Comparison

Arbor Parent App vs OU Study

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Features
Read full description

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.

About

OU Study

Enhance your mobile learning experience with access to module materials and a study planner. Download content for offline access, track key dates, and stay updated on forum messages. Designed for registered Open University students.

Highlights
  • Access module materials
  • Study planner
  • Offline downloads
  • Track key dates
  • Forum message notifications
  • Sync with module website
Features
Read full description

Learn anywhere, anytime with the OU Study app. This app enhances your learning experience on mobile devices as an Open University student. So, you can access learning materials to study wherever and whenever you like. Benefits of using the OU Study app include: - Easy access to your module materials and study planner. - Download learning materials to study offline. - Keep track of key dates and progress. - Never miss a forum message. The OU Study app is for Open University students who are registered on a course or qualification. Sign in using your OU username and password (the same one you use to sign in to the website). Free or paid-for learning content from partners such as OpenLearn or FutureLearn is not available in the app.  If you're experiencing any unexplained issues, check our Troubleshooting guide: https://learn1.open.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=100187&cmid=22860 For any urgent and access queries, contact the computing helpdesk at ou-scdhd@open.ac.uk. USEFUL TIPS - There is a lot of information on your module website. So, it will take a few minutes for the app to load the first time you use it. Use a Wi-Fi connection for your first use. As the app caches some information, it will get quicker. - Download learning materials individually and batch download by week using Course downloads. Return to the Planner to access downloaded materials. If you need to free up space, delete them from the Course downloads screen. - The Planner within the app remembers the week you were studying last time. So, you can continue studying easily. You can always navigate to the current week to keep track of the key dates. - The OU Study app and your module website are synced. As you tick completed resources or save an answer, both the module website and the app are updated. - The majority of your module activities will be available in the app. Yet, for some, you will be directed to your browser to use the mobile version of the module website. - We try to prioritise requirements based on user feedback. If you have any feedback or suggestions, use the Feedback function within the app or leave a review on the App Store. We regret that we can’t always reply to these directly, but we’re keen to hear your thoughts. FOR MORE INFORMATION - Support guide www.open.ac.uk/oustudyapp - Accessibility Statement https://www.open.ac.uk/apps/ou-study/accessibility-ios Image credits: - Image 1 (iPhone): Adapted from Photo by Alexa Suter on Unsplash. - Image 1 (iPad): Adapted from Photo by Totte Annerbrink on Unsplash.

Screenshots

Arbor Parent App4 screens
OU Study4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: OU Study at 4.7 against Arbor Parent App's 1.9. OU Study also leads on review sentiment (14% vs 2%) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.1). Arbor Parent App's advantage is update cadence (monthly vs every 9 months). On price, ratings volume, ads and in-app purchases 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

OU Study holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 1.9. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 8 and 6 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 2% of Arbor Parent App's written reviews are positive against 14% of OU Study's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Arbor Parent App ships an update monthly, OU Study every 9 months. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and October 13, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Arbor Parent App versus OU Study: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterArbor Parent AppOU Study
PriceFreeFree
Rating1.9 (8 ratings)4.7 (6 ratings) — better
Positive reviews2.0% of reviews14.3% of reviews — better
Number of ratings8 — better6
Update frequencyMonthly — betterEvery 9 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS15.113.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size45 MB52 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperArbor Education PartnersThe Open University

Customer experience

Arbor Parent App

All ratings8 ratings
Positive12.5%
Neutral12.5%
Negative75.0%
Written reviews395 reviews
Positive2.0%
Neutral2.5%
Negative95.4%

OU Study

All ratings6 ratings
Positive83.3%
Neutral16.7%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews63 reviews
Positive14.3%
Neutral15.9%
Negative69.8%

User reviews

Arbor Parent App

From 8 App Store ratings

What 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

OU Study

From 6 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 User-friendly interface (when working)
  • 🔋 Offline content download
  • 💡 Planner easier to navigate
  • 👍 Great add-on for on-the-go
  • 👍 Convenient for catch-ups

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Slow loading times
  • 🐛 Clunky and anti-user
  • 🐛 Videos won't play
  • 🐛 Links to external website
  • 🐛 Forum not working

Bugs and requests

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

OU Study

Reported bugs

38 issues
  • Cannot log in on original account
  • Cannot sign up with new account
  • Password cannot be based on a dictionary word
  • App sends to mobile browser
  • Videos just won't play
Show 33 more
  • Forum part doesn't work properly
  • App doesn't load or is incredibly slow
  • Home screen doesn't load
  • Videos don't always load
  • Interactive activities don't work
  • Quizzes don't work half the time
  • App crashes and restarts
  • Pages refuse to load
  • App doesn't work properly after last update
  • Home page doesn't load properly
  • Module page doesn't load properly
  • Assessment tab stays up under forum tab
  • Study materials not loading
  • Module page comes up blank
  • Nothing is fully loading
  • Cannot see written values
  • Constant pulsing/buffering indications
  • Cannot find enrolled courses
  • App keeps logging you out
  • Text size option doesn't change course material text
  • iOS built-in text resize not supported
  • Notes made in text boxes not saved
  • App notifications are broken
  • Planner is very buggy
  • Login screen freezes
  • Forgotten password function doesn't work
  • 403 forbidden by netscaler
  • Login page uses webpage instead of native
  • App icon doesn't appear on screen
  • Cannot type in comment boxes at night (text shows up white)
  • Authorisation denied on login screen
  • App is slow, freezes
  • Doesn't bring user to current study week

Requested features

10 requests
  • Add bookmark feature
  • Improve accessibility for visually impaired
  • Implement text zooming and font size options
  • Add student home access
  • Improve mobile layout optimization
Show 5 more
  • Create internal bookmarking
  • Add notifications for falling behind in planner
  • Make more modules available
  • Develop and add more courses
  • Fix text visibility at night

In-app purchases

None

Arbor Parent App

No in-app purchases

None

OU Study

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Arbor Parent App free?
Arbor Parent App is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is OU Study free?
OU Study is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Arbor Parent App or OU Study?
OU Study is rated higher. Arbor Parent App averages 1.9 out of 5 from 8 ratings, while OU Study averages 4.7 from 6 ratings.
Do Arbor Parent App or OU Study have ads?
Neither Arbor Parent App nor OU Study shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Arbor Parent App or OU Study?
Arbor Parent App ships an update monthly, and OU Study every 9 months. Most recently, Arbor Parent App was updated on October 15, 2026 and OU Study on October 13, 2026.

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