App Profile: HiMama Parent

NeedZen

Rating: 2/5

I find the whole system hard to use. For one thing I can't download the pics directly to my phone. When a teacher posts a response to something I've written it doesn't notify me either. Emails which come to my desktop program don't show up on the app, but my responses do. It's all discombobulated. I would like an easy way to tag a pic for the teachers know I've seen a pic and appreciate it. I know there is the "Favorite" button or whatever but not sure if teachers are notified. Benefits are that I get updates during the day which is great. Sometimes pics are delayed tho- I get the notification but the pic isn't actually visible in the app until later. I know the teachers like being able to rapidly put in meals etc. and anything that makes life easier for the teachers I am a fan of.

Tinfoilparachute

Rating: 2/5

Our daycare uses HiMama to share photos and videos of daily activities, and the interface is extremely clunky. When several pictures are uploaded, they are grouped together as one, each with very low resolution where it is impossible to make out the detail or your child. If you try to zoom in, instead of showing just the pictures full-screen, it creates a tiny landscape window within the portrait app (turning the phone won’t change it), and you could zoom in within the group of pictures, but again low resolution makes it pointless. Why they couldn’t replicate well working photo interface of Instagram, Tumblr or even much smaller but well designed TinyBeans, is beyond me, and low resolution seems like a way to save on cloud storage costs.

Poopsicle panda

Rating: 2/5

The app is Buggy at best. Says there’s a new pic/journal entry; sends me right to the report(?) Says the reports ready; sends me directly to the journal entries (?) Sometimes it tells me there’s a journal entry and when I go to see this entry I sit on a blank screen. There have been occasions when these images won’t show up until a day later. And other times when I wish to see comments and it seems to be stuck until I fully click on the image and go back. There is apparently a LOT of going back to go forward in my experience which is not conducive to an easy and stress free experience. That said; I am not an app designer. I wouldn’t know where to begin to start creating an app like this or any other. Not even sure if there are any other choices out there. Also; it does give a parent the chance to see their child doing new things and growing which is not easy in our modern, every family member works, society. And it is necessary for some mental sanity as a parent. Wish the “bugginess” could be fixed but; it does serve a very cool and meaningful purpose. All in all; it seems to this average consumer parent to be a fantastic idea with some real flaws.