Parents Mobile App

App Overview

There are three mobile apps for Canvas (Canvas Student, Canvas Parent, Canvas Teacher) each available in iOS and Android formats from your App Store. The Parent App displays grades, notations of submitted or missing work, upcoming events for the student, and in-app notification settings that can be customized for each child. Student information can be easily filtered by child and calendar event visibility is more easily filter by child than in the web application. If you use your credentials to log into the student app for Canvas, you will be able to see course content but will not be able to see any grades or other data for your child. Click the Setting Up the App tab above for instructions to configure your Parent App or use the links below to access the Canvas Mobile Guides.

Connecting to the App

Download the App from your App Store
In the app store search box enter: Canvas Parent. Make sure you are installing the app with the blue-colored icon
Login to the App
Open the app and tap the Find my school button:

On the next screen, you will be prompted for your school's name. You can type in Howard County or the name of your child's school. As you type a list will appear. Select the district (or specific school):

You will be redirected to the HCPSS login screen. Enter your username and password here to complete the process.

Viewing a Course

Tap the Courses icon at the bottom of your screen. You will see a list of your child's courses and average for the current quarter:

Tap a course to view the assignments for that week. Tap the left or right arrows to look at past or upgoing weeks. Tap on the assignment to view details or to set a reminder notification for that assignment. You can choose the date and time that you would like to receive the reminder. Reminders are sent as push notifications to your device:

Calendars

Tap the Week icon at the bottom of your screen. This will display all the currently published assignments and events for your child for the current week. Use the left and right arrows to see past or future events. Tap an assignment or event to view more details or to set a reminder within the app.

Setting Alerts

The Canvas Parent App has additional in-app alert settings that are not available as email notification in Canvas Web. Within the app you can:

Customize alert preferences for each child
Set threshold notifications to receive alerts when graded assignments or the course average falls below a specific score
Receive alerts when an assignment is marked missing
Receive in-app alerts when a course announcement has been posted

To use the alerts function, you will need to set up alerts for each child:

1. Tap the menu icon (3 bars) in the upper left corner of the app.

2. Select Manage Children

3. Select one of your children

4. Make your alert setting choices for the selected child. You will need to configure these settings separately for each child you have in the system.

5. Once you have alerts setup, you will see notifications when you tap the Alert icon (bell) on the main screen [1]. Alerts with blue dots [2] have not been read. Tap an individual alert to view more detail. Once you've read an alert, you can permanently dismiss it by tapping the X [3] in the upper right hand corner of the alert.

Main Menu