Bloomz: For Teachers & Schools Reviews

by Brian S. F.

I’ve had Bloomz for the past year and the navigation is not very intuitive in general. I receive regular updates notifications of parents and teachers posting on Bloomz and the ability to discern what the update is can be challenging, or unimportant. I’m just brought to the Home Screen of Bloomz without any guidance around what is new. And often I’ll receive an app notification for something unimportant like if a parent just likes a post. Over the past 2-3 weeks, Bloomz went from usable but not a great experience, to almost completely unusable. One of the recent updates has resulted in my app not initializing and just sitting at a blue startup screen. In order to be able to open Bloomz , I’ve had to uninstall it and reinstall it. I’m on my 5th time of this in 5 days. I have the most recent iPhone and iOS, so not sure what the issue. Many other parents are having similar issues and the school is just basically avoiding posting to this app at this point and is using email instead.

by Katebloomer

The above statement may sound perverse, but it actually puts up a barrier between direct communication between other parents. While I like being able to communicate with the teacher - who I generally wouldn't just text directly - there's no reason there has to be so many steps between you and another parent. Because of Bloomz, parents don't get each other's information, and school directories are becoming obsolete. With the ability to email and text directly, there is no need for Bloomz. If you want to create a real community in your school, you have to have some level of trust. Bloomz works against that, and fosters disconnection and distrust. Plus, it's so clunky and unreliable! I frequently miss group messages, and so do other teachers. School leaders - don't believe the hype!! Bloomz complicates communication, rather than facilitates it.

by FSGolden

I was super excited to try this app for my 1st grade classroom, and in short, I have been disappointed and frustrated.

Things I Like:
-Conference sign up and materials sign up! This was so easy and awesome for me and families! Excellent feature.

Things I Don’t Like:
-Glitchy. I receive notifications late or not at all and when I do receive notifications, they lead me to nothing. My app did not work for an entire month and I had to use my computer. Even updating and restarting my phone did not help.
-Not very intuitive. Often confusing to navigate. There a lot of different places information is stored (feed, media, portfolios, etc) and they are not easy to locate.
-Messaging. I don’t like that group messages are actually a group message. I want to send a message to parents individually, but all at once. I don’t have time to type the separate message 25 times. Difficult to send media (see next point).
-Photo Sharing - One main reason I wanted this app was to share photos with families. That has proven extremely difficult. In messages they are difficult to upload and send out of order. They also don’t download when I receive them from parents. If you send a message with a photo, they sometimes cancel each other out and the photo will not send. When families post and share photos, they seem to only share with me, when families would like to share with the rest of the class.

Unfortunately, Bloomz did not suit my needs and I will not be using it next year.

by Purrfectrek

As a previous user of Remind and Class Dojo, there are a few things I really love on this app! However, there is still much to be desired.

The perks? Uploading multiple pictures is incredibly convenient! I love the sign-up feature whenever I’m having a class party. The ability to differentiate between a permanent post vs. temporary announcement has been really convenient. Also, Setting up parent conferences was a breeze with the sign-up feature! Unfortunately, there was a glitch a week before conferences and 2/3 of my times were deleted.

That brings me to the other features that are lacking. I still occasionally get a notification bubble when there are none. On the website, I cannot consistently access my messages, as I can often only see the screen that “teaches” me the conveniences of their messaging system. The overall app is not as user friendly as other messaging systems. The BIGGEST issue I have is that the parents names are not visually connected to all of my students names. I have 34 students, there is no way I have all of their parents’ names memorized, so I would greatly appreciate it if Bloomz was updated so students’ names were visible with all parents’ names when messaging and/or signing up parents. I’m looking forward to seeing how Bloomz improves!

by Ram1006

I’m in my second year of using this app for my son’s school. Although it has become slightly more user friendly, it still feels very awkward and clunky. Difficult to navigate and had to find obvious thing. Notifications show up different on Bloomz icon than 2 different locations for notifications once app is opened. Bell icon for notifications doesn’t work. Just shows super old and outdated invites instead of what my new alerts are. When scrolling down on my son’s class site, Bloomz jumps around making it hard to make sure I’ve seen everything and just frustrating and time consuming. There should be clear places to go for updates from teachers, photos from school, events calendar. Having everything in one feed is fine as long as you can also see it clearly separated.

by Miss S & A

I’ve been using this app as a teacher for almost 2 years and one year as a parent. There are many times when Bloomz isn’t working, I can’t upload pictures to portfolios or even to communicate with parents. If all of the features worked properly it might be worth the money but in the moments (25% of the time) it isn’t working it’s super frustrating!
We use the portfolios tab, posts, calendar, parent messaging, and announcement features the most with our class.
Trying to communicate with the makers of Bloomz is near impossible. The customer service has definite areas for improvement when it comes to how to assist in problem solving and assisting clients.
Next year we will be using a different app, one that doesn’t cost $100 for a service that only works 75% of the time.

by Tochita

I’ve been using this app for my son’s class since September 2018. It is my first experience with a classroom app and I have to say that I’m not too impressed. It seems glitchy and not very intuitive. I have badge notifications that seem to take days and days to finally go away after I’ve seen any updates. This alone drives me crazy! When I see a notification badge I end up searching all through Bloomz to find something new, alas it’s all old news. Then magically a day or 3 later the badge will finally disappear. I’m always left wondering if I’ve missed something important from the teacher or another parent.
My other issue is that I get notified for every little “like” and “comment” on a post, yet when someone posts photos, there’s no notification. Nothing. Crickets. I’ve recently just stumbled upon some fun pics of my son from October that I had never seen. I’ve also been the main poster of photos for the class and I am 100% certain that no one has seen them. So now I’m wondering that if I post class photos, do I then have to separately send a class-message informing parents to head to the media section to see pics of their kids? Seems very silly and redundant when it could be a simple badge when anything new in any part of Bloomz has been added. I could go on and on. I do like some features, but it could be a LOT better.

by Under_whelmed

We have been using Bloomz starting fall semester of 2020 for both of our kids because our child’s school implemented it. Both of us parents have spent a lot of time on Bloomz just to figure out how it works. It definitely does a lot. It does a lot more than our school will ever use. It’s not as intuitive as it could be. I would like to see everything I need to see in one or two buttons. There’s just too many places to put information, so every time I check into Bloomz I have to check many places for information. I have found it to be a little bit more of a waste of time then I savior off time. My wife is a superintendent of a school district, and has a background in tech. She has basically given up on using Bloomz. We gave it three stars because it’s a good start. It be great if this app could streamline Bloomz and make it more user-friendly. For now we still just use emails and texts with our teachers and classmates. Also, Google classroom has most of the useful this app features which the teachers and parents at our child’s school seems to be using over Bloomz.

by Shellenarenae

I just started using this app, in the middle of the school year. I increased parent connection to class announcements from 3 parents, on my old website, to 25 parents on this app. I love how I can message parents in a less intimidating way, that is more like a text message than a formal email. I love that I can see who has viewed my updates, and parents can interact with it through comments and likes. I also love that families, who don’t speak or read English, can have my updates auto-translated into any language. Then, parents can write to me in the language that they are comfortable with, and I can read it in English. The down side is when I use Bloomz , verses the online platform, I find there is a lag in posting, and items take very long to load. This is especially frustrating when I am accepting and welcoming parents. After I accept a parent on Bloomz , it doesn’t update and shows I still need to approve. It makes it unclear to me if a parent is welcomed, and causes me to worry that it looks as though I am ignoring some parents.

by SoFloUser

I paid for the subscription for my son’s class last year, and I did the same this year.

Last year, Bloomz worked perfectly. Albums were easy to find and add to. New posts by a teacher always showed up first. And notifications arrived on time. This year, I’ll sometimes get a text about a new post, but I can’t find the post anywhere on Bloomz . New posts are sometimes hidden under older posts. I find myself scrolling through several days worth of posts regularly to be sure I haven’t missed something new.

I still like Bloomz as a tool for teachers to communicate with us/the parents. But I wish it worked as smoothly this year as last year.

by Phase10-er

I am a 4th grade teacher and have been using this app for a year or so. I’ll start with what I like- ability to add photos, easy to navigate, easy for parents to sign up, options for personalization. It’s a valuable resource. There are some funky bugs in Bloomz , most are workable, but there is one in particular I cannot work around. The “sign up” letter is a formula, which is fine except the language doesn’t make sense in the title. I sent an email to customer support and while they were responsive at the beginning, they didn’t really listen to my concern. When I laid it out for them again, they stopped responding. It appears that there is no fix for the issue, so they decided ignoring me would be a good idea? Horrible customer service!!!!! Might be migrating to Remind 101 or the like if I have any more issues.

by Tosh_86

Bloomz is a great way to communicate with my sons teachers and other parents as well. However one thing I did not like was when I first began using Bloomz you have to do the whole tour, which is fine for one go around. But with my experience it did not go away after the first time and kept coming up every time I signed in and it was very annoying. I’m not sure if it was glitch with Bloomz or what. It took about a month for it to finally go away. But I do like being able to reach anyone in the class and post pictures and see others albums and upcoming events. It also makes signing up for events and conferences a lot easier. This is a smart way for teachers to communicate with parents rather than having to email each one. I enjoy it very much.

by Livi_Marie08

I’ve only started using this since the start of the school year, and it’s a great communication tool. The UI is a little rough - like clicking on someone’s name in the class you’d think would take you to their profile, but instead “welcomes them”. That was awkward.
Also, just as some general feedback, forcing someone to update before utilizing Bloomz is never smart. I needed to communicate with my child’s teacher ASAP, but was in a place with poor cell service so I had to wait for the update to complete before I was able to communicate with my child’s teacher. You need to let parents have the option to update later. It’s unacceptable to assume parents are always in the position to wait for an app update.

by MCheleS

I’ve used this app for a few years and this year I decided to pay and upgrade. I love it and recommend it to my fellow teachers. It’s fairly easy to use, once you test it out and get the hang of it. It allows for immediate ways to get in touch with parents- either with a text message or through reminders. Events on the calendar can be set for an automatic reminder which relieves me from trying to send out constant reminders each time. With the text message feature, personal info is confidential and it’s all through Bloomz , which allows for more immediate communication without revealing too much personal information. And the parents have responded positively as well- to the photos and updates posted, reminders, and being able to get in contact with one another through Bloomz . All inclusive! Highly recommend!

by Mrs. Tara G7

I love using this app to keep my parents updated with what is happening in our classroom. I am able to share photos and videos with everyone and use the portfolio piece for keeping student work for everyone to see. I love how this app has a sign up section for volunteers, materials, and also an easy way to schedule conferences. It makes everything easy for parents and teachers. I can message a parent with a question or statement on my phone or computer. I can also schedule posts to be made for certain times or days. this app has made communicating with my class parents 100 times easier. It is streamlined and easy to use!

by Nocreativenickname

I’ve been using this app for the past 3 years and love how easy it is for teachers to post messages, videos, pictures, ask for donations, and set up parent conferences. It does a lot more but these were my most used features. It was not until distance learning that I realized how important having this type of communication with your parents actually is. this app was a lifesaver for me when many of my colleagues were running around trying to figure out how to communicate with their parents easily and efficiently during a pandemic. Most of my parents use this app on their phones and get immediate notifications when I post. This made it super easy for them to access my lesson plans, links, PDF homework packets, and videos I would post. I’m not looking forward to distance learning again but find comfort knowing that I can communicate with my parents via this awesome app. Thanks this app!

by Runat5

I stumbled upon Bloomz 4 years ago. Each school year I invite my families to Bloomz before I meet them. Our back to school night is before the start of the school year and by that time families know a lot about me. One feature I absolutely love is the conference scheduling option. I have them scheduled before meeting the families. I post daily and sometime multiple times a day. Parents love having an insight to the classroom. It gives them an opportunity to talk with their child about that activity rather than the child giving very little information about the school day. Being able to direct message with parents is great too! It has also been great for the homeroom parent team and me to communicate about class activities around holiday time. this app is especially beneficial right now with social distancing and our schools being closed for 2 weeks. I can video myself and post it to the class. Parents are saying how much the kids love being able to see me even though we are not in school. I love Bloomz and am so glad to have found it! Give it a try!

by M. Schuurman

This has been awesome for communicating with my sons teacher. We used this app last year as well and so far I have no complaints at all. I’m not very tech savvy and it super easy. I use it mostly for the message feature to communicate with his teacher. I also love how I can see pictures of what my son is learning that his teacher posts. I also want to point out that it’s 100% secure and having to be added by the teachers themselves and only other parents within the classroom can see media posted makes me feel confident that my sons pictures and classroom routines don’t leave the classroom. The safety of Bloomz is really what sold me on using it.

by Melguillory

Bloomz was great when school first started. Our teacher posted pictures of our little ones on their first day, pictures of arts and crafts, pictures of parties, and special events. They posted tips on how to help our kiddos learn and study the lessons they were working on in class. We even used it to invite classmates to parties on weekends. Now that school is closed due to Covid 19, we’re using it to keep in touch with teachers so they can send resources for our kids to learn while they’re home. We’re sending pictures of our kids swimming, doing arts and crafts at home and studying. Bloomz is great and I hope our next teacher uses it, too.

by Nikkiudon

This is hands down the best classroom app I have ever tried! I don’t use the management piece (with the points and blooming plants) but I use almost everything else, especially the communication piece. I love how connected I feel to my student’s families and it makes communication easy and simple. The parents love it, too. I see some people have rated this app and said that there were some glitches and flaws but like every app, the developers are always looking for areas for improvement and fixing those bugs with their updates. I have never run into any kind of glitch or flaw using this app. I think that some people are also more technologically fluent than others. Some people may run into something that they think is a problem or a glitch when it’s actually not, they are just unsure how to navigate Bloomz correctly and that may affect a person’s opinion about this app.

by BrainandPinky

Bloomz is good because I can communicate with teachers and other parents without having to their personal info or give out mine. I get the whole year schedule of testing and field trips and events. And I can upload pics of those events.

What could use work is the notifications and calendar. I have missed entire conversations I should have been a part of because the notification didn’t come in or I couldn’t find what the notification was for.

In the calendar, it’s great to know what’s coming, but being able to click on the event and add it to my own device calendar would make it better. Or to be ale to set a reminder for the event from this app. Then I wouldn’t miss special clothing days, dressing appropriately for field trips, etc.

by Bekster ^_^

I love Bloomz! Two of my child’s teachers have used it and it’s great! I love that they can share pics and info about the school day with just the parents of the classroom. The private message section is great too. I love that I can message the teacher or a group of parents. Like for birthday parties instead of having my child ask for addresses or hand out invites I can message them and get the info and then mail them all out.

Not a fan that I have to pay if I want to keep the pics that the teacher posts but I understand why they do that (yes I’m a cheapskate). So I use the free version and I enjoy what I can get out that. I wish more teachers used this. It’s a great app!

by Pointy Plant

As many parents know, getting accuracy about how a day went for (younger) children can be challenging. this app lets me ask better questions and get more in depth answers because of the insight I get into what my child did during the day. I find myself immediately opening Bloomz when I get notified about new posts, I make a more concerted effort to leave likes to show appreciation for uploads than I would in other social media apps, and I generally like the model a lot.

It does have some polish issues around usability and performance which are some of the reasons I didn’t give it 5 stars, but I have noticed those issues getting better over time as well.

by JLOinGainesville

My son’s teacher uses Bloomz to communicate with all the parents and I love it! She sends daily updates with pictures that lets us know what they are working on and makes it so much easier to discuss their day with first graders who aren’t always so forth coming with details. She can also send reminders for special activities, set up meetings/conferences and request volunteers when needed. It takes a little getting used to and isn’t always the most user friendly, but in terms of making communication with my kids’ teacher easier I absolutely love it!!! I hope the rest of the teachers start using it too.

by E._.G

this app is where it’s at. Everything you would need to communicate with parents and students ALL IN ONE! I don’t have to switch around anymore with different apps just to communicate with parents and students. Everything I need is right here and is so much easier to do. It is very user friendly as well. I would definitely recommend this to ALL TEACHERS out there who are seeking an app where everything is organized and kept in one place. Signups, portfolios, points tracker, alerts, messaging...etc. It truly made my life so much easier. Thank you this app!😍