Comparison

Black Forest Hills Elementary vs FAMILIES | TalkingPoints

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

Head to head
About

Black Forest Hills Elementary

Stay connected with the latest news, events, and important updates from the school. Receive push notifications, access a faculty directory, and find parent resources. Easily notify the school of absences through this communication tool.

Highlights
  • Latest news and events
  • Push notifications
  • Faculty listing
  • Parent resources
  • Absence notification
Features
Read full description

Welcome to the official app for Black Forest Hills Elementary PTCO, the best way to stay in touch with the happenings at our school. Features of the app include: Latest news and events Push notifications Faculty listing Parent resources Absence notification We are excited to use this innovative communication tool.

About

FAMILIES | TalkingPoints

This app facilitates communication between parents and educators, allowing users to send and receive messages in their preferred language. It automatically translates messages into English for teachers, fostering greater involvement in a child's education.

Highlights
  • Parent-teacher messaging
  • Multilingual communication
  • Automatic message translation
  • Stay engaged in child's learning
  • School communication platform
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

TalkingPoints is a free application that lets you communicate with your children’s teachers and school. You will be able to send and receive messages through this application in your preferred language, because TalkingPoints will translate your message into English for teachers. Stay engaged and involved in your child’s learning by communicating and collaborating with their teacher and school using TalkingPoints!

Screenshots

Black Forest Hills Elementary4 screens
FAMILIES | TalkingPoints3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Black Forest Hills Elementary at 100% against FAMILIES | TalkingPoints's 24%. FAMILIES | TalkingPoints's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 14 months). On price, in-app purchases, device support and iOS requirement 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

FAMILIES | TalkingPoints holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: FAMILIES | TalkingPoints has 92K ratings behind it against 7, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 100% of Black Forest Hills Elementary's written reviews are positive against 24% of FAMILIES | TalkingPoints's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Black Forest Hills Elementary ships an update every 14 months, FAMILIES | TalkingPoints every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
Black Forest Hills Elementary versus FAMILIES | TalkingPoints: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBlack Forest Hills ElementaryFAMILIES | TalkingPoints
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.4 (7 ratings)4.8 (92K ratings) — better
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews — better23.5% of reviews
Number of ratings792K — better
Update frequencyEvery 14 monthsEvery 3 weeks — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationAd-supportedFree — better
Best chart rank—#89 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better16.0
Further details — not scored
Size44 MB44 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperBlack Forest Hills Elementary PTCOTalkingPoints Corp

Customer experience

Black Forest Hills Elementary

All ratings7 ratings
Positive85.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative14.3%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

FAMILIES | TalkingPoints

All ratings91,517 ratings
Positive94.1%
Neutral2.6%
Negative3.3%
Written reviews153 reviews
Positive23.5%
Neutral16.3%
Negative60.1%

Bugs and requests

Black Forest Hills Elementary

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

FAMILIES | TalkingPoints

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • App crashes frequently
  • Logging out issues
  • Notifications not working
  • Slow to load messages
  • Unreliable service

Requested features

6 requests
  • Add dark mode
  • Improve message organization and filtering
  • Allow both parents to see conversation history
  • Provide desktop/web interface
  • Add time/date stamps for messages
Show 1 more
  • Improve notification system

In-app purchases

None

Black Forest Hills Elementary

No in-app purchases

None

FAMILIES | TalkingPoints

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Black Forest Hills Elementary free?
Black Forest Hills Elementary is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is FAMILIES | TalkingPoints free?
FAMILIES | TalkingPoints is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Black Forest Hills Elementary or FAMILIES | TalkingPoints?
FAMILIES | TalkingPoints is rated higher. Black Forest Hills Elementary averages 4.4 out of 5 from 7 ratings, while FAMILIES | TalkingPoints averages 4.8 from 92K ratings.
Do Black Forest Hills Elementary or FAMILIES | TalkingPoints have ads?
Black Forest Hills Elementary shows ads; FAMILIES | TalkingPoints does not.
Which is updated more often, Black Forest Hills Elementary or FAMILIES | TalkingPoints?
Black Forest Hills Elementary ships an update every 14 months, and FAMILIES | TalkingPoints every 3 weeks. Most recently, Black Forest Hills Elementary was updated on November 3, 2026 and FAMILIES | TalkingPoints on November 6, 2026.

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