SproutAbout Reviews

SproutAbout is extremely glitchy on my iPhone 11. The video is slow and constantly freezes, I have to keep reloading and clicking from camera to camera to refresh. I thought it was because I needed to download the update, but ever since the update, it doesn’t open at all anymore and just stays stuck on the white intro page so I can’t even see the teacher updates and messages. If you are a daycare center, please, for the love of god, use a better app for the sake of the tired parents that could do with one less pebble in their shoe.

As a parent and teacher who uses SproutAbout I don’t like it at all.
As a teacher: Updates for individual children take so much time to enter. We often have issues with SproutAbout loading or not uploading the updates.
As a parent: Having my son in the infant room the updates are important to keep track of naps and feedings, but I can’t access SproutAbout to see his updates. I’ve been getting a solid this app Home Screen. Messages don’t always go through on both ends.
SproutAbout needs work. Brightwheel and Precious Status were better options.

For the past two weeks or more I’ve received random “No screenshot warning” with a red camera. Well after 3 times in one day and a few in the last two weeks, the center thinks I’m disobeying privacy rules. I was blocked for over 48 hours. Seeing my children throughout my workday is priceless. I looked into all setting in my phone…just to find out from a tech phone (to this app because I was lost)call that SproutAbout misreads Apple CarPlay initiations as an attempt by the user to take a screenshot. This is absolutely ridiculous! So I can’t be a passenger or sit in a parking lot and see my children or look at them before driving off. Major flaw. Very disappointed. Best part is, this “known” issue was not shared in any form of communication to the center. So the director can think I’m making stuff up and this is not in any newsletter/email updates. Horrible! What a terrible flaw!

App barely loads anymore. Takes at least 30 seconds from the splash screen to boot up. My messages don’t send to the teachers. Cannot switch to another camera once in full screen video because the screen gets stuck. Video constantly freezes and I can’t close out of full screen video to another tab at all. Have to close SproutAbout and reopen every time.
Seriously, SproutAbout barely functions. Must be a lot cheaper for providers than the alternatives because I can’t otherwise imagine why they’d use it.

As a teacher of 6 years through day cares and learning centers, I can say that this app is without a doubt the worst communications app I’ve seen since I started. Not only does it require too many actions for me to post, edit or upload anything it also does not let me post, edit or upload anything because it doesn’t work. The time needed to trouble shoot would hinder my vision of my classroom and taking time away from the kids. Don’t get me started on the messaging portion. If it’s not loading and freezing SproutAbout everytime I click the messages icon then it’s not showing parent messages or receiving the messages on time or just straight up deleting important messages. Not once have the teachers in my center who have used brightwheel once complained about it but since switching over to this app I hear complaints from every classroom. Today SproutAbout would not let me check out children so I’m stuck with SproutAbout saying 13 children. I see update after update and with each one SproutAbout gets worse. Take it down, let the teachers use brightwheel again and when you’ve figured out what’s wrong with your app then we will try!!

I have never used an app that is more buggy than SproutAbout. The only reason that I continue to use it is because that is the method of communication between my child’s daycare and parents. Were that not the case, I would use whatever alternative communication was available. SproutAbout frequently freezes up or is unable to load whichever form you are trying to pull up. It is incredibly frustrating as a parent trying to read a bulletin about a health concern in your child’s room and not being able to actually read the contents because SproutAbout won’t load.

Please give the school leadership the ability to reinstate live video access. I mistakenly took a single screen shot and my video access was removed. I am being told by our schools director that she is unable to reinstate and there is no options for appeal. She has asked that I get my video reinstated but does not know the path to take to request this. I understand SproutAbout says no screenshots when you first log into SproutAbout , but I have written a statement that it was a mistake and included the screenshot. Nothing was done with malicious intent. But there is no way to request an appeal. Who can I communicate with to request reinstatement?

As a lead teacher I miss being able to login on my phone. The reason being is because being the lead teacher I leave early and sometimes I have a lot going on to where I forget to message my parents. Even if I tell the next teacher to relay a message to a parent for me it doesn’t always work out that way. Lastly, I love having a great connection with the parents so if my parents have any questions or concerns they should be able to reach me through SproutAbout no matter where I am at instead of having to wait until they see me in class again.

SproutAbout is terrible and it is so glitchy and has so many bugs and the way it is set up is terrible! There is no order at all and it is hugely inconvenient. As a teacher for learning care group, it makes it incredibly difficult to manage what has been posted for each child throughout the day. It takes an extremely long time to upload activity photos and with 12 individual children having to upload 12 individual photos, this can be extremely time consuming. There is no option to message to other classrooms like with brightwheel which makes communicate with other teachers/admin extremely difficult. PLEASE BRING BRIGHTWHEEL BACK

So the school leadership has reached out to this app about my profile saying disabled she was informed 48 hours this was false, then I speak with 3 different people asking me the same basic questions and saying I will get a call back. Never do just someone knew asking me if my app is up to date and still having issues I say yes it’s up to date and yes it’s still shoveling disabled. They informed the daycare that it was resolved which it has not been… and they informed her they have a very small staff… I actually liked SproutAbout we used within the daycare prior I never had any issues. Brightwheel was amazing to use as well as WatchMeGrow. But for some reason this app is an issue for not only us parents but for the staff as well.

Not sure why our daycare pays for SproutAbout. It’s often glitchy, video and photos have issues when trying to tap to view, and lately I can’t even get the update feed to load. Daycares need to pick a different app developer because this one isn’t worth it.

Edit - welp turns out SproutAbout is owned Learning Care Grouo which is owned by a private equity firm who also owns the daycare we send our kid to. Probably means the daycares are captive clients (ie probably forced to use SproutAbout). Also means SproutAbout will always be terrible because if the daycares are forced to use it because they are both owned by the same parent company there probably won’t be competition from an outside app company…. Thanks for making a terrible app in the name of profit

We have had this mess of an app for a year now. There have been no noticeable improvements in that time, except maybe SproutAbout now opens sometimes if you’re lucky.

There have been no changes to the messaging parts of SproutAbout . Autocorrect does not work, and messages have a 50% success rate at going through. The chance of the message actually being read is even less because notifications are still basically nonexistent. The only form of notification is a disappearing stack of banner notifications. I can’t tell you how many times I have missed a message from school because the notification disappeared or was buried in a stack of other things.

SproutAbout must be difficult for the teachers to use, too. I haven’t gotten a picture of my oldest child in several weeks. I only get updates about my younger one at nap time.

SproutAbout remains incredibly slow, glitchy, and cumbersome. It’s hard to use, is not intuitive, and seriously hampers our ability to know what our kids are doing and communicate with the school.

I had high hopes that changes would be made to make SproutAbout better, but in a year, there have been none. LCG should have done something about this dumpster fire a long time ago, but they instead continue to disrespect the parents who pay huge amounts in tuition by giving them this subpar, barely-functional-on-a-good-day app.

Video freezes frequently. Also, if you play a video that was posted on the main feed and then continue to scroll along the feed, the video will continue to play, sometimes playing 2 audios overlapping each other. Difficult to scroll the posted photos quickly; opens another window which then you have to close out. Inconsistently receive messages (my husband will receive but I won’t) and we’re not always sure the teachers receive our messages. I do like the summary feature at the top and how I can see each of my children.

SproutAbout has s great for teacher to parent communication, but the video feed feature is abysmal. It often freezes or ends a session within seconds of hitting the play button. Sometimes it tells you you don’t have access to the camera at all, but when you refresh SproutAbout , suddenly you do.

The worst bug for our use has been the “no screenshots or screen recording” alerts to administration. If you have SproutAbout open and plug your phone into a CarPlay enabled vehicle, it reports you to administration for taking a screenshot, despite there being no screenshot in your camera roll and you not even touching the buttons on the side of your phone. This leads to an uncomfortable conversation or (based on policy at the daycare) possible removal from being able to use the feature at all!

SproutAbout needs work.

App works inconsistently. Sometimes it works with all functions, others it opens but never loads. Sometimes the camera streaming functionality freezes and you have to refresh to re-load it. Messages from parents to teachers don’t always go through. It’s a very clunky app that needs work. It’s frustrating to not be able to follow my children throughout their day or know when my infant has had bottles/naps. Would rather use another app service.

I have such a strong love hate relationship with SproutAbout. It’s my most frequently opened app to see my child. I open SproutAbout , click on camera, start scanning the classroom to find my kid, and as soon as I do and try to see what his doing, the screen goes black and says “you have reached the end of your session. Would you like to continue watching?” EVERY. Gddmn time. Seriously. After 1000 times, it still make me do a silent scream with frustration.
Other functions work fine, like messages and photo uploads from the teachers. But so does all the other similar apps.

I have had issues with SproutAbout not recognizing messages being read so I constantly have 68+ bulletins. I receive no notifications when the teachers post even though I have that setting active. Images and posts are constantly out of order in my feed. I even got a brand new phone and that didn’t correct these problems.

The company constantly updates SproutAbout with 0 effect. I have no idea what changes they are even making as there has been no improvement in over 1.5 years.

My daughter’s school uses SproutAbout as the point of communication, so when SproutAbout is down, I miss updates and communications (short of emergencies where of course they would call), which makes things super inconvenient. This latest release was down almost all of Friday and is down today too (Monday). And obviously I miss seeing my baby during the day if I can’t access SproutAbout to use the cameras. That being said, when SproutAbout works, it’s great and very convenient minus the couple things others have brought up (e.g. no spell check or autocorrect). I hope they make the platform more stable so we can actually use SproutAbout !

As a Manager I miss the ability to have SproutAbout on my phone to get alerts and easily communicate with families. I constantly have to refresh the page throughout the day as it freezes often. I have to continuously log in to see if a family needs anything as there are no pop up alerts.

Over the last month we experienced terrible weather in our area resulting in major power outages. My phone was the only reliable source I had to communicate. Having a management version available to communicate with families and get pop up alerts is a necessity. I also do not like the fact that I can not actively communicate back and forth with staff in the way which brightwheel functioned as our schools don’t have communication systems.

Lastly, as a Director I feel I should have access to easily see each child’s newsfeed to ensure all the proper updates are being inputted which is lacking.

It would be worthwhile for the company that created SproutAbout to invest in contracting with UX and customer loyalty consultants for future version updates. SproutAbout is clunky and frequently glitches. Scrolling through pictures can be difficult as it easily returns you to the main page. The presentation of meal, etc. updates is too big and prominent. The info is not personalized to my child as I do not have the option of having SproutAbout refer to my child in gender specific pronouns. The screen to talk to the teacher should have an option for a simple message vs comments for drop off and pick up. I have experienced issues with my messages not being received by the teachers, so now I call the school instead of using SproutAbout . It seems as if the production of SproutAbout and the go live was rushed. SproutAbout has potential. Brightwheel has improvement opportunities, but it is currently a much better solution.

Positives: aesthetically the interface is nice. Like the layout and graphics. Cons: Clunky, UI glitches, cameras sometimes glitch out, can’t make payments to my day care in SproutAbout and have to routed to the website. It’s a, better than nothing, situation. Please add Apple Watch support for notifications and improve the UI fluidity and speed of navigation through SproutAbout . It would be beneficial if payments were within app.

I like SproutAbout overall- my child’s daycare has used a couple different ones.

Can you PLEASE fix this frustrating issue: when I scroll down through the pictures to save… I may go back several days, save a pic and SproutAbout brings me back to the most recent post. So I have to scroll all the way back, wait for posts to load, and find where I left off. Why can’t I save a picture and just go back to the post (timeframe) I was browsing.

I don’t know Brightwheel as context but so far I only had one issue logging in and the developer responded within a day and that was resolved. The rest of SproutAbout provides what I need and I haven’t had any other issues. I have confidence in the developer as they do respond to the reviews, so that is a positive sign. I have noticed that I can access SproutAbout through a VPN. This makes me a little uncomfortable as I feel this should not happen for security reasons.

It’s a decent app…when it works properly. The video section is unbelievably glitchy. Whenever I try to use it I get a note that there are unlimited 30 minute viewing windows which is fine but as soon as you try to view it freezes then you have to fuss with SproutAbout to get it to display the message to allow you to view again. This seems to happen lately whenever I try to view video which seems odd. Assuming this is a new addition because that didn’t previously happen. It’s absolutely annoying so I hope this is fixed sooner rather than later. SproutAbout also doesn’t always send messages so I echo the sentiment of others on this. I’ve logged in and out and even restarted my phone to see if it resolves the issue but it doesn’t so the issue definitely seems to be with SproutAbout itself. Also it occasionally will say there are no active children enrolled on the account but then SproutAbout will miraculously show them after a bit more fussing with SproutAbout . Not sure what is going on behind the scenes with SproutAbout but hopefully the bugs are worked out soon.

SproutAbout performs its best for what it’s tasked to do. One major complaint is the lack of ability to have text autocorrect or redline to know of spelling errors. Absolutely infuriating as that is a seemingly basic and simple ask for any phone app. Also the inability to directly communicate with the center management staff is difficult as there is an email chain for important things/discussions and then they can post messages for one way updates.

Could be a better app.

To start with. It serves its purpose for parent as a communication tool. It’s nice to have access to camera feed and basic massaging needs.
I like that I can glance and go. BUT:
Picture browser is just terrible. I really don’t like that in order to zoom in I need to tap 3 times, or when scrolling thru pictures it will go to - let’s call it - individual picture mode. I expect it to be a simple swipe and go. Rest of functionality works.

I’m both a teacher and a parent through LCG.
As a parent, i love SproutAbout and it’s features.

As a teacher, SproutAbout is horrible. It would make it far more easier if teachers were able to have some control over which children are shown in “my classroom”. I’m unsure of other centers, but ours has a bunch of children who can be in that room grouped together. Whenever we have children checked in it doesn’t show them all grouped together, rather spread throughout the list that doesn’t seem as though it has a method of sorting. As a brand new teacher it made it EXTREMELY confusing trying to figure out which children were actually assigned to be in that room on a day to day basis.
Please add the option to edit photos that are taken within SproutAbout itself, like if we need to fix the rotation, that is a big one for myself personally.
Please add the option to have an announcement, instead of just Activity/Sleep/ Lesson Plan/Food. If the announcement is added, if possible to make the notification appear differently than the updates that pop up for the child.
I have had a few parents say something about the comments they have left on activity updates, can we as teachers have the ability to reply back to the comments, as well as receive notifications of interactions with the updates.

Have been using SproutAbout for some time now i've had no problem in navigating it. I hear great feedback from the staff about SproutAbout. Live video works for me. I would also prefer to access it on the web. I get updates and messages fine but there's always room for improvement.......I hope they bring out some new features soon too.

SproutAbout is great. I like being able to handle all things related to the school and my children in one place. All the important details are there and I love the messaging option as well. It has helped communication with the teachers and staff tremendously. No missed calls and voicemails. Best of all I like being able to check in on my daughters through out the day via the video option. Some times I just miss them and want to see them, especially when I’m away for work.

SproutAbout was easy to download and set up. It has been quite helpful in keeping track of my child's daily activities. The interface is user-friendly and easy to navigate. I appreciate the notifications and updates I receive throughout the day, which give me a sense of how my child is doing e.g My kid loves listening to stories and I was once able to see him really enjoying a session in the live video. Good effort overall from the school.

I've been using SproutAbout for a few months now, and it's been a valuable tool in staying connected with the daycare. The messaging feature that allows me to stay connected with teachers, especially when I have specific questions or concerns since my kid is allergic to a lot of things. The daily reports give me a sense of my child's eating, napping, and playtime routines. For a working parent like me life is a bit more manageable with it.

I love the this app app that our daycare uses. Being able to see a live feed of my child at all times has calmed a lot of anxieties and we can see she’s having a great time! The teachers post pictures throughout the day of activities the kids are doing and keep us up to date on their meals, how much or what they’ve had to drink and potty updates. SproutAbout has worked perfectly fine for us and we haven’t had any issues! Gives us peace of mind all week!

As a parent, I have the amazing abilities to see my little infant and my toddler on how they are thriving through the day. Nothing can beat SproutAbout as I get ability to live stream or catch up on major updates throughout the day. Also see some fun pics of the updates I missed! Thanks to my daycare for using SproutAbout. Great way to also keep track of when my child took a nap, had a diaper change, etc. I also can message teachers directly in the class/talk to day care management. This gives me immense ability to not just wait on regular phone calls which can delay the process to reach someone sooner. I also love the fact I can see when my kids were checked in and out. So I know constantly where they are.

I love SproutAbout ! I love the live video feed which lets me check in on my infant at any moment of any day that she’s checked in. The teachers at our specific location use every single feature and I greatly appreciate it. When they send update to us they include every single note. Diaper change and applied diaper cream or snack update and every single item they ate. Bottle time, what time the bottle started to warm and when they ended the meal. It’s incredible and I’m so grateful to be able to have this technology. I hope every location uses SproutAbout like our location does.

We truly value being able to instant message our toddler & infant’s teachers as needed, as well as the school leadership! SproutAbout also allows us to watch our children throughout the day, via live camera, giving us incomparable peace of mind. Getting our weekly food menus, newsletters, and mass alerts all in one place keep us organized and updated! Me husband and I are thankful for such a wonderful app (and school)!

I love the video feed and continuous updates of what my daughter is doing throughout the day all in one app!! We also have the ability to share updates with family members and see when she’s being transferred from her childcare to her elementary school. Highly recommend SproutAbout!!!

Since Day 1 of using SproutAbout , I have been unable to read messages from my child’s Care Circle. I receive the notification that it was sent and can read the first few lines of it, but after selecting the notification, I am brought to a blank screen within SproutAbout with no error codes and am unable to see the group the message is in. I have tried logging out of SproutAbout , uninstalling/reinstalling SproutAbout , and restarting my phone to no avail. I was told to take screenshots of what I was seeing and send them to the Tech Support team to investigate, which I have done. I also received two case numbers that documented the issue. I might have been able to overlook this as glitches within SproutAbout , but the clincher is that I have both called and emailed the this app Tech Support team about this issue with the information they requested and have not received any additional support or acknowledgment on this case. It has been over a week with no call-back or response to my app issues. As someone who works in the Tech Support/Customer Service industry, it’s really frustrating to be on the other end of the line where you’re waiting for a reply with no indication of where the investigation is sitting or if a solution is around the corner.

Edit: App issue was resolved; while I thought it was a bit of a wait, Tech Support associates did call back and escalate the issue, and it was fixed next day.

I’ve been a user of SproutAbout for my child’s school since he was an infant. I must say it has really turned around for the better in the last few versions at least for me. I faced early problems with messages and updates but now everything seems to be running smooth. Keep it up.

Since enrolling our child in the childcare center, I've been using SproutAbout, and I'm thoroughly impressed with its user-friendly interface. What's even better is the center's openness to feedback. I shared some suggestions, and within a few weeks, I noticed tangible improvements. Their dedication to continuous progress makes me genuinely happy.

I have been using this app app for a while now. There were some issues at the start but it has gotten better over time. Ability to communicate with teachers is a handy feature. It lets me ask questions about my kid one on one. I also have a record of important announcements made through SproutAbout .

The convenience of using the school's app is pretty great. I am able to see camera feed and updates about my daughter's activities as a summary when I log in, so I don't have to ask the same questions to the teachers or staff every time I pick her up. I've seen other preschools and daycares, very few offer such features. I'm quite impressed and satisfied so far.

The concept of SproutAbout is great. Lets you stay in touch with the school and see what the little ones are up to through the live feeds. Found it well-organized. Activity feed with updates, photos and videos are quite like Facebook's wall. There are some opportunities for improvement, but those are few and far between. Have seen several improvements recently.. hope the momentum continues with enhancements.

If you were to go off the “star rating” of SproutAbout you’d think it was a train wreck. But for me, it has always worked great.

I can see videos, pictures, and updates of my kid consistently. I can easily message staff and can see they are receiving and answering messages.

Lots of the complaints might be from people trying to use certain unstable features of SproutAbout . Receiving updates, images, videos, messages all work great for me though!

My experience of SproutAbout has been good so far. SproutAbout 's look and feel is similar to other social apps with photos, activity updates, messaging etc. Taking a break to see the camera feed of your kid playing is awesome! I don't mind minor inconveniences, like sometimes it may have some issues loading messages or camera feed. Usually they get sorted out on their own after a bit. I like the privacy features too like you're not allowed to record the screen when video is playing. Did not face major issues so far, and would like to see it that way.

SproutAbout is wonderful for parents who want to feel connected to their child during the workday. It seamlessly informs me of everything I need to know about his day, from meals and diapers to naps and activities. The photos and streaming let me see how my child is learning and interacting with his peers in ways I’m not able to see otherwise. SproutAbout saves time for parents at pickup and drop off, and I find I’m able to use that time to really get to know my child’s teachers and get greater details or stories from the day.

i am trying to download the director app from my computer and in need of help my parents has downloaded the app already but i need to know what website to go on and more details like price and how to download