Review Insights · Google Play
ParentSquare
ParentSquare · 42,467 ratings · ★ 4.4
4.4
★★★★★
42,467 ratings
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Top complaints - extracted from 42 negative reviews
Recurring phrases mined from 1-2★ reviews. The bigger the percentage, the more users have the same problem. Fix the top 2-3 in your version and you have product-market fit on day one.
1
"school"
11 negative reviews mention this · 26% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Just like most communication tools from the school this one is unsatisfactory. The email notice I got about a tardy notice tells me I can input an explanation through the app. if true it's impossible to figure out how. It can't be done dire…" - Thomas McMasters
2
"message"
11 negative reviews mention this · 26% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Just like most communication tools from the school this one is unsatisfactory. The email notice I got about a tardy notice tells me I can input an explanation through the app. if true it's impossible to figure out how. It can't be done dire…" - Thomas McMasters
3
"parent"
9 negative reviews mention this · 21% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Just like most communication tools from the school this one is unsatisfactory. The email notice I got about a tardy notice tells me I can input an explanation through the app. if true it's impossible to figure out how. It can't be done dire…" - Thomas McMasters
4
"kids"
8 negative reviews mention this · 19% of all complaints
★★★★★ "can't even log in. it won't ever send me the verification code. how the heck am i supposed to receive information for my kids' activities?" - Jennifer Murillo
5
"email"
7 negative reviews mention this · 17% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Just like most communication tools from the school this one is unsatisfactory. The email notice I got about a tardy notice tells me I can input an explanation through the app. if true it's impossible to figure out how. It can't be done dire…" - Thomas McMasters
6
"password"
7 negative reviews mention this · 17% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Horrible log in. Forces you to change your password every so often, I hate it. then you log in and always say invalid. please make changing your password optional." - Allan Zacatenco
7
"notification"
7 negative reviews mention this · 17% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Notifications never link to the correct post, and even after searching sometimes the post is nowhere to be found in the app." - Marc Orwick
8
"information"
6 negative reviews mention this · 14% of all complaints
★★★★★ "can't even log in. it won't ever send me the verification code. how the heck am i supposed to receive information for my kids' activities?" - Jennifer Murillo
9
"through"
6 negative reviews mention this · 14% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Just like most communication tools from the school this one is unsatisfactory. The email notice I got about a tardy notice tells me I can input an explanation through the app. if true it's impossible to figure out how. It can't be done dire…" - Thomas McMasters
10
"horrible"
6 negative reviews mention this · 14% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Horrible log in. Forces you to change your password every so often, I hate it. then you log in and always say invalid. please make changing your password optional." - Allan Zacatenco
11
"notifications"
6 negative reviews mention this · 14% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Notifications never link to the correct post, and even after searching sometimes the post is nowhere to be found in the app." - Marc Orwick
12
"messages"
6 negative reviews mention this · 14% of all complaints
★★★★★ "I only use this app because my kid's school district says I have to. 6 years since I last reviewed this app and it's still the most buggy and unreliable app I've ever used. Today it logged me out and won't let me log in to see the 7 message…" - Katie
📋 All 42 negative reviews
Every 1-2★ review we fetched. Use the copy button to grab them all for your own analysis (paste into ChatGPT/Claude with a prompt like "summarize core user problems, group by theme, ignore bugs, focus on missing features").
can't even log in. it won't ever send me the verification code. how the heck am i supposed to receive information for my kids' activities?
Horrible log in. Forces you to change your password every so often, I hate it. then you log in and always say invalid. please make changing your password optional.
trying to fill out a form, have to switch to another app for some details back to parentsquare, form is empty and I can start from scratch
If the screen orientation changes (Samsung) the app will wipe your entire drafted message. That means if you sit up from a recliner, or stand with the phone in your hand, you are liable to lose an entire carefully drafted message to a parent. Absolutely inexcusable UI failing.
won't send email to reset password
very confusing. I much rather do it the way I did before. just through Google on parent square. the app is not easy to use. I'm lost
I only use this app because my kid's school district says I have to. 6 years since I last reviewed this app and it's still the most buggy and unreliable app I've ever used. Today it logged me out and won't let me log in to see the 7 messages that just came in from my kid's teacher. "Oops! Looks like something went wrong. Please try again." Well I did, many many times. Uninstalled and reinstalled. Same unhelpful error message. Thankfully TODAY my spouse's account works -- for once!!!
can't message staff directly unless they are my kids teachers. so can't do principal or attendance clerk etc..
TERRIBLE. I only get about 15% of the notifications for the school's posts. In one day, out of the 7 messages my son's school posted, I only got a notification for 1. Of course the one I got wasn't for the post telling me school was starting late due to an emergency 🙄
My rating is solely based on notification routing. Clicking on a notification literally just opens the app, no navigation to what the notification was actually for. At this point, it is a guessing game in the maze of options available, especially with multiple children and multiple schools. I honestly can't believe the average rating isn't considerably lower.
3/26 As if it was even possible the most recent update made it even worse. Since the recent update the app doesn't work anymore. If it even loads you have to sign in but when trying to do so you get an error message. Message states there's no internet available. I have full bars on wifi and 5G so it's clearly not true. Please fix the issue. Still having issues with app loading as of 3/3/26
horrible if you have multiple kids in different schools (middle school and high school). It's like Facebook for teachers to post little bits of random information they think of last minute and make parents try to interpret what the heck is going on.
I can't log in with my password
cant log in. got kicked out. can not change password because I'm not receiving emails. we'll this just goes along with the horrible school system. they don't work it makes since to use an app that sucks too. its been over a week and I still cant get back in to see about my kids schooling and information.
The current school insists that we communicate with faculty through parent square. Note to self and others: do not compose in parent square. It will flicker and delete your nearly complete message. This has happened twice recently. Dysfunctional for what I need it for, so it gets one star.
at the beginning nothing was working then I kept trying still didn't work until I asked a teacher.
So far, I dislike this app for communication. Notifications don't come through. I notice them a day later. I'm tech savvy and this app, unfortunately, as it stands on my device and previous device, performs poorly. Teachers or a nurse will message me, and tell my kids that it was read by me, but I never responded. I never received the notification in the first place, so it was not read by me.
not a well developed app. confusing and misleading. not only parents agree, but some teachers do as well, too.
says invalid email and password after this newest update..... I have uninstalled and reinstalled pushed send code to change password and never received any code...
horrible horrible platform. if your district is considering this please go elsewhere. there aren't proper controls to get important information leading to communication fatigue. get something that has more fine tuned controls. even email is better than this!
I have to be honest - this app sucks. - 1. It's not user friendly/easy to navigate. - 2. The messages are hidden (why do I need to select a school or student to see my messages! That should be on the home screen menu. Some of us have multiple kids in multiple schools). 3. The "heart/favorite" feature is absolutely purposeless. They don't save to another folder or section for easy retrievals later. This app has way too many installs to be this horrible.
the appt randomly stopped sending me notifications, I can't get the message tab on the app I have reach out out to the company and they seem to not being able to fix it. I have an android.
awful app, at least for how my kids school uses it. 100% one-way communication app that the school spams everything through. 99% of posts and notifications recieved have nothing to do with my kid or her class. it basically is a junk mail like app
downloaded the app and does not give me the option to create an acct🤦👎
Having to switch between my teacher and parent account has been a pain. If I get a notification from one of my children's schools or teachers, I get an error or it just doesn't load and opens me up to my teacher account. I would have to go in, switch accounts and find what I was trying to go to. Now, this week it won't let me switch to my parent account at all. It says you have switched to your parent account but nope, still the teacher account. Over and over. I can only get there on my laptop.
Isn't available for family members that help with getting students to sports and activities. Remind is a much better app.
I stopped receiving notices from my daughter's school, and neither the app nor the website will let me log back into the app or reset my password.
app sucks
don't use it
terrible way to consume information. zoom capabilities are very buggy and cannot read school flyers thanks to that. The app no longer seems to be worked on as these bugs are there for a while
Not only does this app not work, but it tells me that my password needs to be reset and then says it can't because the school does not have my information on file. Apps like this are a huge security risk because they prey on school systems that use the first thing they can find and often leave your personal information at risk due to being cheaply put together.
updated the app now the message function is completely gone. I received an email with the message but when you go to the app theres absolutely not even a button you can click on for messages theres not even a notification on the app stating I have a message. ive looked everywhere for messages and they are literally no where to be found. this is literally the only line of communication for the teacher and now I cant communicate with them
I use PS as a parent and an educator and two separate districts. The app will not load on the educator or parent side. it just keeps trying to reload. very frustrating.
I can not stayed logged in and when I go to log back in and says You've been logged out. It takes no more than 15 tries before it allows me to log in.
Just like most communication tools from the school this one is unsatisfactory. The email notice I got about a tardy notice tells me I can input an explanation through the app. if true it's impossible to figure out how. It can't be done directly from the page that has the notice. I also received a message saying join a group. Parents can't find that group by using the group icon and then requesting to become a member. Instead you have to be provided a link which will delay most
Notifications never link to the correct post, and even after searching sometimes the post is nowhere to be found in the app.
Not the greatest app but was working fine until most recent update, now I'm have the same problem others are reporting... I get a notification and click on it but it doesn't take me to the full post causing me to go hunting for it. Also, when the post is district-wide, it doesn't show up anywhere. Correct this glitch please!
notifications and navigation are horrible. in addition to having to shift through multiple streams of data to find a message, especially when more than 1 child is registered on an account, lately, I get a push notification and when I click on it or open the app, that message from the notification does not exist! anywhere....until next time I get a notification. it's like the app is hiding the most recent notifications. needs a search tool, or a way to better organize with multiple kids.
meh. email has already been invented. this just makes it worse, eg I can't cc the other parent; no problem to do that with email.
Parent Square is like having an overflowing email inbox you can't manage. I love a way to be able to hide messages I've read or don't care about, flag important items for action, and easily filter by sender.
Erases message threads spontaneously. Will not let me add my wife to a message thread as a parent (have to rely on the staff to do so). Required to take multiple steps just to access messages.
I am a teacher and a parent, using the Parent Square app. Lately, I have been having issues with switching between my parent dashboard and my teacher dashboard. When I switch to my parent account, the app starts glitching and I can't access anything. it switches back and forth between the dashboard and the loading screen over and over and over again and I can't get it to stop.
Sentiment summary
84%
Positive (4-5★)
4%
Neutral (3★)
12%
Negative (1-2★)