OWNA Childcare App vs ParentOrbit
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
OWNA Childcare App
This app connects childcare centers, educators, and parents, offering features for curriculum planning, daily routine tracking, portfolio creation, and secure communication. It streamlines administrative tasks for center management and provides parents with real-time updates on their child's day.
- Curriculum programming and planning
- Child portfolios and daily routine tracking
- Secure messaging and notifications
- Digital attendance and check-in/out
- Center administration dashboard
- Document and policy management
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Welcome to the OWNA Childcare App! The Best Childcare App for Families and Centres and it's all for FREE. For Educators - Curriculum Programming & Planning - Upload Images, Videos & PDFs - Portfolios - Observations, Follow Ups, Learning Stories ++ - Record Daily Routine - Meals, Sleep, Sunscreen, Nappies, Bottles, Sleep Check++ - Complete Checklists - Private Messaging - Receive Notification Alerts - Checkin/Out (Timesheets) - QIP - View & Contribute - Looks Great & Easy to use - Super fast and robust - Plus loads more+++ For Parents - View children's Daily Stats (meal, sleep, bottles etc) with past history - Digital Attendances (time logged, signature captured) - View Writeups, Images and Videos - Read Children's Portfolios - Notify Centre of Non Attendances - Upload Immunisation Record - View Programs, Policy Documents & more - Events Calendar - Secure Communication with Centre - Receive Notification Alerts - Looks Great & Easy to use - Plus loads more+++ For Owners/Directors/Management - App for both Educators & Parents - Responsible Person & Daily RP Log - Room Ratio/Across the Service Check - Digitise Reports - as per ACECQA's req'd - Administration Dashboard to oversee your Centre or multiple Centres - Centre Documents, Policies & Procedures, Helpful websites and more - Staff Timesheets, Stats & Performance - Events Calendar - Centre's Menus with automatic rotation - QIP Report - Safe & Secure Platform. Data stored locally. Adhere to industry standards. - Plus loads more+++ So if your centre is not on OWNA - tell them to get on it now! Enjoy and do let us know what you think. - OWNA Childcare App
ParentOrbit
This app provides parents with a centralized platform to access school-related information, manage tasks, and handle payments. It offers insights into student details, school events, and financial accounts, ensuring seamless communication with educational institutions.
- Student information access
- School calendars and notices
- Account balance viewing and payment
- Event invitations and sign-ups
- Multi-school account management
- Targeted school notifications
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Developed by TASS, the Parent Orbit app is designed to allow parents at schools to access important information, accept invitations, action tasks and pay for school items. The app is connected to your school system and includes the following features: Students Access your child’s information including general students, school details and medical information. Calendars and Notices The School Calendar, Student eDiary and Daily Notices ensure you’re up-to-date with all school events, appointments, parent teacher interviews, curricular activities and more. Accounts View outstanding balances and pay for your school fees. Invitations View, sign-up, acknowledge and pay for school events. Multi-School Access For parents who have children at more than one school, easily toggle between school accounts. Branded The app will be branded to match your schools identity. Notifications View and acknowledge targeted notifications from your school, including a history and ability to search.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: OWNA Childcare App at 60% against ParentOrbit's 10%. OWNA Childcare App also leads on update cadence (every 9 days vs every 3 weeks). ParentOrbit's advantage is iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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.
OWNA Childcare App ships an update every 9 days, ParentOrbit every 3 weeks. Both last shipped on September 23, 2026.
| Parameter | OWNA Childcare App | ParentOrbit |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.7 (6 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 60.0% of reviews — better | 10.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 6 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 9 days — better | Every 3 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 76 MB | 75 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Owna | The Alpha School System |
Customer experience
OWNA Childcare App
ParentOrbit
Bugs and requests
OWNA Childcare App
Reported bugs
20 issues- App crashes and freezes frequently
- Sign-in/sign-out not registering properly
- Photos and videos fail to load or load slowly
- Video playback without sound
- Notifications delayed by hours or days
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- Date picker selecting wrong year (2025 vs 2026)
- Child profile photos not displaying (only initials)
- Some notifications missing from in-app list
- Ad pop-ups blocking account switching
- Dynamic Island covering video player buttons on iOS
- Single tap on photos unexpectedly exits view
- Like button slow to register
- Comments and notes disappearing from checklists
- Attendance records not showing after sign-in
- Form data not saving properly on connection drop
- Mute button for conversations not functioning
- Dark mode toggle not working
- Back gesture not supported on iOS
- Photo gallery not updating properly on iPad
- Slow performance and responsiveness issues
Requested features
19 requests- Dark mode or customizable color themes
- Multi-child support in single login account
- Direct messaging with educators
- Ability to mark favorite or pin important items
- Photo thumbnail preview while scrolling
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- Live chat support, especially for finance
- Multiple parent/guardian access from one account
- Permanent booking options
- Group booking and cancellation functionality
- Draft save feature for long enrollment forms
- Confirmation copy of submitted forms
- Badge notifications for new posts
- Chronological photo viewing by child
- Better iPad landscape/portrait layout support
- Ability to filter marketplace by multiple locations
- Notification preferences and mute options
- Improved roster viewing for staff
- Under/over threes staff ratio display
- Integrated form functions instead of linked ones
ParentOrbit
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
OWNA Childcare App
No in-app purchases
ParentOrbit
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is OWNA Childcare App free?
Is ParentOrbit free?
Do OWNA Childcare App or ParentOrbit have ads?
Which is updated more often, OWNA Childcare App or ParentOrbit?
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