Remind: School Communication Reviews

by Dosangel

Remind is apparently too hard for some teachers to set up. I sent a message to my child’s teacher at about 9:45 pm one evening and the message wasn’t received by the teacher until around 3 am when it woke her up because she had her am/pm switched around in her available hours and had it programmed mistakenly to go to her personal cell phone. When I arrived at the school the next morning to drop off my children I was met at the car/curb by two administrators who demanded that I meet them across campus at an admin office where I was accused of hacking into a teachers personal life and obtaining her cell phone number!! Luckily I was able to prove that I sent the message at around 9:45 pm vs the reported 3 am by showing them Remind and the message to clear myself. However, this resulted in the teacher getting embarrassed &/or still not trusting me and she didn't think she could continue being my child’s teacher. So, my son was transferred to a different teacher where he went through an entire school year being constantly abused verbally and physically. Now 2 years later, the teacher who was too stupid to understand how to properly set up her app is now my child’s teacher again and even though I refuse to use the this app app to communicate with her she has created a new nightmare for my child this year!!!

by Shouldntbehard

First, I signed up using the text option provided by my daughter’s school. Second, I downloaded Remind and chose to sign in using my google account, rather than creating “another” user account on someone else’s servers. I finished the verification process and and found the account I had just created via text message. I was prompted to merge and I accepted. I received an email saying my accounts were merged so I assumed Remind was just a stuck. Third, merging was stuck for over 10 minutes so I removed and downloaded Remind again. When I got to the main page it had already pre-populated my email address in the email field. Assuming Remind was smart enough to use Google SSO, as I had previously indicated, I clicked the next button. Now it’s trying to create me another account on this app servers. So basically no SSO. And, I’m stuck on the page that wants me to choose a password! I don’t want to choose a password! I want to go back and sign in with the Google account like I indicated in the first place. But now Remind won’t let me go anywhere until I enter a password. I’ve deleted Remind . I’ve deleted Remind and app data, but it appears to be keeping track of where I was in Remind . Clearly it’s storing something where I cannot delete it. Now I have no idea how to use Remind. It’s stuck and I have no recourse.

by Carisjojo

I mostly like the premise of Remind. It does exactly what it says it will do mostly perfectly. Students like it and it’s easy to use. However, a couple things drive me crazy:
1) it’s impossible to clear notifications. I HATE seeing the notification tag on my devices and it’s impossible to get rid of them. I have spent an eternity combing through the thousands of messages I’ve received over the past three years, none of them are unread, yet I still have four notifications that will NOT go away. Grrrr.
2) I know that app designers want us to constantly use their apps, but this one goes too far. It will send me 20 notifications a day, with no options on which to receive and how. They’re either off or on which makes Remind either useless or completely obnoxious. There’s no in between and that is annoying.
I’ve now uninstalled Remind for the second time. That means I only use the web browser version, which is not as convenient, but at least it can’t bombard me with notifications that are impossible to remove. Please fix and I will reinstall!

by I Reviewed It!

Remind is...kind of......ok-ish. Remind used to be great! I will be honest and say that Remind WAS awesome in the past. However, now it’s just a necessary annoyance. I use it now only because I need it to keep in touch with the schools that my children attend. The stream of messages with no division of which school or class is annoying. The inability to leave a school is annoying. Yes. I get that there is a way to delete a school, but it doesn’t work every time. Try it. It won’t always work. I have a teacher who has two different groups. They both go to the same stream because they were both sent out by the same person. That gets confusing because I have to check the header of each and every message to see which group is being referred to instead of them being able to be separate even with them having different codes!!! It’s a different group!! It shouldn’t come in on the same screen as the other group!!! It’s just annoying!!! This is the situation for the most active groups on my app. Good luck trying to keep track of everything with this crazy app!!!! I’m so sad to leave a two star review for what used to be one of my favorite apps. :-( :-( :-(

by FrugalfotoMama

It’s fine to receive basic reminders.
We use for school admin to parent or teacher to parent and Vice versa communication. The free version has very low character limit (140) so it’s hard to fit even basic info-so then it’s a reminder and see attachment. Which you can only attach one picture or file. So that means sending several messages which leads to over notifications, which then parents are bothered. (There are plans available for higher character around 500 is the one my school finally switched to. This is very helpful. Idk the cost on the administration side, but I appreciate it both as a teacher and parent.)
On the parent side if you have receive notifications turned on then it’s really like two notifications because you get the notification and view it. But then you still have to open Remind and view in Remind for it to be marked read, otherwise it still looks like you have a new message. Also if several attachments were sent in a row you have to open each one separately. So it’s small inconvenience but adds up.
I do like how you can individual message within groups so it’s a way for parents to connect without sharing numbers. And you can individual connect with a teacher. But each teacher had to make their own group.
Overall it functions for its basic purpose to send a brief reminder to a group of people who have signed up-but that’s the key-very basic.

by Smackadoo U

Really helpful way to keep in contact with teachers or classes. However, there are a few kinks to still work through.
I cannot message a teacher without having received a message from them first. I don’t understand why I can message anyone in the class except for the teacher.
There has got to be a better way to organize classes. More customization within Remind would be very helpful. For example, being able to organize the list of classes or teachers in any order, or in alphabetical order or put them in groups. Another helpful tool would be a way to mark something as important or put it in a to do list. It’s great to have these reminders, but once you read it there is not a way to set it aside to remember where it is later if it isn’t something that can be done right away.
Lastly, I hate getting text messages as well. What is the point of Remind if I get a text anyway. I disabled this in Remind , but made the mistake of accepting a class through a text and began receiving the texts again. I unsubscribed, again mistakenly through text, and that ended my ability to send a message to the teacher even through the this app app.

by LittleMrsGarcia

Remind is a great way to communicate with my kids’ teacher directly without having to email, which is so much more convenient. I don’t think you can send videos though, or maybe I just haven’t figured out how? If the latter is the case, then I would say Remind needs improved user-friendliness because it should’ve been easy for me to figure out, but I don’t think it’s possible. I have been able to send pics through Remind , but have had to send the videos via email. Also, I would prefer a clearly displayed time stamp (hours and minutes) of when messages are sent and received, kind of like some cell phones would show, although I know many of the newer ones don’t do this anymore. With my cell, I have to swipe the message to the left to view the time stamp, which is kinda annoying, but that’s just me and my preference. Other than those things, I think Remind is great.

by Cynnatang

I’ve heard and read so many great reviews for Remind, including from my colleagues so I after two terms of hearing about it, I finally decided to try it. Lucky me! 😒 I’m not sure what I did wrong but within seconds, it has already been a fail. I’ve tried uninstalling and installing and was still a total fail.

After setting up my classroom, I went to enter some contacts and it got stuck at asking me what I wanted people to call me, which I had already done in the initial setup. Already strange that it was asking me this again. I typed my name again, and chose “Ms” for the title; then hit next. First it changed what I entered and added an “M.” in front of my name and no title. It then would not advance to the next screen. I repeatedly hit next and it just kept repeating the same screen name question. I even uninstalled and when I installed again; it eerily would reload and show the last screen from before I uninstalled it - still asking me what name. A major glitch to be sure. It just kept blipping “What do you want students to call you?” Call me baffled and disappointed.

by Mickeymahjong

I love Remind. The only reason I am not giving it 5 stars is because I think you should be able to send longer messages. I often have to send 3 messages to relay the week’s reminders, which is annoying to me and the parents. Also, I have to keep a parent contact log and I wish there was a way to sort the dates of messages sent directly to the parents that aren’t whole class messages. I have to go into each parent and do them one by one and it takes forever- so a sort drop down menu filter would be nice.

What’s great? The fact you can go back and look at old messages. I actually had a parent try to sue our school because she said her child slipped on the bathroom floor and lost a permanent tooth. On the day her daughter was playing with the sink water, she did slip and lose a tooth, but her mom texted me through this app and said, “ thank goodness the doctors said it was a baby tooth, her permanent one is getting close to coming in.” Lawsuit saved! I also like that it lets you attach pics. I often take pics of school flyers or homework sheets and send.

by I Am An Echo

“Outside of office hours” needs to have an option so Remind will not notify you during that time. I have at times been unable to silence my phone for personal reasons and been awakened, disrupted or frustrated by students messaging at times I have asked them, numerous times, not to. It has only gotten worse with online learning. Students do not always have the maturity to realize that it is inappropriate to message a teacher at 10 pm to ask if an assignment was turned in or to correct a grade. That option would save me, and I’d imagine many teachers, so much frustration.

The good: I use Remind daily. It has helped me support numerous students over the years, whether it was simple questions or reassuring them to focus on self-care and family during difficult times. I don’t know what I would do without it. It helps me connect with and help so many students. I very much appreciate what it does, but I need a break from the notifications/work sometimes.

by MamaBearKK

The this app app is simply awesome! I struggle with anxiety when it comes to my kids, one high schooler and one kindergartner. I find myself wondering how they are, if they are ok, what’s going on with them while at school etc. My youngest started kindergarten this year and as most of you know that can be a struggle in itself. The first few weeks there were tears, asking teachers to call “mama”, etc. The this app app has helped not only myself but my little one adjust to going to school and being away from me. Knowing I can check in on them or the teachers can check in with me with updates, emergency’s, class assignments, school functions etc.. its a total game changer! My high schooler can stay in contact with teachers even after school hours for homework questions, help with assignments, etc. Thats a plus itself!
I can breathe easy knowing I can be & stay in contact with my kids teachers at anytime!
I’m so grateful for the this app app. We Love it!

by LeesburgMichael

When I returned to teaching in the fall of 2018, I knew some teachers were using this app but I did not see what the big deal was. Mr. Covid has made it very clear to me what the big deal with this app is.
this app gives a teacher the convenient, easy, and quick way to communicate with his/her students, either individually or as a class. this app also gives each student the same option to communicate with his/her teacher.
If a student has a problem or issue that s/he does not want to share in front of the entire class, this app is the perfect vehicle for that student-teacher communication, especially if the teacher has his/her phone out and available while teaching - as I now do.
Why not just use the school's email system? Simply because many students now do not check their emails frequently. They use phone aps to send and receive messages. I know now that this app is a terrific phone ap for useful and needed teacher-student conversations.
I am now a true believer in the power of this app and will be making extensive use of this ap in the fall when my school district returns to in-person instruction. I strongly recommend all other teachers do likewise.

by GoddessValynn

Remind is great! I am glad I can finally keep in contact with my teachers over the weekend or even when school is out and there is no after school tutoring. There are so many great things about Remind to talk about but I do have one complaint. See I move a lot being a military family and also moving schools. So when I try to switch my schools to my current one it kept saying that it wasn’t advised to do it and wouldn’t let me it took me 46 minutes until I was able to get my school switched with the help of a teacher. I thought it would automatically switch when I became registered in a different school because I am in high school and it said I was in middle school. And because it said I was in middle school I couldn’t join any of my high school classes on this app. I would just like it to be less complicated in the future. But otherwise Remind is 5 Star!! I recommend it to all of my friends all the time!

by R33S3Y

The this app App is great. I had never even heard of it until the beginning of the school year when my daughter’s teacher sent all of us parents a link to do it. It’s just fantastic. But if you don’t have a school, or teacher that’s on top of it and sends out the reminders then clearly it’s not going to work. It’s great though to get reminders the night before, or the morning of, ab any changes or special events at school. They even use it to tell us if school is cancelled or delayed due to snow, and send class pictures from special occasions. And you can comment or ask questions, privately, or publicly so other parents that might have the same questions can see it. It’s also secure, it’s individual to each class within each school, and the admin has to approve your request to join, or send an invite link. With life being so hectic this is truly something helpful 😉

by Moonlight Zen

Hello, my name is Shelly.

I congratulate you developers for making such a simple and nice app for commucation. Teachers use this and so do students. Thank you for creating Remind.

Alrighty, every time there is an update, I’m sorry, but this makes me giggle because all it says in the description is “improvements” and that’s all. 😁

That’s not my concern—my concern is the fact that it kind of glitches with no wifi. Sometimes the messages don’t show up, and I’m confused. I see it on my notifications, but I don’t see it on the this app app itself until it refreshes, but I constantly try to refresh it and have it take longer than usual.

You all don’t need to fix that because it’s due to wifi problems that are easily solved.

That’s all. 🙂 Other than that, I believe Remind is good and recommended to anyone.

❤️Again, thank you so much for your time & patience reading this.❤️

P.S., I’m sorry about the story someone reviwed here; their bad experience made me feel pity for her and her child. I hope he is doing better now & so is she. I personally wouldn’t know what to do, if I had that kind of teacher. So far, I only had one teacher that wasn’t the best. She didn’t like me one bit but kept a secret / hid that. Maybe it was her demeanor or I perceived it wrongly, but still, it was very awkward being in her classroom.
Anyway, I hope nobody goes through that. Tough world out there.

by I Made This For You!

this app is a one of a kind tool to use in classrooms, clubs, and really any organization that needs mass communication. It is really simple and easy to use. It can take less than a minute to send a message to the group, and even allows private chats between students and teachers. I think one of the best things about this app is that it allows teachers to communicate with students without the awkwardness of private phone numbers. It is all done through Remind so the numbers are confidential.

However, the only down side is that it is very difficult to send large messages to the group because there is a character max of about 130. If this app were the change it to about 200, I think it would make communication even easier. Sometimes there just isn’t enough space to say all that needs to be said, so the new max character count would aid in that aspect.

Other than that, this app is a high quality and effortless way to communicate within organizations!

by Mama Sargent

Was so pleased that thru the first few months of this school year that having this way to communicate with their teachers helped a lot. Miss Keddie and Miss Churruca were really supported and helpful to our Kadence when she needed it. Wish I can turn back the time to the beginning of 6th grade to really appreciate the days Kadence was attending at Ocotillo. Days went by so fast blink of an eye!!! Children grow up so fast!!! Really saw Kadence’s face light up every morning when she approached the school and when picking her up at the end of the day I looked with so much happiness and loving feelings to see my granddaughter happy with her friends and her family. Her parents were not around so her grandparents, which was myself and my husband, took charge to take care of our beautiful grandkids. They are now reunited with their mom and day and doing well still at our home. They feel safe and have support and so much love from their family. Thank you again!!!!

by Kylee Boshers

This is an amazing app to use. You can use it for many different things, you can use it for school or just for groups for school. You can use it for work. You can pretty much use it for anything related to learning or working. It’s an awesome app to have because it has helped me to remember things for school I mainly use it for my beta club stuff. You can add friends and different things in it, and you can also, you can make your own profile. You can add friends on it and it’s just a really good app to use if you forget things like I do and I just love to see what things and opportunities for school and mainly my group for school, beta. Whoever made Remind is amazing I could give them a huge thumbs up, and also I want to give he/she a hug because of Remind I am able to remember things for beta club. THANKS FOR GIVING ME TJIS OPPORTUNITY to make a review.

P.S. I want to say thank you again and I want to meet the person who made Remind because they are a genius or they all or all geniuses

by Amy E From AZ

This is the first app I’ve ever reviewed! But I have to say how Remind has been so amazing for our family! My 5 year old son has autism and receives a lot of special services including seeing numerous teachers and therapists at school. Before Remind I was never able to keep up with all the emails, found it impossible to go through everything and respond to everyone in a timely manner. Once his school started using this app, all the important communications, the stuff directly from his teachers regarding things in his specific care, now had their very own home on my phone, and the unique style alerts easily combined to separate these important messages from the noise of my constantly roaring email inbox! With Remind I have been able to GREATLY improve my communications with my son’s teachers and therapists at school and it allows so much better cross communication between the entire group on his team as well! I think every school should be using Remind. Teachers, get your classroom on here! Parents, send this app invites to your children’s teachers! I love Remind so much and hope to see it used everywhere soon!

by Bre :~)

I really enjoy using this app because it’s user friendly and extremely compatible with all of my apple products. Even my students without smart phones are able to use this app through SMS. I also love the feature of allowing parents to join a class. However, there are a few features that are lacking. I don’t like that my characters are limited when I send an announcement. I tend to send a lot of attachments and that seems to lower the character count additionally. Also, I like to create videos of my solutions to problems and send them to students. this app doesn’t allow for videos to be sent. It does allow pictures to be sent, but if I have a multitude of pictures (for example a packet where each page is its own separate picture), I have to send the pictures one at a time in their own separate messages. I’m looking forward to updates that will make this app even more useful for my students and myself.

by Mucha_lucha

Partially though the year my app notifications just stopped. I would suddenly realize I hadn’t heard anything in weeks so I’d check Remind and see everything waiting for me. Then promptly forget to look into why. Repeat over and over until finally I turned on mobile notifications and turned push notifications from Remind off. Went looking for info about school and realized I never figured out what was going on with Remind . At this point I could just delete it. Now it says I have 29 notifications but nothing I do clears the number.

I would also love to clear messages sent to the jr high teachers and teachers from previous years. I remove the teacher but those old messages stay there under conversation. I feel like it would free up phone space if I could delete them.

Remind is wonderful when it works especially when teachers use it but over the last year it’s been hit or miss... mostly miss.

by Tabernacleofgrace

Easy to set up, easy to get subscribers, easy to use. Great app for keeping groups informed. I use it for my Sunday School class to keep them informed of events and needs of the class.

I have been using Remind for almost 2 years now, and I'm still happy with the product. Recent update to Remind however, have made it more difficult for me to see the messages. I am visually impaired and need more of a high contrast between text and background. Even when using the accessibility options in the Apple iOS, messages are still difficult to see because of the color schemes that were selected by the developer. Unfortunately, pastels seem to be the big thing now so this is not the only app I have difficulty with. Perhaps allowing users to pick a color scheme in settings would be appropriate

I am looking forward to the day when Remind takes advantage of Dark mode to make viewing easier.

by NicoleRey

My only child started kindergarten this year so this app was brand new to our house & this level of communication between parent & teacher was a pleasant surprise. this app does exactly what you’d want or need it to & is very simple to use. 💕👍🏼🏆

The only reason I left the 4-star rating rather than 5 is that a few times (usually last minute early mornings) the message or announcement will show a sent time stamp of a few hours earlier than it’s received.

If his teacher sends an all-parent notice out at 645am there have been a few times we don’t rcv until after 9/930am when kids are already off & gone for their day. The bummer is it’s likely too late to address. I’m not certain however if the problem is somehow the school / teacher piece or within the apps function... I just know other neighborhood parents, w/ different classes & teachers, have experienced the same issue.

by Teacher3B

I have been using Remind to communicate with my students’ parents/guardians for several years! Starting last year, I started added grandparents (as long as parents approved) because they wanted to support their grandchild with anything they had going on at school. I teach 3rd grade & our administrators do not allow us to text with children, for obvious reasons. I can send group photos when I take special pictures like: First day if school, homecoming week dress up days, fire prevention week, and this week we are doing Red Ribbon week! Everyone enjoys knowing what’s happening at school! This is a format that allows me to share “great things” instead of just negative phone calls. Parents are much more helpful when they see the teacher as a positive and meaningful person in the life of their child! this app gives them this new perspective! Thank you for Remind! Teacher 3B! 🐝

by *geeky~gamer~chic*

Update: The developers reached out to me promptly and corrected the error! It is now working properly.
Even with this one issue, I highly recommend Remind!
There has been the number 1 beside my app for over two months now! I have contacted this app multiple times and asked for their help and nothing! I have done everything I know to figure out why it is there. I even archived the group that the red dot was beside and it still won’t go away. This is beyond annoying! I have two kids that are in multiple groups that I receive notifications. I don’t want to constantly have to worry that I’ve missed a notice because of this problem. Can someone please help me with this matter?!?!
This is a great communication tool when it’s working properly! I do wish you were able to write more words in the body of the message.