Support

Questions, bugs, or feature ideas — write to hello@pingschool.com.

Getting the app

PingSchool ships today as an Android app. An iOS build shares the same codebase and is planned for later.

Connecting Gmail

Google does not allow apps to sign in with your normal Gmail password, so PingSchool uses an App Password instead:

1. Turn on 2-Step Verification

   Visit your Google account security settings and enable it if you have not already.

2. Create an App Password

   Go to App passwords and create one for Mail on Android. Google shows you a 16-character password once.

3. Paste it into PingSchool

   Open Settings → Email account, enter your Gmail address and that 16-character password, then tap Save and send test to myself.

That same login is used both to send (SMTP) and to read your Inbox and Sent Mail (IMAP).

Other email providers

• Brevo — paste an API key. The From address must be a sender you have verified in Brevo. Inbox reading is not available with Brevo.
• Custom SMTP — Outlook, iCloud, Sender, or your own host. For Sender the host is typically smtp.sender.net.

Common questions

Will the school see this came from an app?

No. The message is sent through your own email account, so it arrives as an ordinary email from your address, with your name on it.

My scheduled message did not send.

Scheduled sends rely on Android's alarm and notification permissions. Check that PingSchool is allowed to send notifications and is not being restricted by battery optimization, which some manufacturers apply aggressively to background tasks.

Can one email cover both of my children?

Yes. Add each child in Settings, then use the child picker on the home screen — it is multi-select, so a single message can name both.

Do alarms send anything to the school?

No. An alarm is a reminder for you — leave for the pickup line, get up in time for the bus. It rings on the phone and sends no email. You will find the list under Alarms on the Schedules tab, below your scheduled sends.

Do I need an account?

No. Sign in in Settings is optional — with a Google account or with an email address and password — and every feature except sharing works without it. Signing in by itself moves nothing off the phone — it only tells the app who you are.

Can both parents share the same notes and history?

Yes. Settings → Household puts two adults on the same set of children: notes and the record of what the school has been told become the same on both phones. One of you creates the household and gives the other an invite code, which works once and expires after a week.

Email accounts, alarms and scheduled sends are not shared. Mail always leaves from your own address, sent by your own phone, so a schedule belongs to one parent rather than to the household — which is also what stops the school getting two copies of the same message. What is stored and who can see it is set out in the privacy policy.

How do I move to a new phone?

Use Settings → Backup on the old device and Restore on the new one. The backup file contains your account secret, so keep it somewhere private and delete it once the restore is done.

How do I delete my account?

Settings → Account → Delete account, which also offers to erase everything on the phone. If you no longer have the device, see the account deletion page.

Still stuck?

Email hello@pingschool.com and describe what you were doing and what happened. Screenshots help.