Questions
The ones schools ask first, answered straight.
How much does it cost?
Nothing right now. AttendVia is free to use, with every feature included and no credit card. We plan to start charging once it has grown, and we will tell you well before anything changes.
How do I get started?
Create an account and confirm your email. Then set up your school, add a location and a class, and add your students. You can invite other instructors to any class. You do it all yourself, with no need to talk to us.
Can students cheat?
Nothing can guarantee presence. A student would have to get past the classroom fence, a code that changes every 30 seconds, Face ID on their own registered phone, random presence checks and a headcount by the instructor. It is hard and it leaves a trail, but a determined person with technical skill and a friend in the room could still try. Our security page lists the limits.
Do students need an iPhone?
No. There is an iPhone app and an Android app, and both confirm it is the student with Face ID, a fingerprint or the screen lock at each clock action. The Android app downloads from attendvia.com/android. Students without a smartphone can use the website if their instructor allows it, and those clock-ins always need a person to confirm them at sign-off.
Are the phone apps available now?
The Android app is: download it from attendvia.com/android. The iPhone app is being prepared for the App Store. Contact us to ask about access.
What if a phone dies, or GPS is bad indoors?
The instructor can mark a student present with a reason, and it is labelled on reports. There is also a printable sign-in sheet for when things go wrong. Indoor GPS varies by building, so we suggest a walk test in each room, and the fence can be adjusted per location.
Are you tracking students?
No. Location is read only after the student taps: at clock-in, clock-out and when answering a presence check. Never to sign in, and never in the background. Face and fingerprint data stay on their phone and never reach us.
Does a missed presence check reduce someone's hours?
Not by itself. It leaves them unticked at sign-off, so the instructor looks. They can confirm the student was there, remove the unconfirmed time with a reason, or cancel a check nobody could answer.
Can attendance records be edited or deleted?
Yes, by instructors and administrators, with a reason. The change takes effect in hours and reports, and the original stays in the history marked as changed. That history is what makes the record worth trusting.
Will this satisfy our regulator or accreditor?
That is for them to say, and rules differ. Some require a wet signature; for those, AttendVia prints a sign-in sheet. We suggest showing a sample export to your regulator early. Your program stays responsible for its own compliance.
Can we get our data out?
Yes. Hours and full records export as CSV by class, with the evidence behind each entry. A custom export lets you choose the columns, order, headings and formats another program expects, and save them as a template.
Does it work offline?
No. Clock actions are checked by the server as they happen, which is part of what makes them trustworthy. The printable sheet covers an outage.