Procare
reviews and complaints

One of my other kids went to daycare 15 years ago and you basically just had to trust your gut. While thankfully that did work out for us, I love not having to worry at all.
My son is extremely clingy. He wants his mom and his mom only, 24/7. That’s part of why we put him in daycare so he could realize that other people are ok too. On the flip side of that, my anxiety was through the roof. Was he going to miss me and cry all day? Was he not going to eat? Are they not taking care of him as well as they should? All those thoughts ran through my mind before his first day. But then with this app, I know everything he eats, when he gets a diaper change and even what kind of diaper change. I get updated pictures and messages from them constantly, letting me know that not only is he ok…but he is happy and well taken care of!
I also love the ease of paying right on the app as soon as I get the notification for it because I tend to forget easily.

Make it so the app isn’t in a locked state when you start it. If I have to click the QR scanner to sign my kids in, I don’t want to wait for whatever else is loading. Just don’t. Bad UX.
Better still, use a “real” QR code that doesn’t require me to open the app myself. It’s called technology.

Update: Not only has there been no response to previous issues, but now there are more. First, my children don’t automatically have COVID symptoms. The default selection when checking a child in should reflect that. I find it highly offensive that this app even suggests such a thing. If I could curse and still get this approved, I would.
Second, the app seemingly has no idea when it lacks an internet connection. Instead, it just decides you have no children. Add a child... seriously? Nothing is stored locally?!?! Amateurs. Please learn what a real UX is.
I can’t wait to stop using. This app. It’s really awful. To any potential customers (aka daycares), RUN AWAY!

I don’t understand how there are so many 5 star reviews. This app is tolerable, but certainly nothing to get excited about. It takes ages for the app to actually reflect updates after a push notification comes through. I’ve resorted to restarting the app every time I get a notification, because that’s the only way to make it refresh. Sometimes the notifications themselves are significantly delayed, too.

The signin feature is buggy and sometimes just spins forever. If you leave the app too fast after signing your child in or out, it doesn’t go through and you have to do it again.

Photos are super low resolution. Just astonishingly low quality. There is only one feed, which combines all posts I have received from any source, with no way to tell who the recipient is (just me vs. all parents). If a teacher sends me a personal photo of my own child, it shows up in the feed and not in messages, meaning I can’t reply to it. No easy way to see a photo gallery. No history of important communication/files from before my child started.

Not impressed.

Have been using this app for a month or so after my kids school switched to it. The alerts that the app sends are pretty informative if you like seeing your child’s activity.

Unfortunately all the good is spoiled twice a day when I have to SIGN IN or SIGN OUT my child. The NavBar buttons (everything other than hamburger menu) are slightly undersized, requiring the kind of precision I shouldn’t need for a phone app. I generally have to slow down and focus just a little for my tap to register on the first try.

After getting to the QR SIGN IN/OUT screen the blue button that supposed to let me actually SIGN IN/OUT is partially covered by the swipe bar on my iPhone. So when I tap it there’s a 50/50 chance that my tap registers as a system swipe instead of a button tap.

For me this app has 3 jobs (SIGN IN, SIGN OUT, Notifications) and it fails at 2 of them because of this experience.

Fortunately this could all be easily addressed with the following.
- NavBar buttons sizes closer to HIG recommended 44px
- SIGN IN/OUT buttons that respect SafeAreaInsets

As a Preschool Director of 65+ students and 10 staff members, this app has improved my job immensely. Tuition collection was the easiest ever, ongoing balances for additional charges, automatically calculated late fees, allows for recurring scheduled payments. Parents have given tons of positive feedback during the 2 weeks of piloting this. Attendance, sign in sheets, incident reports, toddler charts, potty training charts, notes and videos for documentation (can use staff view only feature) are all in one place and paperless! You can print reports of any kind for licensing. Best feature is instant communication with parents and notifications of injuries, needing picked up for illness/injury with alert and text message capability. Great customer service but sometimes takes an hour for them to respond to messages. Would love updated themes and options for newsletters and ability to switch profiles since my child also attends the school so I have a staff and parent profile. So worth the monthly cost! We paid the year subscription to get a discount. Lifesaver of an app!

There is currently a privacy bug in this app. If you scan your child into school using the QR code scan feature, iOS shows that the camera remains active whenever the app is being used. So, if you scan your kid in and look at updates throughout the day, the camera is active. The only way to get the green dot showing the camera is active to go away while using the app is to force close the app and launch it again. Coincidentally this also fixes another bug where images don’t load.

I’ve actually enjoyed this app, other than the two bugs mentioned. Submitting the one star review as I’ve reported this security concern via phone and email and neither one showed the agent take any kind of ownership. The first recommended that I email instead of call. The next asked me to describe the issue, even though I already did in the initial email. They then asked for more personally identifying information and suggested I submit this through there make a suggestion system. Both agents were provided all the information they needed to bring it to a developer or to someone who could file a bug.

This good is good in theory but not so much in real time. I’m not sure how it works on the caregiver side but the parent side there is very little functionality. The most important thing for a parent is to be able to see and hear what is happening at daycare in real time… or at least close to real time. We need to know if our child has eaten lunch, has napped properly as it determines pick up times etc. the push notifications are not even close to the time stamp. At 6pm i get notified that my child had a diaper change at 11 am. This isn’t helpful and defeats the entire purpose of the app. The user experience is not the issue this is pure development and bug and I would prioritize this in the bug fixes. Teachers and administration gets frustrated as parents are still calling the office and the teachers to get informed. The messaging platform is simple and easy to use. I also don’t understand why the app hasn’t piggybacked off of the existing iOS camera instead of launching its own app. This has contributed to the heaviness of the application. I had to delete and make room for this app on my phone.

My child’s school just switched to this app from another program and I am not impressed. For starters I’ve been asked by the app 3 times to give feedback directly to Procare and when I say yes I will it disappear and I cannot actually give my feedback. So I’ll leave it here. Now I understand some of my issues may be with the school- and I have addressed this with them too. It is possible they need additional training/ communication from the Procare team on how to use the program from a sales person. I have the most updated version of the app and I still do not receive real-time communication re: my daughters day. I will get photos and messages but sometimes HOURS later from when the teacher sent them. The messaging system will not allow for the teachers to communicate back to me when I ask questions or communicate attendance. My daughter was sick one day and the ability for the teacher to update me was significantly delayed. The only notification I get real time is potty breaks. I am happy to discuss my concerns if somebody wants to reach out. Should these issues be with the school, I’m happy to update my review here.

We love this app and how it keeps us informed about our children’s daily activities. Is easy to use and our school provides us tons of updates via the app. That’s said, there are a few quirky things that I’m surprised have not been addressed.

First, the message feed doesn’t automatically jump to the most current message, so you have to scroll down and find it. It would be great if the current message appeared when you click into that section.

Also, messages never go away, so the scroll gets long. I get the benefit of being able to acres old messages, but could there be a filter or archive feature to help organize it?

Parents can’t add anything to the events section. Our school doesn’t use this feature, but it would be great for us parents to be able add things like vacations, schedule changes, lessons, etc. to help communicate with teachers and staff.

Lastly, a nice-to-have feature would be the ability to like a message or photo from the teachers so we can show our appreciation for these updates. I can imagine it would be awful for teachers to constantly get alerts for likes on everything, but even just the photos would be nice.

I just downloaded the app and I am already not liking it! My children’s summer camp is using this app so I will have to use it as well. While I was creating my account I didn’t realize that I had typed in my email address wrong. Once I was signed in and realized what I typed for my email I went to edit profile. However, the only things I am allowed to edit are my name and phone number. I can see the incorrect email but I do not have the option to edit it so that I can enter the correct email. Is there an easy way this can be fixed? I deleted and downloaded the app again, to created a new account with the correct email BUT I couldn’t use the same child code twice. Which brings up another question/problem. Will the camp need to send my husband a different child code for our daughters so he can download the app? We will both be dropping off and picking up our children. The camp wants us to use the sign-in/out option but we both need the app to do so. I have used similar apps before and have been able to edit my email if needed and both parents are able to use the same child code/ID to create two different accounts. This should be fixed for future users!

My daughter is in her 2nd year of pre-k at our local private preschool. She loves school so much already! I love that this app allows me to know what she is learning during the time she is at school. From the time the children get to school they sign them in, and when you pick them up (or any pre authorized adult) they sign the children out. So you know when your child got to and from school! Which is great if you’re in my shoes because her father and I split so I love knowing that him and his family do their part in raising her correctly too. Depending on what your school does, they can post pictures, activities, announcements, and even private messages to parents of certain children that they need to talk to the parent about. I love being able to see what book they are reading, what they have learned in the day, fun crafts, snack time, music time, etc. the thing I like the most is one child can have multiple accounts. So my daughters father has his own & I have mine. He cannot read the private messages that her teacher and I discuss which is nice because I love having my privacy. Also, this app has made it so easy to make payments for tuition. 10/10 from me! Sure they may have a few issues but it’s once in a blue moon.

Going down a star after a few more days use. It’s been an hour and the main timeline still hasn’t updated based on a notification of a nap from the teacher. Also I just noticed my sons teachers profile picture is showing up under my name also in the messages.

Seems pretty decent, though I’m a parent so I guess I can only see what the school lets me. For me it’s more of a notification tool, which I think could be improved. For instance, I get a notification whenever my son is checked in or out, regardless if I was the one who did it, or my wife. Why would I need to be notified right after I did something? Also just in general I’ve found the the main timeline and the messages don’t refresh very well and it’s a bit clunky. I’ll get a push notification and then open the app and I can’t see what I was altered to, but if I click the notification it seems to refresh the app and then I can see it.

After more use it seems that the teacher interface might not be very clear because sometimes going to sleep and waking up are separate activity blocks, and sometimes they are in the same one. But if they are in the same one I don’t get a notification for my son waking up.

Honestly I can’t understand why this app has so many 5 star reviews. I must be looking at something different than everyone else.

I absolutely love using this app for the sign in/sign out function and primarily to stay connected to both of my children while I’m at work (mostly my 6 month old).

I have 2 suggestions for user features from a parent perspective (I wish there was a feedback button from within the app) - well, I guess that’s 3 suggestions now:
1. Feedback button/form in the app

2. A “reaction” and comment feature for pictures. I wish I could love or comment on the pictures instead of messaging the teachers. I want to tell them I appreciate seeing the pics, but sending a message seems almost overkill and could be more distracting to them if they see a message come through thinking it’s something urgent, when I really just want to say “awww!” Not really message worthy!

3. We get notified when baby starts a nap, but not when they wake up. My baby is an okay napper, so sometimes I’ll see he starts a nap, but if I don’t check back for a while I’ll think wow, he’s still sleeping! Then I’ll check and realize no, he stopped sleeping 30 min ago. Darn. The only way I’m notified he’s stopped sleeping is if he has a bottle when he wakes up. Would love to see a little notification pop up when the teacher “ends” a nap.

Anyway, those are my suggestions, I still love this app and hope these ideas can be elevated somehow. Thanks, Procare!

If you’re a parent that is anything like me, the decision to place your child in daycare is an unsettling one at best. Fortunately, I have a fairly flexible schedule and have always been able to figure out ways to accommodate our little girl. Unfortunately, she is now 2 and that accommodation has been getting increasing difficult as she no longer naps much and requires more time and attention in comparison to a well-fed sleepy baby. That change has made it incredibly difficult to still focus on the work I need to do while she is up and wants to play. It took my wife and I (yes, I am the father and writing this) several months to finally find a daycare that we felt comfortable with. Aside from the staff and cleanliness of the facility, a big reason for that comfort is as a result of this app. It has been so nice to receive updates throughout the day as to when and what she ate, if she had a nap and for how long, when diapers were changed, and pictures of her at play. The ability still stay involved and understand what’s going on has removed much of the anxiety we felt as parents leaving our little girl with virtual strangers, especially initially. If you’re looking for a childcare solution, I couldn’t recommend more finding a daycare that utilizes this app and ability, and if you’re operating a childcare facility of any kind I couldn’t recommend more that you get on board with its utilization as well as it will only enhance your clients experience.

I am a teacher in a classroom. We recently switched to procare from another app. I really dislike that I cannot schedule announcements to my entire class for a specific time. With the messaging feature, I cannot upload the reminder photo I have created in the past and saved. Not to mention that all messages go out to all staff and admin. Reminders about “Show & Share,” “Picture Day,” or any other event that we might have going on are sent weekly. With the old app we used, I used to have the ability to schedule a time and date that the reminder would go out so that parents weren’t missing that important information.

Having the option to schedule times for “reminders” was nice because I’m a mom as well. Once I get home in the evenings and begin my routine with my own family, sending a reminder slips my mind until it’s too late in the evening to send it. We still do physical daily papers and do not use the features of the app to record the child’s day such as nap, food intake, and pottying. I have a large class and to do this for each child I would have my attention on my phone for the day and would not be focused on the children in my class.

Parents have also complained that they do not have the option to share photos with us or to “like” or “comment” on the photos we’ve shared with them about their child. This has caused parents to reach out to teachers on other social media platforms.

A few small changes from a teachers standpoint would be amazing!

I love this app! I live some distance from my precious Poe and don’t get to see him on the same regular basis we enjoyed before the pandemic. We FTed as much as possible but there is only so much time in the day for mama and daddy to do it- while working, doing laundry, paying bills- doing laundry and cleaning. The longer the restrictions went on during the pandemic the farther apart from my kids and precious grand I felt. Poe moved to a new school-yours- and this app was available- and my daughter, Ryan, signed me up for it! I LOVE IT! I wait every day for it to post, I read all of your script( I love knowing what he is learning- almost as much as I love seeing his happy, smiling face! This app has kept us emotionally connected- during a long pandemic hiatus- and I feel like I am able to see his growth and development on an almost daily basis! It’s helped me to feel close to him- and to feel like I really know him although we’ve only spent a couple of short visits with him. Of course my daughter and son-in-law fill in the gaps. This is a great app for interested family- that during this pandemic has helped to facilitate a close , loving and knowledgeable relationship between families- especially for grands and grandparents! Only thing missing is touch- if I could just reach out and touch my boy more often/ that would be the ultimate! Thank you for making this available to those of us who felt we were losing precious moments with our beloved grands! I truly feel like I haven’t lost this time- I feel like I know my Poe-and love knowing everything he does! Thank you for making this available to those of us who appreciate it- who actually need it in our lives! My most sincere thanks- and many hugs from Poe’s gramma to all! ❤️

Our previous center used Brightwheel and it was so much smoother. This app is slow, has to load when you open it, sometimes I’ll get a notification, open app, and nothing is there. I have to reload the page and wait for things to show up. Even the messaging feature is slow to load. Brightwheel was automatic and much less time waiting for things to show up/load.

Sometimes I get a picture notification and when I click on it, I can’t see it. Even if a refresh the app and close it and open it, nothing will work. When this happens a I can see the picture update after several hours later. This refresh issue with photo updates needs to get fixed or we need email notifications for photo update. I’m disappointed I’m not able too see this updates live.

We’ve been using this app at the daycare I work at for a few months and it’s been great! It has wonderful features and is very easy to use. However the past couple of weeks, it has been randomly deleting entries that were previously entered. It’s been making things difficult and it looks to the parents like we either aren’t taking care of their kids, or we aren’t updating them. I hope this gets fixed soon.

This is a wonderful app for updates. However, it does not automatically update or refresh so each time I receive a notification and open the app, the app does not show me the updates. I have to close the app out and open it back up again. I checked my IOS settings and this app doesn’t appear to have the ability to refresh in background. Please advise if this is not the case and advise what needs to be done.

This app could be more user friendly and easier to navigate. I used one in the past that was so easy, I really miss it. My biggest frustration is that this app keeps crashing. Not only does it crash, but it forgets that I have a kid. All my information is in there but it says I have no children enrolled. That has been a big hassle, especially when I am trying to communicate with my child’s school and I can’t.

This app is extremely helpful with my daughter in daycare. BUT, the messaging feature does NOT allow you to see what your spouse writes. So, it’s super confusing when all you see is the childcare provider’s response! It’s definitely caused a few freak out moments!

IT WOULD BE EXTREMELY HELPFUL IF MESSAGING OPERATED LIKE A TYPICAL GROUP CHAT FEATURE THAT EVERYONE INCLUDED ON THE ACCOUNT COULD SEE BOTH WHAT THEY SEND AND THE RESPONSES!

When setting up my account, the app offers you a strong random password that’s already generated and pre-filled for you. I chose to set my own password because there’s no way anyone can remember something like bG3t!3?iabyzqzqw. But as soon as I move to Retype password, it deletes the one I set and reverts back to random password. There’s no way I could set my own password. Clearly the app has not been tested and don’t know how this has a 4.9 rating.

I am bit surprised to see such good ratings for this app.
Pics, videos and text do not load most of the time when clicking on the push notifications. I have to quit and reload the app to view latest updates on the app.This app fails to deliver on fundamental features which it is built for i.e. for parents to communicate with school and view pics and videos shared by school
0 stars from my end.
P.S. I have heard same feedback for all parents using ios app

This app claims to provide updates on real time and this is not the case. I see reviews from 6-8 months ago describing the same issue and as of today is still not providing real time notifications. I have to spend my day refreshing the app to see if there are any updates and it’s very frustrating. Is this ever going to be fixed? Having the used to go restart/refresh the app every time is not a solution. This shouldn’t be the response we get from your team.

I’ve used this app on Google pixel and now on an Iphone 13. I rarely had issues on the pixel but the app doesn’t update the daily log unless I log out and back in at least once a day for the Iphone.

I can see the notifications of new events but it doesn’t display the updates in the main page. Refreshing doesn’t help either. I have to log in again to see the recent activity. This is very frustrating. Besides this issue though, it does work as expected and allows me to communicate with the daycare.

My son started a daycare that uses this app and it has been unable to send me notifications. I have an iPhone 12 with most up to date operating system. I have troubleshot all I can on my own (restarting device, uninstalling then reinstalling, making sure all settings in both app and phone were on, etc) and nothing has resolved it. Have tried calling and emailing ProCare and no support is available for parents without going through the center itself. Really upset that our center uses and app that doesn’t effectively communicate updates to parents.

Pictures per with low resolution. Original pictures are much better. The feed only shows preview of the picture. If you want to see the full image, you have to click on it. Then, if you want to see the next picture, you have to click back, scroll down to the next picture, click on it again, and repeat. There is no way to slide pictures as you can do in other modern apps. very primitive application. in addition, the feed takes a long time to load. it’s pre-loads few posts or pictures, then you have to wait every time you scroll down. pretty annoying.

I don’t know why this app is rated highly. It doesn’t summarize data so you have to scroll through a long list of daily updates to know what is happening with your kids. The data is so spaced out that it’s hard for any parent to determine a pattern with the daily updates. It makes me wonder if the people that developed the app even have kids? I mean, why do you need a huge text box for just a one sentence update? Maybe our school is using it incorrectly. Either way, I’m not impressed having seen other apps that do the same thing with better presentation of data. Booo.

This app is very poor performing which is unfortunate because I don’t have the option to use another app for my sons daycare. The app is very slow to show the updates from his teacher in the main feed. Either I get the notification on my phone a long time after the app has been updated or if I’m in the app, I have to refresh the feed multiple times to see the update, if the update even shows at all. It is glitchy as well, I have opened the app to send a message a couple times and the app froze and wouldn’t let me use it at all which is also problematic because I use it to sign my son in and out each day. Overall, I really dislike this app and wish it functioned better.