Comparison

SchoolMessenger vs Lillio

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

Head to head
About

SchoolMessenger

Stay connected with your school or district through this app. It provides a unified inbox for notifications and messages, allowing for two-way communication between teachers, parents, and students. Manage your notification preferences and receive alerts for important updates.

Highlights
  • Unified inbox for notifications and messages
  • Two-way teacher-parent-student communication
  • Scrollable notification history
  • Customizable notification preferences
  • Push notifications for alerts
Features
Read full description

The new SchoolMessenger app gives busy parents, students, and staff a powerful way to stay engaged with their school or district, and connect to each other. App Features: - Easy-to-read inbox that captures all SchoolMessenger notifications, and now two-way teacher-parent-student messages (if enabled by school or district) - Scrollable notification view to review all phone, email, and text content in a single place - Detailed preference control allows adjusting notification settings - Push notifications are available for alerts when school or district sends a message Requirements: - For notifications, school or district has SchoolMessenger notification service subscription with SchoolMessenger app enabled - For notifications, valid email address on file with your school or district - WiFi or data plan for internet access - iOS 14+ Note: SchoolMessenger app is not for sending broadcast messages. If you are a SchoolMessenger Communicate notification customer looking to send broadcast messages, please download the SchoolMessenger Admin sender app.

About

Lillio

This app streamlines childcare operations with features for daily reports, attendance, and meal planning. It enhances family engagement through real-time updates, photos, and videos, while offering research-based curriculum aligned with state standards.

Highlights
  • Daily reports
  • Attendance tracking
  • Meal planning
  • Family communication portal
  • Real-time photo sharing
  • Digital curriculum
  • Enrollment management
Features
Read full description

Get all the building blocks for early education with the #1-rated childcare app! Center management features let you complete daily reports, schedules, attendance, check-ins and meal planning faster than ever before. Family engagement tools keep families informed through daily reports, pictures and videos. Simple registration and payment options make the lives of families easier. Research-based curriculum offers developmentally appropriate lesson plans aligned to state standards and pre-populated with engaging themes. Download Lillio today and experience the all-in-one solution for building a high-quality childcare program! Here is what one of our thousands of happy directors had to say about Lillio: "Lillio (formerly HiMama) has become a huge asset for our school! Families love the photos and daily reports. Teachers agree that it is extremely easy to use and replaces piles of paperwork." FAMILY ENGAGEMENT AND COMMUNICATION • Family portal - Parents and family members can view photos, videos, daily reports and schedules, update their child’s information, and message educators in their own private, secure account. • Real-time photo sharing - parents can receive timely updates throughout the day • Email, text, and in-app communication - Send messages, alerts and reminders to individual family members or to an entire group of family members at once CARING AND TEACHING • Digital curriculum - Developmentally appropriate, research-based lesson plans and activities from Funshine Express allows flexible planning and offers play-based, engaging themes and activities that are aligned to state and early learning standards • Weekly Planner - Create custom activities organized by learning areas and select developmental skills tied to your state and early learning standards. • Photo and video observations - Tag real-time observations with images from the classroom • Child Developmental Evidence Reports - Follow a child’s development across developmental domains, skills and indicators • Easy-to-use childcare assessments to support every child’s learning path CENTER MANAGEMENT • Childcare daily reports: document meals, snacks, sleep checks, toileting, activities and observations, medication and more for individual children or multiple children at once • Attendance: record check-in, check-out, drop off and pick up times, and absences • Administrative: classroom and activity reports; updatable parent and child contact, emergency, allergy, and health information; meal and snack menu planning and schedules, enrollment management for upcoming, current, and graduated children; schedule rotations Lillio is secure, reliable and easy to use, and the child care center’s information is backed up, synced and accessed through our apps and our website. We have a friendly customer support team that would happily answer your questions by phone (1-800-905-1876) or email (support@himama.com). Terms of use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

SchoolMessenger2 screens
Lillio4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: SchoolMessenger at none against Lillio's 1. Lillio's advantage is rating (4.9 vs 4.5) and ratings volume (37K vs 802). On price, ads, 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. Lillio sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $2.99 per month. SchoolMessenger asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Lillio holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Lillio has 37K ratings behind it against 802, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 53% of SchoolMessenger's written reviews are positive against 71% of Lillio's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

SchoolMessenger ships an update every 2 months, Lillio every 4 weeks. Both last shipped on October 19, 2026.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
SchoolMessenger versus Lillio: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSchoolMessengerLillio
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (802 ratings)4.9 (37K ratings) — better
Positive reviews53.1% of reviews71.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings80237K — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 4 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS16.015.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size43 MB96 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPowerSchool Group LLCHi Mama Inc.

Customer experience

SchoolMessenger

All ratings802 ratings
Positive86.8%
Neutral2.4%
Negative10.8%
Written reviews224 reviews
Positive53.1%
Neutral6.3%
Negative40.6%

Lillio

All ratings37,341 ratings
Positive97.8%
Neutral1.5%
Negative0.7%
Written reviews186 reviews
Positive71.0%
Neutral10.2%
Negative18.8%

User reviews

SchoolMessenger

From 802 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Easy to use
  • 🚀 Convenient for reporting absences
  • 📢 Helpful for staying informed about school events
  • 💡 Consolidates all school communications in one place

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Messages still show as unread after being read
  • 🔍 Difficult to mark multiple messages as read
  • 🔄 Frequent log-outs and need to re-login
  • 🔔 Excessive and repeated notifications for the same message
  • 📱 Small text size and poor formatting in the app

Lillio

From 37K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Easy to use
  • 📸 Frequent photo/video updates
  • 🌐 Keeps parents connected to child's day
  • 💻 Convenient communication with teachers
  • 🗓️ Detailed daily reports

Room to improve

  • 🔍 Difficult to download/view photos and videos
  • ⏱️ Delayed updates and reports
  • 🔀 Confusing navigation after opening photos/videos
  • 🔧 Bugs and performance issues
  • 💬 Lack of interactive features (likes, comments)

Bugs and requests

SchoolMessenger

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Inability to report late arrivals or early departures
  • Attendance reporting not working for some users
  • Syncing issues between app and school records
  • Verification emails not being delivered

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add option to mark all messages as read
  • Improve navigation and message management
  • Implement dark mode and accessibility features
  • Allow parents to initiate messages to teachers

Lillio

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Login issues
  • Freezing and crashing
  • Inconsistent data updates
  • Compatibility problems on older devices

Requested features

5 requests
  • Time stamps for naps, meals, and activities
  • Ability to download photos/videos in bulk
  • Improved navigation and responsiveness
  • Interactive features for parents
  • More language options

In-app purchases

None

SchoolMessenger

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Lillio

Subscriptions1
  • Photos Plus$2.991 Month

Questions

Is SchoolMessenger free?
SchoolMessenger is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Lillio free?
Lillio is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, SchoolMessenger or Lillio?
Lillio is rated higher. SchoolMessenger averages 4.5 out of 5 from 802 ratings, while Lillio averages 4.9 from 37K ratings.
Do SchoolMessenger or Lillio have ads?
Neither SchoolMessenger nor Lillio shows ads.
Which is updated more often, SchoolMessenger or Lillio?
SchoolMessenger ships an update every 2 months, and Lillio every 4 weeks. Most recently, SchoolMessenger was updated on October 19, 2026 and Lillio on October 19, 2026.

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