Stay informed with notifications

See what alerts you get, read them in the Messages tab, and choose which ones reach you.

Who this is for: Parents and carers who want timely updates about their child's bus and account.

Where it lives: The RollCall Parent App, on the Messages tab and the Account tab.

Before you start: You are signed in, your child is linked to your account, and push notifications are allowed on your phone.

Short on time? Do sections 4 and 5 first, turn on push notifications and choose which alerts reach you. That is the setup that matters most.

1. What this guide covers

The most useful updates reach you the moment they happen: your child scanning onto the bus, scanning off, the bus running late, and messages from the school. Turn on notifications once and the app keeps you posted through the day, even when it is closed.

This guide shows you what notifications you get, where to find them on the Messages tab, how to turn on push notifications, and how to choose which alerts reach you so the app fits your family.

2. What notifications you get

Notifications are the short updates the app sends about your child's travel and account. The common ones are scan-on and scan-off confirmations when your child taps on and off the bus, bus updates such as a delay or a route change, receipts and low-balance reminders, and messages the school sends to families.

Each alert arrives in your inbox on the Messages tab, and, if you have turned it on, as a push notification that pops up on your phone straight away. Some also arrive by email. A school message is one kind of notification too, sent by the school to keep every family in the picture.

Exceptions such as No card or Off stop show on your child's row and reach you as alerts.

3. Read your alerts in the Messages tab

Every notification lands in your inbox on the Messages tab, whether or not you saw the push at the time. It is the record you can always come back to.

1. Open the Messages tab. Tap Messages in the bar along the bottom. Your notifications inbox is the first thing you see, grouped by day with the newest at the top.
2. Tap a notification to read it. Tap any row to expand it and read the full message. A coloured dot marks anything you have not read yet, and it clears the moment you open the row.
3. Filter the list. Tap the chips above the list to narrow it down: All, Unread, Route for bus updates, and Financial for receipts and balance messages. Tap Mark all as read to clear every dot in one go.
   You are caught up, and the badge on the Messages tab clears along with the dots.

   
   

   

   The inbox keeps every alert, grouped by day, with unread dots on anything new.

   
   

Worth knowing: If your inbox is empty, you see a bell icon with a green tick and the words You're all caught up. New alerts appear here as soon as they arrive.

4. Turn on push notifications

Push notifications are the pop-ups your phone shows the moment something happens, even when the app is closed. They are worth turning on for the time-sensitive updates, like a scan-on at the morning stop.

1. Say yes to the in-app prompt. The first time you sign in, a Stay Connected with RollCall screen appears. Tap Enable Push Notifications, then tap Allow when your phone asks.
2. Turn them on in your phone settings if you missed the prompt. If you tapped Don't Allow, or never saw the prompt, open your phone's Settings, find the RollCall Parent App, and switch Notifications on. On an iPhone this is under Settings, Notifications, RollCall. On an Android phone it is under Settings, Apps, RollCall, Notifications.
   Your phone can now show RollCall alerts as they arrive.

Tip: If a Focus or Do Not Disturb mode is switched on, your phone may hold alerts back even when RollCall is set up correctly. Check that too if nothing is coming through.

5. Choose which alerts you get

Manage Alerts is where you decide which alerts reach you, and whether they come by push, email, or both. You can be loud about one thing and quiet about another.

1. Open Manage Alerts. From the Account tab, open Settings and tap Manage Alerts. You can also tap the bell button at the top of the Messages tab to jump straight there.
2. Pick the child and the channel. Choose the child from the dropdown at the top, then tap Email or Push Notifications. Each child and each channel has its own set of switches, so set them up one at a time.
3. Turn alerts on or off. Use the master switch at the top to change everything in that channel at once, then flip individual rows to fine-tune. Your choices save the moment you tap a switch, so there is no separate save button.
   The app now sends only the alerts you want, on the channels you chose.

Worth knowing: A few alerts stay on for every family, such as route messages and low-balance reminders. They show a small padlock and read Always on, because the school needs those to reach everyone.

One switch per alert, per channel, per child. Padlocked rows stay on for every family.

Questions parents ask

I'm not getting any notifications.

This is almost always a phone setting. Open your phone's Settings, find the RollCall Parent App, and check that Notifications are switched on. Also check your phone is not in Do Not Disturb or a Focus mode, which can hold alerts back. If everything looks right and alerts still do not arrive, contact your school office.

I'm getting too many notifications.

Open Manage Alerts from the Account tab, tap Push Notifications, and turn off the alerts you do not need, child by child. You can also switch some from push to email so they arrive quietly as a record instead of pinging your phone all day.

I missed a notification. Is it gone?

No. A push you missed still sits in your inbox on the Messages tab. Push gives you the headline in the moment, and the inbox keeps the full record, so you can scroll back and read anything you did not catch.

What's the difference between a notification and a school message?

A school message is one kind of notification. Notifications cover everything the app sends you, from a scan-on to a receipt, while a school message is a note the school sends to families. Both land in the same inbox on the Messages tab. The inbox is for reading what the school sends, not for writing back, so if you have a question, contact your school office.

Why can't I turn some alerts off?

A few alerts stay on for every family: route messages, low-balance reminders, and school messages. They show a small padlock and read Always on. These carry information the school needs to reach everyone, so the app keeps them on. Every other alert is yours to switch on or off.

Can I set different alerts for each child?

Yes. Manage Alerts keeps a separate set of switches for each child, so you can have loud scan-on alerts for your youngest and a quieter set for an older child. Pick each child from the dropdown at the top and set them up one at a time.

Can a carer get notifications too?

Yes. A carer who has been given access sees their own inbox and their own alert preferences for the children shared with them, kept separately from yours. The school controls who sees what, so if a carer expects an alert and is not getting it, the primary parent or your school office can check their access.

This guide describes the RollCall Parent App version 4.0.0. Updated July 2026.