Giving Compass' Take:

• Remind is a mobile education app that helps educators, students, and parents communicate with each other about everything school-related. The app lets them send messages and links to educational information. The mobile app hit the #1 spot on the list of free IOS applications. 

• How can this application set itself apart from the myriad of educational technology tools that are currently being developed? What makes Remind unique? 

• Read about other education technology tools that are helping both educators and students. 

Earlier this week, one educational app reigned over all in the endless galaxy of apps. According to both Apple and App Annie, a website that tracks the popularity of mobile apps by number of new downloads, Remind, a school communications platform, took the #1 spot on the chart of free iOS apps.

It’s a rare feat for an educational tool to best the social and entertainment apps that absorb so much of our attention. “Every time you see a non-social, non-entertainment or non-gaming app top the chart, I would say that’s a pretty big deal,” says Amir Ghodrati, director of market insights at App Annie.

So how does an app that primarily functions as a messenger for students, parents and educators take the crown?

Seasonality may well have something to do with it, offers Brian Grey, CEO of Remind.

Remind’s app allows educators, parents and students to send and receive text and voice messages, as well as share attachments and links to digital educational resources. The company was founded in 2011 with a straightforward value proposition: to provide teachers with a safe and secure way to send homework or study reminders to students and their parents on mobile devices without using personal phone numbers.

Today, Remind sells an enterprise version of its platform to schools and districts. Among the additional features: a student rostering functionality that makes it easier for IT administrators to create and manage user accounts, and data visualization tools that allow school leaders to track, monitor and analyze how frequently parents, students and teachers communicate.

At its core, Remind remains very much a school communications tool, says Grey. But his grander vision is to evolve the app into what he calls an “educational platform” that allow users to share content from other providers.

Read the full article about Remind educational app by Tony Wan at EdSurge