message sending/receiving
- Make app work on all devices
- Provide clear error messages
- Allow easier login with fewer steps
Arbor Parent App
Reported bugs
3 issues- Login issues with incorrect password errors
- Inconsistent behavior across web and mobile versions
- Inability to delete or archive old assignments and activities
Requested features
4 requests- Add a calendar view for events and appointments
- Improve messaging functionality with better organization and notifications
- Allow parents to manage multiple children from a single account
- Integrate with digital wallets and enable auto top-up for meal balances
In-app purchases
SIMS Parent
No in-app purchases
Arbor Parent App
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is SIMS Parent free?
Is Arbor Parent App free?
Which has better reviews, SIMS Parent or Arbor Parent App?
Do SIMS Parent or Arbor Parent App have ads?
Which is updated more often, SIMS Parent or Arbor Parent App?
Other comparisons
