Looking to send messages from your computer? This guide covers sending announcements directly from your smartphone or tablet using the Edlio Mobile App. To compose multi-channel broadcasts from your web dashboard, see How to Create a New Message (Computer).

💡 Desktop vs. Mobile Channels: Sending a message from the mobile app is optimized for rapid push notifications and app newsfeed posts. If your message requires synchronized multi-channel delivery across Email, SMS text message, automated voice calls, and social media channels, compose the message from your desktop browser using the full Mass Communication dashboard.

🚀 Edlio Website (CMS) Cross-Posting: If your school has an Edlio CMS website, you can also broadcast website news without manual re-entry. When publishing a story on your website from your computer, click the Mass Communication button on the publish confirmation page. The full story automatically copies into your Mass Communication dashboard, ready to send as voice, text, or email with no copying and pasting. See Cross-Posting CMS News to Mass Communications.

Overview

Mobile messaging on the go

The Edlio Mobile App allows authorized staff and school administrators to broadcast urgent alerts, classroom updates, and news announcements directly from their mobile device without needing access to a desktop computer.

Key capabilities on mobile:

Quickly compose and publish announcements directly to your app newsfeed
Send instantaneous push notifications to subscribed families and staff
Attach photos taken directly with your phone's camera
Target specific grade levels, categories, or groups

Accessing the mobile message composer

Opening the creation menu in the app

Open your school's mobile app on your iOS or Android device.
Ensure you are logged in with your staff or administrator account.
Tap the Menu (or navigation bar) and select Create News or New Message (or tap the floating action button + if enabled on your app's home feed).

Composing your message on mobile

Step-by-step composition

Message Title: Enter a brief, informative headline. This appears as the bold title in mobile push notifications and newsfeeds.
Category: Tap to select the appropriate category (e.g., Athletics, Grade 4 Updates, School Alerts). Categories allow families to receive notifications tailored to their interests.
Message Body: Type your message. Keep mobile updates concise, actionable, and clear.
Add Photos / Attachments: Tap the camera or photo icon to snap a live photo or upload an image from your device's photo library.
Audience / Target: Select whether your message is public to all community members or restricted to specific user groups (when using Secured Access).

Reviewing and publishing

Broadcasting to your community

Send Immediately: Tap Publish or Send to instantly push the announcement to subscriber devices and place it on the mobile newsfeed.
Save as Draft: If you need to finalize details later on your desktop dashboard, save the item as a draft.

🔒 Permissions & App Builder Configuration Required: Sending messages from the mobile app requires two matching configurations:

User Account Privileges: The user must log in to the mobile app with an account assigned Administrator or Teacher/Staff messaging privileges.
App Builder Visibility: A "Create News" or "New Message" item must be added to your app navigation in the App Builder (Menu Builder) with its visibility permissions explicitly set to Admin/Teacher/Staff. If this item is missing from the App Builder or restricted differently, the message creation tools will not appear on mobile devices.

If you are using the app as a public guest or parent without staff rights, the messaging creation tools will not appear.

How to Send a Message from the Mobile App