brightwheel

Avantages

Keep me updated on my kids throughout the day

Inconvénients

Pictures are not grouped. Hard to download

Avantages

Brightwheel is easy to use and understand from both a parent perspective and a admin.

Inconvénients

Could use some more behind the scenes features when it comes to billing and licensing requirements.

Avantages

Brightwheel is easy to set up and easy to use. Not only does it save time, it offers wonderful tools to expand and grow your childcare business.

Inconvénients

There are too many departments/people to talk to when trying to get support. It would be nice to have one person assigned to our account that could help navigate questions.

Avantages

Ease of use. App has a single GUI and allows multiple functions.

Inconvénients

If you have your child in more than one school that uses Brightwheel information can "bleed" across and be difficult to change. (billing,pictures,etc)

Avantages

It is extremely user friendly, the app is great for families and employees!

Inconvénients

I wish there were more capabilities to delete and more billing specifics.

Avantages

When choosing a childcare engagement app, I was looking for something that was user friendly. The last app we used was not user friendly and parents were not getting the items we needed to communicate to them. Brightwheel not only allows us to get electronic daily reports to parents, but parents/staff can communicate directly about their child's day. Once I realized that Brightwheel also handled billing so much easier than Procare I was sold on the app!

Inconvénients

My least like about Brightwheel when we signed up was they did not process payroll. Now that they include payroll in their system we are switching fully from our previous childcare managment software!

Avantages

All in one tool. Easy to navigate. Clean UI/UIX.

Inconvénients

Tool can be glitchy at times. Some updates will publish/share delayed.

Avantages

Security and safety . Easy to use and easy to understand

Inconvénients

Nothing at all . Can’t remember any issues using this

Avantages

Ease to pay, view and document information for my child

Inconvénients

There is not a way to filter through the information over the full period of time

Avantages

Ease of use. Abundance of features that simplify running our business.

Inconvénients

Lack of expense tracking feature. This is the only con.

Avantages

The picture feature is fantastic for parents wanting to stay updated on their child from home/work. There is space to leave a caption, which helps to give a context to the images.

Inconvénients

Larger blocks of texts, such as announcements, are not as easily supported in the app. They must be formatted as images and then shared.

Avantages

The app is easy to use and it’s great for communication throughout the day to know our little one is doing well.

Inconvénients

The messaging feature is a little confusing to me but that could just be user error. They have a message for messaging admins but you don’t get to see who those people are so when I send a message I never know who sees it and just assume everyone does. It would be nice to know who is on the list.

Avantages

Ease of use
Intuitive design
Quick setup and start

Inconvénients

Inability tompay dues within the app. Made me go to the establishment to pay.

Avantages

I am able to see my kids progress and achievemnts

I know when upcoming events are going to happen

I am able to cherish and treasure precious photos of my kids and see them be themselves without mommy

Inconvénients

I am not able to see online when internet is down

Avantages

The ease in using this program is awesome. As a director, this frees up time for all the other things!!!

Inconvénients

There is a learning curve to using all the features.

Avantages

Communication is most important and this app makes so easy for parents to communicate about children's learning, we as a parents have every essential feature in this system like health, lessons, daily activities and so on. It also tremendously helpful in business growth.

Inconvénients

The features are very good and the management can be more improve

Avantages

Ease of use, keeps everyone on the same page

Inconvénients

Nothing I can think of - great product!

Avantages

That i am able to communicate with my families

Inconvénients

Not enough character space when sending urgent messages and enough time to do videos

Avantages

Love being able to see my child's daily activities, including what they are eating, when they are getting diaper changes (did they poop, or pee, or both? Did they need cream?), when did they go down for a nap?

Inconvénients

No real complaints. It's an easy platform to use!

Avantages

Brightwheel is an online system that allows daycares to communicate with parents, send photos, and updates. It’s used as an app on your phone and is very conformant to use.

Inconvénients

It can be expensive for schools and daycares to purchase and execute.

Avantages

I would like it if you could toggle between children if im looking for a certain dates say in and out record.

Inconvénients

Parents love it and helps alleviate paper work.

Avantages

I love how Brightwheel streamlines office clerical tasks so I can spend more time supporting teachers!

Inconvénients

I wish there was a way to block parent messaging, if needed.

Avantages

I like that is easy to use and clear , and we get to see all the important informations about the school! But the best part for me is the communication with all the staff of the school

Inconvénients

Sometimes I couldn’t download the pictures

Avantages

We love everything about Brightwheel. It is a very comprehensive program. When they see they have an issue they do an update and give us a better or new feature.

Inconvénients

The only drawback I have occasionally is that I am on the West Coast and occasionally when I have a question they are already closed.

Avantages

Brightwheel is an easy to use app with all the functions necessary. It allows you to see daily updates on your child to include both video and photos. It allows for a secure place to communicate with your child’s providers and keep informed with things outside of the normal daily updates. Being allowed to also send payments through the app is highly beneficial. Having everything in one app makes things so much easier.

Inconvénients

There isn’t much to dislike about the app. One slightly frustrating feature is the reminder emails regarding autopay. There was a time where I intentionally did not want to use auto pay. The app then would send DAILY notifications prompting me to sign up for autopay which was slightly frustrating.

Avantages

I like how it provides a simplified application that is helpful for both parents and teachers alike.

Inconvénients

It took a while to get used to the application after switching from paper to digital reports.

Avantages

I like the ease of use and multi-functionality.

Inconvénients

I don't like that you have to click on each child's page to go see a message even if it is the same message across all children.

Avantages

I love the payments side && being able to upload pictures and videos for parents to see children.

Inconvénients

Sometimes it tells me parents payments failed when they didn’t. I also don’t like that a parent card can be charged when funds aren’t available and then the funds will come out my account if they didn’t really pay!!!

Avantages

The ease of being able to effectively communicate with families in real-time.

Inconvénients

Nothing, it is amazing! I honestly cannot think of 1 negative aspect of using Brightwheel.

Avantages

Lets parents relax knowing what their child is doing with constant updates, pictures, and messages.

Inconvénients

I only dislike that their is a fee to pay thru the app.

Avantages

Brightwheel works so very well to seamlessly bring together students, families, and staff. It works great for attendance, communication between staff and families.

Inconvénients

Brightwheel had a wonderful billing system until the recent upgrade. The ability to look into a child's account and be able to see and comprehend a paper trail of billing, credits, adjustments, and refunds. However; with the new billing platform this is a luxury of the past. Now it is nearly impossible to decode what has happened in a child's account if there is anything out of the ordinary such as credits, adjustments or refunds. You simply can't see them without some major digging, drilling-down and then research as it kind of "wipes away" the electronic paper-trail in a sense and makes it difficult to get to the bottom of transaction flow in an account.

Avantages

Attendance
Billing
Parent Communicatons
Newsletter publishing
Reporting and tailored towards taking care of the administrative paperwork to help us focus on teaching and others.

Inconvénients

Nothing was missing from the main features required for child care management system. I would simply say not applicable or nothing to this question.

Avantages

It gave me the ability to have open communication with my children's and teachers.

Inconvénients

Nothing! There is nothing that I thought needed to be improved.

Avantages

What our company likes most about brightwheel is the consistent communication between brightwheel and our company for the benefitting our needs through their service; also, the accessibility for communciation between our company and our customers.

Inconvénients

No digital initialing tab for parent documentation was the least about brightwheel; however, a text block was included.

Avantages

The software has a total solutions to serve the purpose. User-friendly and quite easy to use.

Inconvénients

It has certain billing issues but manageable with the help of support

Avantages

I love being able to easily message my child's teacher or the admin at school

Inconvénients

Difficulty downloading financial forms from the payment page.

Avantages

Brightwheel has all of our centers needs all in one app!

Inconvénients

That it takes so much to reach a live agent on the phone

Avantages

Customer service is very helpfull, they don'y just give you the answer but give you a link to learn what to do.

Inconvénients

I don't have a solid chunk of time to just sit down and learn this program so for me it was the time spent kearning. They have had a couple of trainings and again their customer service is very good.

Avantages

You can see pictures right away, be able to speak to the facility, and pay your payments right away

Inconvénients

I honestly don't have any cons for this app!

Avantages

The easy messaging to the teachers and owner of the daycare.

Inconvénients

It was always hard to pay on the app. it never worked

Avantages

I love so many things about brightwheel. I love that I can share anecdotal records and photos with families, I can create a space to share photos with staff, and the ease of use of the app and online website. I am a big fan of Brightwheel and tell everyone about it. During the pandemic Brightwheel stood by us and even offered trainings for our staff at no cost when other similar companies we worked with would not work with us or gave us ultimatums. I will forever promote Brightwheel to others in the field and cannot thank them enough.

Inconvénients

There isn't really anything I don't like about Brightwheel. I notice that when I message staff together and they respond, staff can't see each other's message. I know this is a privacy concern but wonder if you can have a setting for this like "all staff" or individual staff. It's not a deal breaker. Many of the things I use to have issues with, they fixed them.

Avantages

We love being able to receive timely payments, keep up with invoicing, and parents can check their account as well!

Inconvénients

We were pretty satisfied with Brightwheels after we became accustomed with using it to its full potential!

Alternatives envisagées 

Pourquoi passer à brightwheel

Avantages

One place that has all you needs. Great customer service and I love the workshops.

Inconvénients

I wish they had a parent volunteer area.

Avantages

It is a great way to keep in touch with my child's teachers. I also love that I am able to receive pictures and updates on a daily basis.

Inconvénients

Sometimes I receive messages that do not apply to me, but I understand that it is a mass communication whether it's applicable for me or not.

Avantages

I can be connected with parents, We can send updates messages and daily progress about their children. We have activities and parents can see what are we domain we are developing with their children

Inconvénients

We are improving daily communication with parents. We can show the Lesson Plan every day

Avantages

Love the ease of use. The communication tool helps bridge the gap between home and school. The billing function takes out any awkwardness of having to address certain fees. The built in Experience curriculum provides a level of quality that is worth the investment.

Inconvénients

I wish there was a feature that would prompt staff to check in. Staff should not be able to log any reports without being checked in. As of now, staff can log activities without being logged in.

Avantages

As a childcare center, Brightwheel offered an easy way to keep track of all required documentation, as well as parent contact, in an easy to use format.

Inconvénients

For us, the only con was the price. While it is a competitive price with other programs of the same product, we were able to find a cheaper option that we are extremely happy with.

Avantages

It is such an efficient application for teachers

Inconvénients

I like everything, I really don't have anything bad to say, it's excellent

Avantages

-payment options for parents-only software we've found that can handle our drop-in model-fairly user friendly-parents enjoy the app and communication features

Inconvénients

-a few more options for adding information or symbols to students would be nice-doesn't really hide inactive students, which can be confusing/irritating-seems to have hang ups if used by the same parent for multiple centers

Avantages

Brightwheel is very user friendly and makes a big impact on how we run our daycare centers.

Inconvénients

Sometimes it is difficult to get in touch with customer support.