3 Ways to Build Community with a School App

Out of all of the awesome things that we help our clients do through their apps, something that gets us really excited is providing an avenue for more robust community. We love seeing relationships get stronger and go deeper through the tools that our clients include in their apps. With that said, we want to share a few more reasons why getting an app can benefit your school.

1. Foster Community with Families

To help families feel that the school their children go to is more than just an institution, many of our clients have included prayer groups in their app for support and encouragement.

You also have the option to upload any media from chapel’s or other gatherings that parents can listen to throughout the week and discuss with their children, which can provide even more opportunities for parents to engage with their children about what they are learning.

2. Bridge the Gap between Parents and Staff

For some families, the communication gap between what happens at home and what happens at school can be hard to navigate. With a mobile app from Subsplash, you can help narrow that gap a little bit more by keeping parents in the know and engaging students.

By including great features like new staff information and profiles, and even important school-wide alerts for safety concerns, you can give the families at your school an even greater feeling of community and a greater sense of appreciation for how you are helping shape their children’s lives.

3. Engage your Community

With kids spending the majority of their day at school, and many parents being heavily involved in the activities at their children’s schools, having an app can be a great resource for parents and children who want to stay connected throughout the week.

With tabs for things like blogs, newsletters, and Bible reading plans, students and parents can stay in-the-know about important updates and announcements. There is even an option to include details about school lunches.

We would love to help you get started with your own School App! Contact us today to get more information and build an app for your school.

3 Ways to Improve Communication with a School App

It’s hard to believe, but the weather is cooling down, school supplies are lining the displays at major department stores, and another school year is fast-approaching. In fact, for some, classes have already started and another academic year is in full swing.

In a previous post we discussed the value of building an app for your school by providing some compelling statistics about the relationship between mobile devices and education. In the first part of this two part series we want to take a look at some additional benefits of signing up for an app from a communication and community perspective:

1. Get Important Info in Front of Parents

The first days and weeks of a new school year can be a chaotic time for many parents as they try to set their children up for success by preparing them for everything from wearing the right outfit, to coming to class with the right colored markers.

A study by the National Education Association shows that student achievement is directly correlated to parent involvement, so with great tab features like supply lists, dress code information, and notifications of important parent/teacher meetings, creating an app can help parents stay connected with their school like never before.

2. Share School-Wide Events

Events can play an important part in the culture of any school; but keeping up with all of the athletic events, volunteer opportunities, and the like can be overwhelming and confusing.

A custom app for your school will make your newsletter and events available front and center on mobile devices. Smartphone users spend 85% of their time in apps, which gives you an opportunity to meet your community where they are at.

3. Share your Content (and Save Money!)

Having a blog or newsletter right in your app will save you the extra dollars it takes to create and print them out for families who want to stay in the know. It also removes the hassle of taking the time to send them out.

For private schools, we've provided a convenient "Giving" tab that can act as a reminder for parents that they have the option to support the school by donating.

Stay tuned for the second part of this School App series: 3 Ways to Build Community with a School App.

5 Ways Technology Enhances Our Lives

Technology has undoubtedly become a fixture in our society–where most everything that we do and interact with during the day involves high-tech in some capacity. It might be nice to occasionally unplug from our technology-saturated world and just enjoy the simplicity and nostalgia of life off the grid; but the truth is, technology has brought about countless societal advancements and benefits that we might not even realize, or take advantage of. Here is a short list of some of the ways technology enhances our lives:

1. It Promotes Education

Multiple studies have been done in recent years that have proven that kids have an easier time engaging with technology, when learning new concepts, over any other method. The use of digital tools in the classroom has increased significantly in the past year, and many schools have seen an increase in their students’ overall performance thanks to the use of mobile devices.

2. It Helps Us Stay Safe

Natural disasters are devastating no matter what precautions are taken, but the recent development of mobile technology might help keep more people safe, and in some cases, even save people’s lives in the wake of events like hurricanes.

With power outages being a common occurrence during big storms, mobile devices can step in where regular news stations aren’t able to. Using your device to receive news updates and even watch videos can be supremely helpful during times of crisis.

3. It Saves Lives

Mobile health apps are becoming increasingly popular and are proving to be a vital asset to families in Africa, where resources are scarce and access to healthcare is difficult at times. For women all over the country, having a free and easily accessible tool like a maternal health mobile app can mean the difference between life and death for themselves and their children.

With the rise of exceptional maternal health mobile apps, the quality of life for moms in developing countries continues to improve.

4. It Keeps Us Connected

We live in a very unique time in history that is marked by interconnectedness and information. You no longer have to wait to hear about your childhood best friend’s engagement thanks to social platforms like Facebook, and you can find out what is going on halfway across the globe in an instant with up-to-the-minute information from online news sources.

Staying connected to the world around us can help with things like keeping the right perspective about what’s going on in your own life, and maintaining relationships with people you wouldn’t otherwise be able to. These advantages can be great for finding a job, reconnecting with old friends, and much more.

5. It Makes Life More Fun

Because of advancements in mobile technology, you can enjoy various types of entertainment like books, movies, or games instantly. In fact, you can store everything from news articles, to TV shows, to word puzzles, on one small device and take it with you wherever you go.

The dilemma of not having enough sources for entertainment is a thing of the past. The only decision you have to make now is what exciting, new thing should I choose to engage with next?

What are some other ways technology has enhanced our society? How has technology personally improved your life?

Client Spotlight: LifeGate Denver

It was only a year ago that Pastor Nirup Alphonse and his family moved from Indiana to plant a church in the busy, urban center of Denver. With support from back home, he and his wife, Hannah, settled into one of the fastest-growing cities in the U.S. with the hope of advancing the kingdom of God, and helping people start new lives in Jesus. At LifeGate Denver, their deepest desire is to “make Jesus famous and to make heaven crowded.”

Subsplash (aka The Church App) has been working with LifeGate Denver almost as long as the church has been in existence, and it has been a joy to partner with them to see the Gospel move forward, and the good news of Jesus spread throughout the city of Denver.

LifeGate Denver utilizes Subsplash mobile apps and it has made a huge impact on their ministry. Nirup and his team have definitely maximized the use of their app to reinforce their church’s vision. Though the church is still growing and averaging about 250 people in weekly attendance, their app has been downloaded nearly 600 times and has received close to 15,500 impressions.

Here’s what Nirup had to say about how their app has helped them move the message of the Gospel forward:

TCA: What goals are you aiming to accomplish with your app?

NA: We really want people to know what’s going on at our church, so we make full use of the Events feature and social integration so that people can stay connected to the life of our church. We just started using the app as a “program” of sorts so that as soon as people show up on Sundays they can open their app and know what that week’s service is going to look like.

TCA: How has your app added value to LifeGate Denver?

NA: The app is a great way for people to learn what we are about. We even market our app separately. It’s one of the first things I tell people about when I first meet them. When I tell them about our church, I tell them about the app right away. So many people are taken back by the quality of the app. In a city like Denver, where it is difficult to see the Gospel take root, it is so helpful to have a high-quality app to show to people who really value creativity and commerce.

TCA: What results have you seen through the app?

NA: Hundreds of people have downloaded our app. I get emails all of the time from people all over the world who have downloaded the LifeGate Denver app. It’s a really attractive aspect of our ministry.

TCA: Would you like to share any other comments about your app or the Subsplash Platform, and how you’re using it to engage your audience?

NA: I love the simple design of the Subsplash Dashboard. The push notifications are so helpful. I’ve always really appreciated the quality of customer service at Subsplash. Everyone always goes above and beyond to answer my questions and the support team are some of the most patient people in the world to talk with. They walk with you step by step.

I really appreciate that the Subsplash Dashboard allows you to create an app that is unique and customizable. The Subsplash Platform allows churches to showcase their personality. In the future, we hope to focus on getting more messages out on push notifications and take advantage of music, blogs, and other features as our church grows.
 

We love partnering with churches like LifeGate Denver and seeing how different ministries’ apps bless people all over the world. Learn more about The Church App and find out how a customized app can benefit your organization. We’d love to hear from you!

7 Reasons to Sign Up with Subsplash

Subsplash is a world leader in platform based apps and an innovator in the mobile space. We are always looking for ways to improve our platform and delight our clients. To keep you up to date with all of the changes in mobile technology so you stay ahead of the game, Subsplash is constantly refining the existing features and adding new ones.

To help our clients take full advantage of Subsplash app features we’ve put together a list of helpful information. With so many exciting new features in the pipeline, we can’t wait to help our clients get more value out of their app, so we are going to give a sneak peak into some things we are working on as well.

1. Push Notifications                                        

Send a personalized message to your community instantly! From newly added media, to promoting your events, message curation is as simple as can be with the Subsplash Dashboard. It’s as easy as typing your message within our notifications page and sharing it with your audience.

We also have some exciting new push notification features in the works:

1. Segmented push notifications

2. Push notifications linking to content within the app

3. Scheduled push notifications

4. Push notification inbox

2. Incredible Customization

You know your audience best, and we want to give you the freedom to make your content as accessible and relevant to your community as possible. With great feature options to choose from like: blogs, music, events, and maps; you can reach your audience where they are at with the content that will speak to them in the best possible way.

There are limitless possibilities to customize the app to fit your needs. It is incredibly easy to make changes and very flexible.

3. Regular Updates and Improvements

Our platform is designed to make your life as easy as possible. That’s why you can expect any sleek new update to be automatic so that the only thing you have to think about is delighting your audience with great content.

Our team is busy working on updates for iOS9, which will support awesome new features like multitasking and picture-in-picture video.

4. Support

Subsplash provides true, hands-on technical support. Our onboarding and kickoff process includes specialized attention from a Subsplash App Specialist who is dedicated to helping you create your app and getting it live. Our support team has a ton of software industry experience and they love serving our clients in whatever ways they need. You’ll never have to worry about the software updates or feature development of your app. You just bring your awesome content.

Reach new heights with your app by learning from our Client Satisfaction Advocate who will help maximize your app for the most potential. Our pre-launch and post-launch services include having an awesome team helping you get your app live and answering any questions that you may have. We’ve got your back from the beginning and we’re in it for the long haul.

5. Real-Time Control of your Content                

With the Subsplash App Builder, you can update and customize your app on-the-fly. There’s no waiting for updates or silly charges.                 

6. Integrations

The Subsplash Platform is built to help you share your content and provides a simple way for your community to share it with the world. Every time you add content to the app, your users can showcase and share your media with ease. Maximize your impact by leveraging the power of social networks. Give your audience the ability to easily share content with Facebook, Twitter, Email, and more.

To help streamline all of your processes, you can add new content automatically by integrating with standard formats like iCal and RSS so your users never miss an important event or blog post update. Additionally, with the Web Player you can embed your content directly on your website with a collage widget.

If you want your audience to have access to a podcast, you can easily generate one with your app media content that will publish to iTunes, Stitcher, and more.

We know that giving is very important to you, that is why you can link your app to almost any  giving & donation platform, so that you can tangibly see increased giving from your audience. 

7. Note-Taking

Did you know you have the ability to take notes in a Subsplash app? We provide you with the option to take notes and send them to your personal email. This simple method allows you to save your existing notes to be archived and searched for later use.

We want to be super clear on what you can expect when you create your app with Subsplash. Our commitment to delight our clients and continue to strive for excellence in our industry is something that you can always count on.