Apple Acquires Education Analytics Company LearnSprout

Apple has purchased education-technology startup LearnSprout, reports Bloomberg. LearnSprout is a company that develops software for schools and teachers to track student performance and other metrics. Apple will likely use its technology to build out its classroom tools to encourage schools to adopt iPads and other Apple products.

Apple confirmed the acquisition with the standard statement it gives on purchases: "Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans."

learnsprout
According to its website, LearnSprout software is already used in more than 2,500 schools across the United States. It aggregates all student grades across the school, letting teachers and administrators hone in on students that may need more help. LearnSprout aims to allow schools to analyze collected data, discovering trends on attendance, college readiness, student health, and more.

To combat waning iPad sales, Apple has been making an effort to make the tablet more appealing to educational customers. In iOS 9.3, Apple is introducing a wealth of new education-oriented tools, including shared iPads for students, a dedicated Classroom app that allows teachers to guide students through app-based lessons, an Apple School Manager for easily managing student accounts and courses, and new Apple ID creation and management options for schools.

Popular Stories

New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18

20 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18.2

Monday December 16, 2024 8:55 am PST by
Apple released iOS 18.2 in the second week of December, bringing the second round of Apple Intelligence features to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models. This update brings several major advancements to Apple's AI integration, including completely new image generation tools and a range of Visual Intelligence-based enhancements. Apple has added a handful of new non-AI related feature controls as...
apple tv 4k yellow bg feature

New Apple TV Rumored to Launch Next Year With These Features

Tuesday December 17, 2024 9:02 am PST by
The current Apple TV 4K was released more than two years ago, so the streaming device is becoming due for a hardware upgrade soon. Fortunately, it was recently rumored that a new Apple TV will launch at some point next year. Below, we recap rumors about the next-generation Apple TV. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman last week reported that Apple has been working on its own combined Wi-Fi and...
iphone 16 apple intelligence

Apple Drops Plans for iPhone Hardware Subscription Service

Wednesday December 18, 2024 11:39 am PST by
Apple is no longer planning to launch a hardware subscription service that would let customers "subscribe" to get a new iPhone each year, reports Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Gurman first shared rumors about Apple's work on a hardware subscription service back in 2022, and at the time, he said that Apple wanted to develop a simple system that would allow customers to pay a monthly fee to gain...
iPhone 17 Pro Dual Tone Feature 1

iPhone 17 Pro Rumored to Stick With 'Triangular' Camera Design

Wednesday December 18, 2024 2:36 am PST by
Contrary to recent reports, the iPhone 17 Pro will not feature a horizontal camera layout, according to the leaker known as "Instant Digital." In a new post on Weibo, the leaker said that a source has confirmed that while the appearance of the back of the iPhone 17 Pro has indeed changed, the layout of the three cameras is "still triangular," rather than the "horizontal bar spread on the...
elevation lab airtag battery

Your AirTag's Battery Will Last for Up to 10 Years With Elevation Lab's New TimeCapsule Enclosure

Wednesday December 18, 2024 10:05 am PST by
Elevation Lab today announced the launch of TimeCapsule, an innovative and simple solution for increasing the battery life of Apple's AirTag. Priced at $20, TimeCapsule is an AirTag enclosure that houses two AA batteries that offer 14x more battery capacity than the CR2032 battery that the AirTag runs on. It works by attaching the AirTag's upper housing to the built-in custom contact in the...
Apple TV 4K hero 221018 feature

Here is Everything New for the Apple TV in the tvOS 18.3 Update So Far

Tuesday December 17, 2024 6:25 am PST by
Apple on Monday seeded the first tvOS 18.3 beta to developers for testing. The update will likely be released in January. So far, there are only minor changes for the Apple TV, with one new feature and a few code changes discovered. Below, we outline what is new in tvOS 18.3 so far. Robot Vacuum Support in Home App First, tvOS 18.3 will add robot vacuum support to the Home app on the...
blackmagic vision pro

Blackmagic Debuts $30K 3D Camera for Capturing Video for Vision Pro

Monday December 16, 2024 4:17 pm PST by
Blackmagic today announced that its URSA Cine Immersive camera is now available for pre-order, with deliveries set to start late in the first quarter of 2025. Blackmagic says that this is the world's first commercial camera system designed to capture 3D content for the Vision Pro. The URSA Cine Immersive camera was first introduced in June, but it has not been available for purchase until...
iPhone 17 Slim Feature

'iPhone 17 Air' With 'Major' Design Changes and 19-Inch MacBook Detailed in New Report

Sunday December 15, 2024 9:47 am PST by
Apple is planning a series of "major design" and "format changes" for iPhones over the next few years, according to The Wall Street Journal's Aaron Tilley and Yang Jie. The paywalled report published today corroborated the widely-rumored "iPhone 17 Air" with an "ultrathin" design that is thinner than current iPhone models. The report did not mention a specific measurement, but previous...

Top Rated Comments

b1wils1 Avatar
116 months ago
being in the higher education sector, i would welcome ANY refresh on current course management and administrative softwares. our processes seem so archaic; my proposal for appletvs in some of my lecture halls so i could airplay to them(i teach music) were met by looks that indicated i intended to perform wizardry.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
bommai Avatar
116 months ago
I think this ship has sailed. My daughter's school has adopted Chrome Books and Google for education. She can use my iMac or iPad or chromebook at school and log into her account and have instant access to all the documents that she has been working on. She can only email them to her teachers or other authorized people. She can submit her work and have the teacher notate and return it to her. The interface is fast and is not slow like icloud.com. Apple previously bought PowerSchool or some such company and let it rot and fail.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
69Mustang Avatar
116 months ago
Here's a 2nd chance to get it right. Here's hoping Apple doesn't half ass it like the first go round in the education market. A concerted effort focusing on getting the backend right should be the top priority if they're going to go all in again. If support and admin aren't good, this will be a waste of time. If they're not going it alone, thoroughly vet the partners. Pearson's reputation in certain circles would have been enough to give me pause. Consider the education market more of an investment opportunity than a potential profit center.

The more competition we have in this area, the better it will be for all concerned.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Johnny Vegas Avatar
116 months ago
I wouldn't say Apple missed the boat all together when it comes to the education market, but they do have a lot of catching up to do. Chromebooks are cheaper, easier to manage and are becoming more and more mainstream.

PS. The Apple Configurator sucks.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JimmyHook Avatar
116 months ago
I have around 30 iPads managed by configurator for middle school students now. Its nice to be able to update them all at once and put apps on them. Its a nightmare having to put apps that aren't free via configurator and Apples special volume app purchasing. I really wish Apple could figure out a better way for iPad user/app management that doesn't require a central hub using a mac running configurator. Hopefully 9.3 moves us in that direction.
DEP... It's one touch setup. Been out for a while now
[doublepost=1454017388][/doublepost]
Exactly. Not everything is app games and touch screen. My daughter is in 8th grade and she needs to do word processing. Google for education is what she uses. All she needs is the browser and her work is in the google cloud and saved instantly. She can start her work at school, finish it at home and vice versa. She can also submit her work to her teacher or another student to review. Everything is much much faster than with icloud.com. I cannot even make it login fast enough on icloud.com. Pain!! All I can say is that I love Apple's hardware. Their software especially cloud based is far behind. Recently, I started using Google Photos so that I will never lose my photos again - I can't believe how fast it is to look at my 94,000 photos even on my iphone.
Why would you log into iCloud.com unless you need to do web based work???? Use iPads....
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JimmyHook Avatar
116 months ago
It's good timing because Chromebooks have all but failed our education system. kids and teachers want iPads when given the choice. Chromebooks just don't do enough. Just a website machine
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)