Comparison

Red Rover K12 vs SmartTeach

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

Head to head
About

Red Rover K12

This app simplifies absence management for K12 school districts. It allows employees to register absences, substitutes to find and accept assignments, and administrators to manage the entire process. Receive instant notifications and sync assignments to your calendar.

Highlights
  • Register, change, or cancel absences
  • Book and accept substitute assignments
  • Manage employee and substitute availability
  • Sync assignments to personal calendar
  • Approve and verify absences
  • Instant notifications for assignments
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

The official Red Rover app puts the power and simplicity of Red Rover right in the palm of your hand. Best of all, its 100% free for all users, including substitutes. Whether you’re on the go or in the zone, Red Rover is the perfect companion to help you quickly book assignments, set your availability, register an absence and so much more. For substitutes: - Instant notifications about upcoming sub assignments available in your school districts - Review and accept available assignments without ever leaving the app - Automatically sync your assignments to your personal calendar - Manage your availability and school preferences For employees: - Quickly register, change, or cancel an absence - Search for qualified and available substitutes - View the status of your past and upcoming absences - Receive status update notifications about your absences For administrators: - Manage, approve, and verify absences, vacancies, and assignments - View employee and sub profiles and settings - Receive status update notifications Access to Red Rover is granted by school districts that use the Red Rover service. Check with your district to see if you have access to the most modern, intuitive substitute placement platform. More About Red Rover Red Rover is a the fastest growing HR solution on the market for K12 absence management and substitute placement. Our web and mobile technology is designed by industry experts and based solely on customer feedback. Why Red Rover Manually managing absences and filling them with qualified substitutes is very time-consuming and messy. With Red Rover’s intuitive interface, process automation, and text message notifications your district’s absences can be filled automatically without even lifting a finger. Better In Every Way There are so many ways that Red Rover has reimagined and improved absence management. Here are just a few: - A modern interface that’s simple and fun to use - Transparent, predictable, and affordable - Free app for substitutes with mobile notifications

About

SmartTeach

This app helps early childhood educators streamline daily classroom tasks. It simplifies documentation, classroom management, and family communication with easy-to-use tools for online and offline use.

Highlights
  • Create documentation and share insights
  • View and teach from daily schedule
  • Communicate with families
  • Save and share photos/videos
  • Assess from curriculum resources
  • Track attendance and care routines
  • Conduct health screenings
Read full description

The SmartTeach® app by Teaching Strategies offers early childhood educators an easy and efficient way to quickly complete essential daily tasks on the fly, online, or offline. The SmartTeach app simplifies teaching, documentation, classroom management, and family engagement throughout the day, enabling teachers to make the most of every moment with easy-to-use tools right at their fingertips. The SmartTeach app is accessible to Teachers and Administrators using Teaching Strategies products such as GOLD®, The Creative Curriculum® Cloud, Kickstart LiteracyTM, and Tadpoles®. Download SmartTeach by Teaching Strategies to access our new and improved features & functionality. SmartTeach offers early childhood educators a single app to support all essential classroom tasks, including: Create documentation and share insights with families View and teach directly from your daily schedule, curriculum, activities, and care routines Communicate with families Save & share photos, videos, and other media across devices View & assess from resources like Intentional Teaching Experiences, Skill Development Cards, and Mighty Minutes®* Identify Infant and Toddler children’s developmental level with the Entry Screener to dynamically populate individualized support for each child* Take attendance, move children or staff, and complete name-to-face checks* Track care routines and share Daily Reports with families* Conduct health screenings for children and/or staff* *Feature availability is dependent on which Teaching Strategies products your classroom licenses.

Screenshots

Red Rover K124 screens
SmartTeach4 screens

Verdict

The call

Red Rover K12 and SmartTeach both sit at 4.7 stars, but that hides the real split: 60% of Red Rover K12's written reviews are positive against 24% of SmartTeach's. Red Rover K12 also leads on ratings volume (48K vs 1.2K) and chart position (#184 vs unranked). On price, rating, update cadence and ads 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

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Red Rover K12 against 4.8 for SmartTeach. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Red Rover K12 has 48K ratings behind it against 1.2K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 60% of Red Rover K12's written reviews are positive against 24% of SmartTeach's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 22, 2026 and October 19, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 8 level
Red Rover K12 versus SmartTeach: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterRed Rover K12SmartTeach
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (48K ratings)4.8 (1.2K ratings) — better
Positive reviews60.4% of reviews — better24.0% of reviews
Number of ratings48K — better1.2K
Update frequencyMonthlyMonthly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
Best chart rank#184 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS15.115.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size55 MB103 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperRed Rover Technologies, LLCTeaching Strategies, Inc.

Customer experience

Red Rover K12

All ratings47,868 ratings
Positive92.3%
Neutral2.9%
Negative4.7%
Written reviews571 reviews
Positive60.4%
Neutral6.3%
Negative33.3%

SmartTeach

All ratings1,190 ratings
Positive95.3%
Neutral1.6%
Negative3.1%
Written reviews25 reviews
Positive24.0%
Neutral12.0%
Negative64.0%

User reviews

Red Rover K12

From 48K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Convenient and easy to use
  • 👍 User-friendly interface
  • 💡 Flexible scheduling options
  • 🚀 Timely notifications of job openings
  • 👍 Efficient job management

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Delayed or unreliable notifications
  • 🐛 Disappearing job listings
  • 🐛 Inconsistent filtering and preferences
  • 🐛 Calendar integration issues
  • 🐛 Crashes and glitches

SmartTeach

From 1.2K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Easy and awesome app to track notes and submit to Teaching Strategies Gold
  • 👍 Brings together curriculum and assessment
  • 👍 Convenient and easy to use

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent technical glitches and bugs
  • 🐛 Performance issues
  • 🐛 Login issues
  • 🐛 Messaging and communication problems
  • 🐛 Delayed or failed uploads

Bugs and requests

Red Rover K12

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Login issues on certain devices
  • Keyboard not hiding properly
  • Inconsistent behavior when entering absences
  • Syncing problems between app and website

Requested features

5 requests
  • Calendar view of available jobs
  • Improved notification settings
  • Ability to see job details before accepting
  • Support for tablets and larger screens
  • Two-way communication with teachers

SmartTeach

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Screener not working when clicking plus sign
  • Inability to log in through app, but able to log in on website
  • Delayed or failed message delivery
  • Uploaded documentation still showing in app, causing confusion

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add ability to select and apply objectives to multiple pieces of documentation at once
  • Add ability to select and delete multiple photos/videos at once
  • Add ability to change date on add documentation page
  • Add landscape mode support for easier typing
  • Improve translation and communication features for ESL families

In-app purchases

None

Red Rover K12

No in-app purchases

None

SmartTeach

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Red Rover K12 free?
Red Rover K12 is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is SmartTeach free?
SmartTeach is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Red Rover K12 or SmartTeach?
SmartTeach is rated higher. Red Rover K12 averages 4.7 out of 5 from 48K ratings, while SmartTeach averages 4.8 from 1.2K ratings.
Do Red Rover K12 or SmartTeach have ads?
Neither Red Rover K12 nor SmartTeach shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Red Rover K12 or SmartTeach?
Red Rover K12 ships an update monthly, and SmartTeach monthly. Most recently, Red Rover K12 was updated on October 22, 2026 and SmartTeach on October 19, 2026.

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