A second patch for version 4.28 of our Custom Mobile App has been released. The patch includes fixes for a number of bugs.

Bugs Fixed

This patch for the 4.28 release includes fixes for a couple of bugs you may have experienced. If you have experienced one or both of these issues, your application will need to be rebuilt to resolve the issue. 

If you are experiencing one of the following issues, please contact our support team to request your application be rebuilt. 

• On iOS, home screen shows as always loading new content until the content is viewed. 
• After receiving a push notification, when you next open the app a server error message is displayed.

Important: If you have not yet created developer accounts, you will need to do so in order for your application to be rebuilt. For information on setting up your accounts, click here. The iOS and Google Play stores require each client to have a developer account in order to deploy new versions of your application into their stores. 

A patch for version 4.28 of our Custom Mobile App was released. The patch includes fixes for a number of bugs.

Bugs Fixed

The patch for the 4.28 release includes fixes for several bugs, such as in some cases the text in the status bar at the top of the screen was not visible within the application on iOS and how for some users the link to support was not visible within the CustomApp Builder site. Some of these fixes require your application to be rebuilt before you will see the issue resolved. 

If you are experiencing the following issue, please contact our support team to request your application be rebuilt. 

• Push notification badge not being displayed on application icon in iOS. 

Important: If you have not yet created developer accounts, you will need to do so in order for your application to be rebuilt. For information on setting up your accounts, click here. The iOS and Google Play stores require each client to have a developer account in order to deploy new versions of your application into their stores. 

We have released version 4.28 of our Custom Mobile App. The release includes numerous bugfixes and changes to the minimum operating system requirements to run the Custom Mobile App on Android and iOS. 

Minimum Operating System Requirements Changing

SchoolMessenger’s Custom Mobile App is changing its minimum OS compatibility for iOS and Android devices. When Google and Apple upgrade their OS versions on Android and iOS, they discontinue support for older versions, requiring entire Android and iOS ecosystems to adapt. The upgrades impact SchoolMessenger’s Custom Mobile App as well.

SchoolMessenger’s CustomApp is upgrading our supported minimum versions for iOS and Android as follows:

If you like to know more about the changes to our minimum requirements, please see our FAQ.

BugFixes

The 4.28 release also included various fixes for a number of bugs, including an issue where Page Views graph in the Custom Mobile App Builder would not display in some circumstances. Some of the other fixes require your application to be rebuilt before you will see the issue resolved. 

If you are experiencing the following issue, please contact our support team to request your application be rebuilt. 

• PDF links containing a # will not load

Important: If you have not yet created developer accounts, you will need to do so in order for your application to be rebuilt. For information on setting up your accounts, click here. The iOS and Google Play stores require each client to have a developer account in order to deploy new versions of your application into their stores. 

SafeArrival Version 1.5.2 Released

What’s New

• Statistic Improvements: More details are now shown in the statistics on the admin site.
•  Absence Handling Improvements: small changes made to grace periods and how absences are explained.

Statistic Improvements

School admins can now see more details in the statistics on the admin site. On the Statistics page, you can now see the following:

1. In the Number of Absences Reported through SafeArrival tab there’s a "# STUDENTS ABSENCES” column.
   
2.  There’s a new Absence Reasons tab.

•  When you click the Absence Reasons tab, there’s a pie chart displaying the percentage and number of the reasons for the selected period of the school.

Absence Handling Improvements

Important: This feature needs to be enabled by customer support. If you’re interested in testing this new feature, please contact us.

When the Extended Grace Period feature is enabled by a super user, the settings for the “Grace Period of …” option will apply to all absences. School admin and staff can explain an absence without being constrained by the cut-off time.

SchoolMessenger’s Custom Mobile App is changing its minimum OS compatibility for iOS and Android devices. When Google and Apple upgrade their OS versions on Android and iOS, they discontinue support for older versions, requiring entire Android and iOS ecosystems to adapt. The upgrades impact SchoolMessenger’s Custom Mobile App as well.

For years we have been able to support older devices running on iOS 9.3.5 and Android 4.4. Unfortunately, 3rd party APIs that support the new iOS 13 version and soon to be released Android 11 version in Fall 2020 will no longer be compatible with traditional devices running on older operating systems.

What is a minimum version?

Minimum version refers to the lowest version of a supported operating system of a mobile device such as your smartphone or tablet. Every mobile app will set limits on the earliest version of iOS or Android that can successfully run the app. For example, if your phone is on iOS 10 and an app requires a minimum version of iOS 11, you will not be able to install the app from the App Store until your device is running on iOS 11 or higher.

What is the current minimum version supported by SchoolMessenger’s CustomApp?

Currently we support iOS 9.3.5 (originally released in 2016) and Android 4.4.4 (originally released in 2013), but we are going to increase our supported minimum versions for iOS and Android devices in the summer of 2020.

What are the new minimum supported versions for iOS and Android on CustomApp and when will the change happen?

SchoolMessenger’s CustomApp is upgrading our supported minimum versions for iOS and Android as follows:

Why is the minimum version supported by SchoolMessenger’s CustomApp going to be increased?

Every year, Apple and Google release new versions of their iOS and Android operating systems and end support for older versions. CustomApp currently keeps up with supporting the latest and newest versions while maintaining support for older versions. However, with the latest iOS 13 and Android 10 updates, we will be forced to drop support for some of those older versions.

CustomApp uses 3rd party plugins to deliver some of our features such as managing your channel subscriptions and your push notifications as well as posting from the app to your social media accounts. With the latest iOS and Android updates, these 3rd party plugins are dropping support for older versions of iOS and Android, which will bring undesired behavior to CustomApp. We are prioritizing a smooth experience of CustomApp in a rapidly changing iOS and Android environment. To ensure that the expected behavior and your day-to-day app use is not impacted by these external changes, we made the decision to increase our minimum supported version for iOS devices to iOS 11.0 and Android devices to Android 6.0 respectively.

How many users are on versions older than iOS 11 and Android 6?

Luckily, less than 2% of our users are running on iOS 11 and Android 6 or lower.

What does this mean if I want to install my school’s app for the first time after June 2020?

If you are on an iOS device, check that your mobile device is running on iOS 11.0 or higher. Similarly, if you are on an Android device, check that you are running on Android 6.0 or higher. You will be able to install and use your school’s app if you are running on these versions or higher.

If you are running on a version lower than iOS 11 or Android 6, you will not be able to install your school’s app until you have upgraded to at least iOS 11 or Android 6 on your device.

What does this mean if I already have my school app installed and want to update it after June 2020?

You will be able to continue to use your school app on your phone without any impact from this change. If your device is running on iOS 11 or Android 6 or a higher version, you will be able to install new updates for your school app without any issues.

If you are running on a version lower than iOS 11 or Android 6, you will be able to use your school app in its current version, but some features may not work as expected. You will also not be able to install any new updates until you have upgraded to at least iOS 11 or Android 6 on your device. To prevent any potential of not being able to use certain app features, such as receiving notifications, unexpected app crashes, and getting the latest security updates and bug fixes, we encourage you to upgrade to the latest iOS and Android versions before June 2020.

SchoolMessenger App Version 1.9.18 Released

Version 1.9.18 of our SchoolMessenger App for mobile was recently released for iPhone and Android. This release included enhancements to Push Notification functionality, small changes to the User Interface as well as some BugFixes. 

Android

Enhancements

• Push Notifications: When Push Notifications are enabled, the system now sends a single request to update all notification types at once.

BugFixes

• Push Notifications: some users were not receiving push notifications.
• User Interface Changes: when the users had a lot of contacts on the Attendance page, their names hid the Help icon. The menu icons have also been updated to align with the icons on the iOS app for alignment and continuity.
• Teacher Messages: when users would tap the Send button multiple times, the app would crash.

iOS

Enhancements

• Log In: usernames and passwords are now auto-filled when logging in
• User Interface Changes: the position of the Help icon was moved to align with the position of the Help icon in the Android app. 

BugFixes

• Attendance Page: Pulling down on the Attendance Page caused an unnecessary Warning message to pop up. 

SchoolMessenger App for Web

BugFixes

• Newsletters: Newsletters sent from Communicate using Stationary were not displaying properly in the Messages Page.  

Version 2020.1 of our Presence Content Management System (CMS) has been released. This release includes a new mobile menu and an optional Form Builder beta as well as a number of bugfixes and minor enhancements. 

New Mobile Menu

A new mobile menu has been included with the release. This new mobile menu is fully keyboard accessible, empowering users relying on screen-readers to easily navigate your site. 

Form Builder Beta

A new optional tool is now available to assist you with the creation of new form templates. This feature is not enabled by default, but if you wish to try it on your sites, you can contact our support team and they will be happy to enable this feature for your site(s). 

Bugfixes

The Presence 2020.1 release also contains numerous bugfixes including fixing an issue where two icon image files in the administrator toolbar were loading over HTTP, even when using HTTPS, and an issue that some users were experiencing when trying to access calendar events through search. 

More Information

You can get more information on what was changed with the release by logging into your Presence site, opening the Shortcuts in your Administrator Toolbar and clicking What's New. 

SchoolMessenger App Version 1.9.17 Released

Version 1.9.17 of our SchoolMessenger App for mobile was recently released for iPhone and Android. This release included backend enhancements to help the system run with more efficiency.

The release also included an enhancement for iOS that allows the user flexibility with updating the app when a new version is released. When a new version is available, upon opening the app, the user will see a pop up window informing them that an update is available. Users can choose to update their app or wait until the next release.

SchoolMessenger App Version 1.9.16 Released

Version 1.9.16 of our SchoolMessenger App for mobile was recently released for iPhone and Android. This release included minor text adjustments on the Attendance page for Android and iPhone for alignment. The release also included some internal backend enhancements and application bugfixes.

BugFixes

On iOS:

• Set Up Wizard: If the user selected "Skip" on the Contacts and/or the Attendance pages as well as "Finish" in the Setup Wizard, they were taken to the Messages page instead of the Help page.
• Attendance Page: List View for Absences didn't display alert messages.

On Android:

• Attendance Page: The user wasn't able to create an absence due to an 'exam day' on a regular day. 

Version 4.27 of our Custom Mobile App was recently released. This release added support for additional Android screens and made some necessary changes required for iOS 13. The release also included some internal enhancements and application bugfixes.

Expanded Home Screen Support

In this release we have added support for Android devices using an 18:9 aspect ratio as well as enhancing support for Android devices with notches on their display screen. 

Application Updates

Some of the changes in the 4.27 update involved making required changes to our Custom Mobile App to keep up with changes being made with Apple App Store requirements in April 2020. 

In April 2020, the App Store will require all new apps and app updates to existing apps to target the latest version of iOS - iOS 13. Custom App now targets iOS 13 for all iOS builds, for both new apps and updates to existing apps, when submitted to stores. Exisiting apps in stores will continue to function without issue. If you require a new version of the app in the App Store, we will automatically update your app to support iOS 13 in compliance with Apple requirements.

Also in April 2020, Apple will no longer accept new apps using UIWebView to be submitted to the App Store. Similarly, existing apps using UIWebView will not be accepted starting in December 2020. Apps already in the App Store will continue to work without any updates. Custom App now uses the new method, WKWebView, for all new app and app update submissions to the App Store. If you require a new version of the app in the App Store, we will automatically submit your app using WKWebView in compliance with Apple requirements.

Both Apple and Google are constantly evolving the way they interact with applications like the Custom Mobile App. As such, a good chunk of our time is often devoted to ensuring that the Custom App Application is kept up to date with these changes so that your application will continue to work with Apple and Google. Such was the case with this most recent update as we made changes so our product would continue working after changes that Apple is rolling out.

BugFixes

The 4.27 release included various fixes for a number of bugs. One of these fixes requires your application to be rebuilt. 

If you are experiencing the following issue, please contact our support team to request your application be rebuilt: 

• No count of page views showing when viewing the Statistics section in the App Builder.

Important: If you have not yet created developer accounts, you will need to do so in order for your application to be rebuilt. For information on setting up your accounts, click here. The iOS and Google Play stores require each client to have a developer account in order to deploy new versions of your application into their stores.