IRIS ParentMail - School communication platform

You gave it 4 stars. It would have been 5 if it hadn't texted you 5 times in the night about low balance. Even after turning off notifications, it kept sending them until you topped up by £30. You only pay upfront for what you actually need. Since it's not a bank, you don't save money there. But, you received an instant response when you contacted them, so you revised your rating to 4 stars.

Schools usually use apps to reach out to parents. When I have the app on my phone, it alerts me about any new messages. Since I already get notifications through the app, I don't really want to receive emails as well. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be an option to turn off the email notifications completely.

This app works well. Sometimes, I notice that the payments shown in the app are different from what the school has. When I receive a notification about a purchase, it doesn't show up on my account but is visible on the school's system instead.

So, everything was fine until the update. I added money for dinner, the statement shows it's gone, but the balance doesn't show that. Even though the balance said £40.80, I got an email saying it was low, so I topped up again. But now there's no record of this top-up on the statement. The balance should be £21.60, but it shows as £62.40. Also, the screen takes longer to load, and it's just white.

Oh, this app used to be awesome! But then they went and changed it. Now I don't even get notifications. And when I try to open a message, it's like a miracle if I can actually read it. I have really good Wi-Fi, but the app keeps saying my connection isn't strong enough to show me my messages. It's so frustrating, they really dropped the ball on this one.

That app is not so great. Sometimes the notifications don't work, so I have to ask other parents for information just in case. It's hard to find where to see meal options. Also, you can't schedule absences or delete them, which is a big problem. I have to use this app, but every time I do, I hope they've hired a new team to improve how it works.