Comparison

HWDSB Helps vs SM Home

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

Head to head
About

HWDSB Helps

This app offers a free, anonymous reporting service for students, staff, and parents to help prevent bullying and crime in schools. It provides a direct communication channel and real-time updates on school activities.

Highlights
  • Anonymous reporting
  • Two-way anonymous conversation
  • Bullying and crime prevention
  • School information portal
  • Real-time updates
  • Built-in reporting tool
Features
Read full description

HWDSB Helps is a free anonymous reporting service provided by Hamilton Wentworth District School-board. It enables a two-way anonymous conversation empowering students, staff and parents to prevent bullying and crime in our schools. HWDSB Helps provides each school with its own mobile information portal which features realtime updates on school activities with a built-in reporting tool. Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board has a vision in which all students achieve their full potential. Embracing student achievement, engagement and equity, the Board's staff strives to provide relevant, responsive education so that each of our 49,000 students becomes lifelong learners and contributing citizens in a diverse world. Learn more at http://www.hwdsb.on.ca or follow us on Twitter @hwdsb

About

SM Home

Stay connected with your child's school. This app consolidates all school communications, including phone calls, emails, and SMS messages, into a single inbox. Manage your preferences, and optionally chat with teachers or report absences.

Highlights
  • Consolidated communication inbox
  • Manage communication preferences
  • Optional chat with teachers
  • Report student absences
  • Search, sort, and filter messages
Features
Read full description

For parents/guardians and students, the easy-to-use app allows users to quickly review any broadcast sent from the SchoolMessenger service (Phone/Email/SMS) in one place, manage your communication preferences and, optionally, Chat with teachers** or report absences.** Requires WIFI or data plan for internet access. Requires SchoolMessenger Communicate service subscription by the school or district. Note: SchoolMessenger Home is used for receiving SchoolMessenger Communicate messages sent by district or school personnel. If you are a school administrator or staff member looking to send messages, please download the SM Sender App. ** Chat and Attendance options may not be available depending on your School/District Here’s what’s new in v1 Inbox: All broadcasts sent from Communicate to you (Phone/SMS/Email) will also live in the app Inbox giving you one place to easily access all communications regardless of the delivery method. You can search, sort, filter and delete any of these communications My Profile: This is where you can see your students, manage your communication preferences, Access Help and Delete Your Account Chat**: Have one on one or class group conversations with teachers Attendance**: Report your students absent from school or respond to absences not reported to the school **Optional items and may not be available to all schools

Screenshots

HWDSB Helps4 screens
SM Home4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is iOS requirement: HWDSB Helps at 8.0 against SM Home's 16.0. On price, review sentiment, 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.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

HWDSB Helps ships an update every 4 weeks, SM Home monthly. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 11, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
HWDSB Helps versus SM Home: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterHWDSB HelpsSM Home
PriceFreeFree
Rating—2.1 (13 ratings) — better
Positive reviews16.7% of reviews — better15.4% of reviews
Number of ratings—13 — better
Update frequencyEvery 4 weeks — betterMonthly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS8.0 — better16.0
Further details — not scored
Size15 MB37 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperQtags IncPowerSchool Group LLC

Customer experience

HWDSB Helps

Written reviews6 reviews
Positive16.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative83.3%

SM Home

All ratings12 ratings
Positive25.0%
Neutral8.3%
Negative66.7%
Written reviews26 reviews
Positive15.4%
Neutral11.5%
Negative73.1%

In-app purchases

None

HWDSB Helps

No in-app purchases

None

SM Home

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is HWDSB Helps free?
HWDSB Helps is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is SM Home free?
SM Home is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do HWDSB Helps or SM Home have ads?
Neither HWDSB Helps nor SM Home shows ads.
Which is updated more often, HWDSB Helps or SM Home?
HWDSB Helps ships an update every 4 weeks, and SM Home monthly. Most recently, HWDSB Helps was updated on November 6, 2026 and SM Home on November 11, 2026.

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