Add and manage your school's own apps

The Apps page lists every tile on your school's Launchpad and panel: the shared apps Realsmart provides (Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Beacon and so on) and any tiles your school has added itself. This guide covers your own tiles. To choose who sees any tile, see Choose who sees each app. To set the order, see Order the apps on your school's panel. To switch whole Google or Microsoft suites on or off, see Turn Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 apps on or off.

You need to be an admin of the school (reduced admins can manage apps too). In the MAT overview the page says Pick a school: apps are set per school, so choose one from the switcher first.

Find your way round the list

Select Apps in the sidebar (under Platforms), then the All apps tab. (Apps opens on the tab you used last.) The heading shows how many apps there are, for example 42 apps.

• Search and filters — type in Search to look through titles, links, info and instructions, or select Filters to choose Type (App or Link), Published (Published or Unpublished) and Source (This school or Realsmart (shared)). Applied filters show as chips; select Clear all to start again.
• Source shows who owns the tile: School is yours, Realsmart is a shared app, and Trust is an app your trust added for every school in the trust.
• Published shows Published or Hidden. A hidden app isn't on anyone's panel.
• Visible to shows which account types see it. See Choose who sees each app.
• Actions shows Edit for your own apps. A Realsmart app shows Shared: you can show it, hide it or star it for your school, but not change it.

Add an app

1. Select Apps in the sidebar, then All apps, then Add app.
2. Fill in the form:
   • Title — the name people see under the tile. Required, at least 2 characters.
   • Type — App or Link. It's shown in the Type column on the list; the tile looks and works the same either way.
   • Link (URL) — where the tile goes, for example https://forms.office.com/r/abc123. Required. A bare address such as www.school.example works too and is opened as https://. Only web addresses work: links that aren't http or https (such as mailto:) don't reach the panel.
   • Instructions and Info — optional notes for your own reference. They're searched by the filter on the Apps page; the panel doesn't show them.
   • Icon image — optional. A picture file of up to 1 MB. Without one the tile uses a plain default icon.
   • Published (visible in panels) — ticked to start with. Untick it to keep the tile out of every panel until you're ready.
3. Select Create app. You return to the list with App created.

Switch the new app on for the right people

A new app starts switched off for every account type, so nobody sees it yet, not even admins. In the Visible to column on the list, select the toggles for the people who should see it (A admins, M staff, L learners, and G, Ob and Of for governors, observers and Ofsted), and select the star if it should sit in the starred row. See Choose who sees each app.

New tiles appear on panels within about 10 minutes. If your school has set its own tile order, a new tile goes at the end of the panel until you place it: see Order the apps on your school's panel.

Edit an app

On the list, select Edit on your own app. You can change anything on the form, including the icon (a new picture replaces the old one), then select Save changes (the page says App updated.). Cancel or Back to apps leaves without saving.

If the app came from your trust, a note at the top says it's authored by your trust and appears in every school. What you change applies only to your school as a local override, and your trust admin may replace it on their next update.

Show, hide or delete several apps at once

Tick the boxes beside your own apps (a Realsmart or trust app has no box), then use the bar that appears:

• Publish — puts them on panels (the page says N app(s) published.).
• Unpublish — takes them off every panel but keeps them, for example over the holidays (N app(s) unpublished.).
• Delete — removes them for good after you confirm (N app(s) deleted.). It only removes your school's own apps that your trust doesn't manage.

To delete one app, open it with Edit and select Delete app, then confirm Delete this app?.

An app you've deleted can't be brought back: add it again if you need it. Unpublishing is the way to put one away for a while.

What you can't change

• Realsmart apps can't be edited or deleted by a school. Use Visible to and the star to control them, or the App suites card for Google and Microsoft.
• Trust apps can be edited here as a local override but can't be deleted: the page says Managed by your trust — can't be deleted here. Ask your trust admin to remove it from MAT overview → App defaults. See App defaults.
• Beacon's M toggle is special: see Choose who sees each app.

Troubleshooting

• I added an app and nobody can see it. Check, in this order: the Visible to toggles (a new app has all of them off), that Published says Published and not Hidden, and then wait up to 10 minutes for the panels to refresh.
• The tile shows but the link doesn't open. Check the Link (URL): it must be a web address that starts with https:// (or http://). Other kinds of link are dropped.
• I can't tick an app, or there's no Edit button. A Realsmart or trust app has no tick box, and a Realsmart app has no Edit button (it says Shared). Use Visible to instead.
• "This app cannot be edited for your school." (a 403 page). You've opened an app that belongs to Realsmart or another school.
• "This app is managed by your trust — ask your trust admin to remove it from MAT overview → App defaults." You tried to delete a trust app. Ask your trust admin.
• The icon didn't upload. The file must be a picture of 1 MB or less.

Adding, editing, deleting and publishing apps, and the per-app Visible to toggles, aren't recorded in the audit trail today. Changing the tile order, the App suites switches and the Personal layouts settings is: see Admin audit trail.