Using the app on a computer
School Courier isn't only a phone app. Open it in a browser on a laptop, desktop, or school Chromebook and you get the same feed, groups, calendars, and messages — with a real keyboard.
There's no download, no extension, and no software for your IT department to push out. Any modern browser works — Chrome, Safari, Edge, or Firefox.
Getting there
- Go to schoolcourier.app in your browser.
- The first time, you'll see a short Just a quick check screen while we confirm you're a person and not an automated program. It takes a second or two and you'll only see it about once a year on that device.
- Pick your school or district from the list, the same way the phone app does on first open.
- Sign in from the circle in the top-right corner to reach your groups, messages, and anything that needs an account.
Some schools also have their own direct address — something like yourschool.schoolcourier.app — which skips the district list and opens straight into your school, in your school's colors. Your school will share it if they have one.
Sign in exactly as you do on your phone: your phone number or email address, then the code we send you (or your password, if you've set one). It's one account — the groups you follow, your permissions, and your conversations are all waiting for you.
What you can do
Almost everything the phone app does, the browser does:
- Read and write posts — including photos straight from your computer's files, which is often easier than getting them onto your phone first.
- Comment and reply on posts in your groups.
- Follow, join, and leave groups, including private groups by passcode or request.
- Calendars and dining menus, with the same Today and Tomorrow cards.
- Messages with staff, photos included.
- Staff directory, resources, weather, supporters, and school info.
- Your profile and settings — notification preferences, family details, and groups.
What's different from the phone
- No push notifications. Alerts, group posts, and message notifications arrive on your phone, not in the browser. Keep the phone app installed for closings and emergencies — think of the computer as the place you sit down and work, not the place you get interrupted.
- Photos come from your files rather than a camera. Your browser opens its usual file picker.
- The tabs move to the top. In a wide browser window the phone's bottom tab bar becomes a navigation bar across the top of the page — the same tabs, a More menu for the rest, and a weather chip and ? help button where your school offers them. Lists spread out a little; posts and conversations settle into a readable column. Narrow the window and it looks like the phone again.
- Links open in a new tab — resources, links in posts, the help center — so you never lose your place.
The check keeps automated programs, scrapers, and search engines out of your school's site. School Courier is deliberately invisible to Google and every other search engine — your school's posts, calendars, and staff list should be findable by your families, not by the open internet.
Common questions
- Do I need a different account? No — it's the same account, and you can be signed in on your phone and your computer at the same time.
- Will my phone stop working? No. The phone app is unchanged, and it's still where notifications arrive.
- I got sent back to the district list. That happens if the address you used doesn't match a school we recognize. Go to schoolcourier.app and pick your school from the list.
- The check keeps reappearing. Your browser is probably clearing cookies between visits (private/incognito windows always do). Use a normal window, or just complete the check again.
- Something looks out of date. Reload the page. The browser version updates itself — there's no store update to wait for.
For staff & group leaders
If you post for a class, team, or club, the browser is the comfortable place to do the heavier work — writing a long newsletter-style post, pasting from a document, uploading a batch of photos from a camera card, or entering a whole season of events.
- Everything you can do on your phone, you can do here — post to your groups, schedule a post for later, run your group's calendar, approve pending posts and comments, manage members and passcodes.
- Approvals arrive as messages with Approve/Deny buttons, and My Groups keeps the pending list — the same as on the phone. See reviewing approvals.
- Notifications still go to your phone. If you spend your day at a desk, keep the phone app installed so you know when something needs you.
Administrators: district-level tools — users, calendars, dining, resources, and ads — stay in the Commander at c3.schoolcourier.com; mass alerts can be sent from the Commander or from the app. See Admin Help.