brightwheel: Childcare App

4.7
11K reviews
Content rating
Everyone
1M+
Downloads
Content rating
Everyone
Learn more
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About this app

Brightwheel is an all-in-one childcare management software that saves time and simplifies operations for early education providers.

From billing and parent communication to curriculum and admissions, it combines everything you need in one easy-to-use platform.

Trusted by millions of educators and families and backed by a dedicated support team, brightwheel strengthens family connections and ensures seamless operations with reliable performance and robust security.

With brightwheel, you’ll spend less time on admin, more time with children.

Features include:
• All-in-one platform: Brightwheel combines billing, attendance, family communication, lesson planning, and reporting in one easy-to-use platform.
• User-friendly design: An intuitive interface that is quick to set up and easy for staff and families to use.
• Fast, quality support: An industry-leading, dedicated support team at your fingertips with 24/7 access to chatbot, tutorials, webinars, and community.
• Secure and reliable: Advanced security features like two-factor authentication and compliance with the highest data protection standards. With 99% uptime, the app is available virtually all the time.
• Billing and finances: Automated billing and payments for tuition and fees, customizable billing reports, and expense tracking.
• Family communication: Connect with families in real-time and centralize messaging, newsletters, and alerts.
• Photo and video sharing: Snap photos, record videos, and tag students with one click.
• Daily reports: Log naps, meals, bathroom, and other activities. Families get a personalized feed and daily summary.
• Calendar: Share events, holidays, and important dates with both families and staff.
• Lesson plans: Add, customize, and share your lesson plans with teachers. Upgrade to Experience Curriculum to enhance program quality with digital lessons and hands-on learning materials.
• Assessment and observations: Make note of progress, achievements, and activities with pre-loaded state standards and a DRDP tool. Share with families or privately amongst teachers.
• Admissions and enrollment: Build custom admission packets, manage your waitlist, and make it easy for prospective families to apply online.
• Attendance: Easily track student and staff attendance via quick scan or a code. Stay in compliance with room ratio and capacity tools.
• Reporting: Detailed reports of every brightwheel feature for billing and licensing requirements.
• Real-time syncing: Brightwheel stays up to date across all devices, including web and mobile.
• Affordable: Both free and premium plans available to fit your needs.

And... much more coming! Brightwheel is the #1 rated childcare management software, leading the industry through continuous innovation, frequent enhancements, and new features driven by valuable customer feedback.
Updated on
Jul 8, 2026

Data safety

Safety starts with understanding how developers collect and share your data. Data privacy and security practices may vary based on your use, region, and age. The developer provided this information and may update it over time.
This app may share these data types with third parties
Personal info, Photos and videos and 3 others
This app may collect these data types
Personal info, Financial info and 7 others
Data is encrypted in transit
You can request that data be deleted

Ratings and reviews

4.8
10.7K reviews
Bret Wood
June 26, 2025
I wish there was a way to rotate photos or add and upload photos from my computer to newsletter modules. The video feature often does not work in the app. When I go to send the video it will just send a message that media cannot be found. This app needs to be rebooted often in order for my class roster to show up. You cannot capture multiple moments at once. This is a one picture at a time and send to families kind of app. I have used other apps and this one is on the bottom of my list.
11 people found this review helpful
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brightwheel
July 1, 2025
Hi Bret! Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback. We sincerely apologize for any trouble or inconvenience you've experienced. We'd love to address each issue you've raised and help troubleshoot this with you. Please email us directly at support@mybrightwheel.com so we can investigate further!
Eri W
July 1, 2026
It's great but the main page of the child cannot be highlighted or copied. Our daycare is Japanese but my husband cannot read/write japanese. The messages in the app can be highlighted/copied but the main page of the child cannot. Please fix this inside the app. They updated and now messages can be Google translated. When "Observation" or "Student Feed" is updated, I don't get notifications even if all notifications are on... Please fix
4 people found this review helpful
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brightwheel
March 9, 2023
Hi Eri, thank you for providing that feedback! While there is no option to highlight/copy the child's activity feed in the app right now, you can sign your husband up to receive Daily Reports emailed to him. This way, he can copy the text in the email to translate. To find out more about this option, you can send an email to help@mybrightwheel.com!
Emily Trevino
May 26, 2026
My daughters daycare uses this app. This app give me a piece of mind Knowing I can reach out to the teachers directly and get a quick response, securely process payments, get notified about bad weather, or reminders about when they will be closed for holidays,and check my child in and out. Everything is done through this one app. Its very user friendly and convenient!
1 person found this review helpful
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What’s new

Fixed an issue that caused the app to close unexpectedly for some users.