Getting help with Firstep
Where to start depends on who you are. Parents almost always want their school first — they hold the account and can fix most things in a minute. Schools using Firstep should raise a ticket inside the app, where we can see which school is asking.
Or write to us directly: info@firstepapp.com
If you are a parent or guardian
Ask your school first. This is not us passing you along — your school genuinely holds your account, and Firstep cannot reach into it on your behalf. They can do all of this straight away, and we cannot do any of it:
- You cannot sign in, or never received an invitation. Your school creates and approves parent accounts. If yours is still waiting for approval, they are the ones approving it.
- Your email address or phone number is wrong. Ask them to correct it. A wrong address is also the usual reason a password-reset email never turns up.
- Something in your child's record looks wrong — the room, an allergy, who is allowed to collect them. Those are the school's records and only the school can change them.
- A question about an invoice. Your school sets tuition, raises the invoice, and receives the payment. Firstep does not hold your money and cannot refund it.
- You want your account closed. You can do that yourself, in the app under your account, or on the web. It erases your personal details. Your child's attendance and incident records stay with the school, which is required to keep them.
If you have no way to reach your school
Write to info@firstepapp.com and tell us your school's name. We will not be able to change anything on your account — that stays with the school — but we can confirm whether the account exists and help you get back in front of somebody who can.
If your school already uses Firstep
Raise a ticket from inside Firstep rather than by email. It arrives tagged with your school and your role, which means we are not spending the first reply working out who is asking.
Staff and administrators
Sign in and open Support from the admin area. You can attach a screenshot, and every reply lands in the same thread.
Parents
There is a Support section in your account on the web and in the app — but for anything about your child or your bill, your school will be faster.
What we commit to
- Staff tickets answered within 72 hours, family tickets within 7 days. Published here rather than buried in a contract.
- Measured per reply owed, not per ticket. Answering quickly once and then going quiet is the thing a first-reply average hides, so it is not the figure we keep.
- Something broken that is stopping a school working is not a ticket in a queue. Say so in the first line and it is treated that way.
If you are considering Firstep
This page is for people already using it. To ask about pricing, a demonstration, or moving from another system, use the early-access form — it asks a few questions about your center so the first conversation is a useful one.
Common questions
I am a parent and I cannot sign in. Who do I ask?
Your school. They created your account and they are the only ones who can reactivate it, correct the email address on it, or approve it if it is still waiting. Firstep cannot sign in on your behalf or reset an account we were not asked to touch.
Can Firstep delete my child's records?
Not on our own. You can close your own account from inside the app or the web, which erases the personal details attached to you. Your child's attendance and incident records belong to the school and they are required to keep them for a period set by their state's licensing rules, so those stay with the school even after an account closes.
How quickly does Firstep answer a ticket?
Within 72 hours for school staff and within 7 days for families, published up front rather than buried in a contract. We measure it per reply owed rather than per ticket, because answering quickly once and then going quiet is exactly what a first-reply figure hides.
The app is asking for my location or my camera. Why?
Location is used only when a parent checks a child in or out, to confirm they are at the school — the same thing scanning the code on the door does. The camera and photo library are used by staff to share pictures with the families in their own rooms. A parent account never uploads a photo, and nothing is tracked in the background.
Our school is interested in Firstep. Is this the right page?
No — this page is for people already using it. Use the early-access form on the contact page and we will get back to you.
Still stuck? Write to info@firstepapp.com — that address is read by a person, not a bot, and you do not need an account to use it.