The resident app
SmartMy Hostel is the phone app for residents and their parents or guardians. It has the stay, leave, documents, room change and notice to vacate, an inbox of what the hostel tells them, and an SOS button. With hostel billing and daily life it adds dues with Pay, notices with polls and attendance.
PLANSEvery plan
Built and tested on our test systems. Not yet run on a real phone at a hostel and not yet in the Play Store or the App Store.
The problem it solves
- Parents in another city hear about a leave request, an absence or an unpaid bill only when they call the hostel.
- Residents want to apply for a night out from their phone, not by filling a register at the gate.
- In an emergency a resident has to find the warden's number while panicking.
- WhatsApp groups mix notices, polls and chatter, and nothing can be found a week later.
How it works
- The resident or guardian installs SmartMy Hostel and signs in with the same email or mobile and password as the portal.
- The app opens on My stay: the hostel, room and bed, the dates, the hostel phone and the roommates. It also shows what waits: leave to approve, an amount to pay, documents to give, an approved leave in progress.
- The Menu button opens everything else, in the same groups as the portal. These are Daily life (Notices, Leave, Attendance), Dues and documents (Dues, Documents) and Room (Room change, Vacate).
- A resident applies for leave with the + in the header of Leave. A guardian answers the request on the same page, with a reason when rejecting.
- A message from the hostel lands in the Inbox. Tapping it opens the right page, such as Dues for an invoice or Attendance for an absence.
- A resident in house can press the red SOS in the header on any page. The pop-up asks what it is and sends only on Send now.
Everything it does
Navigation
- No bottom bar: a header band with the Menu button, the page title and the stay under it
- The Menu lists the areas and their pages, a search over the pages, the pages opened last, the Inbox, Help and your profile
- A guardian of several wards switches stay with the pills above every page
- A page shows only when the stay has it. Dues with hostel billing, Attendance when the hostel records it, Room change and Vacate for the resident
- Pull down to refresh any page
My stay and requests
- My stay: status, room and bed, from and until, Call the hostel, roommates (when the hostel shows them), latest notices
- Leave: apply (kind of leave, going out, back by, going to, phone while away, reason), cancel, follow the status. The most days each leave type allows is shown
- Documents: status of each, upload a PDF or photo (JPG, PNG, WEBP, HEIC), 10 MB at most, with number and expiry date
- Room change: kind of room wanted, from when, with whom and why; one request at a time; cancel it
- Vacate: give notice with the last day, see the days short of the notice period, take the notice back while the bed is not promised
Dues, notices and attendance
- Dues: to pay, deposit held, invoices and credit notes with Pay (the payment page opens in the browser, UPI or card)
- Statement and the yearly rent receipts as PDF
- Students billed through school or college fees: the fee dues with Pay on the fees page
- Notices: pinned first; answer a poll, change the answer or take it back
- Attendance: in or out now, the punches with their source, roll call of the last 30 days with days present
SOS
- For residents checked in; guardians do not get it
- Kind: Medical, Security, Fire or Other, with an optional message
- Opens an emergency incident and tells the wardens at once; it says on screen that it does not call the police or an ambulance
- When there is no signal, the pop-up offers to call the hostel instead
Also in the Menu
- My approvals: shown only when a request of any SmartMy product waits for you
- Report confidentially: a grievance that does not go through the hostel desk (with SmartMy Grievance)
- Face: give or withdraw consent for face recognition at the gate, where the hostel uses it
- Laundry, Cards and keys, Events, Clubs and Market where the hostel has them
- Sign in with a passkey, or with the password; the hostel's server is asked once
Who uses it
ResidentApplies for leave, uploads documents, asks for a room change, gives notice, pays dues, answers polls and presses SOS when needed.
Parent or guardianFollows each ward's stay, approves or rejects leave, pays dues and reads attendance and notices.
WardenGets the leave requests and the residents' SOS alerts in the staff app, not in this one. Staff have their own SOS there.
Where you use it
- The SmartMy Hostel app for Android and iPhone; built and in testing, not in the app stores yet
- The same pages on the web: the resident portal
- The same app is published as SmartMy Stay for PGs and co-living, with the Stay name
- Not in the app: the mess menu, and repair complaints (the Helpdesk app with SmartMy Desk)
What you control
Settings
- Residents See Roommates: on, per hostel
- Invite New Residents: on, per hostel; Invite to the App on the stay sends the link again
- Leave types and whether the guardian must approve, per resident category or leave type
Approvals
- Hostel leave: the guardian answers in Leave (or My approvals), then the wardens and managers decide
Notifications
- Hostel Leave to Approve, Leave Approved / Rejected and Resident Not Back: to guardians (and the resident for the result). In the app and by email. WhatsApp and SMS come from your message credits, and app push once the apps are in the stores
- Hostel Invoice, Payment Received and Dues Reminder: to the resident and guardians; in the app and by email. WhatsApp and SMS come from your message credits, and app push once the apps are in the stores
- Hostel Absent at Roll Call: to the guardians; in the app and by email. WhatsApp and SMS come from your message credits, and app push once the apps are in the stores
- Hostel Notice: to the residents; in the app and by email. WhatsApp and SMS come from your message credits, and app push once the apps are in the stores. It waits for quiet hours, and a resident can switch it off
- The other hostel messages are work messages: they go at once, and a person can switch off a channel but not the message
Works with
SmartMy GrievanceReport confidentially in the same app, outside the hostel desk.
SmartMy CampusStudents billed through fees see their fee dues and pay on the fees page.
Questions
Can I download the app today?
Not yet. The app is built and tested on our test systems but is not in the app stores. Until it is, residents and parents use the same pages on the resident portal in any phone browser.Can one parent follow two children?
Yes. The app shows each ward's stay; switch with the pills at the top of every page. Leave waiting for you is counted on My stay.Does the SOS call an ambulance?
No. It alerts the hostel's wardens at once and opens an emergency incident. The screen says so, and offers the hostel's number to call.Do parents get a message when their child is absent at roll call?
Yes, when the hostel takes roll calls. The guardians are told at once, in the app and by email; WhatsApp and SMS go from your message credits.Can residents see the mess menu?
Not in the app. With SmartMy Feast the mess plan follows the stay and meals stop during approved leave, but the menu itself is not shown here yet.Related features
PORTAL AND APPSResident and guardian portalResidents and their parents or guardians sign in on the web and see the stay. They upload documents, ask for leave or a room change, and give notice. With hostel billing they also see their dues and pay, download the statement and rent receipts, read notices and check attendance.DAILY LIFELeave and out-passes with guardian approvalResidents ask for leave or an out-pass on the portal or in the app. The guardian, the warden or both approve it. Going out and coming back are recorded, and guardians and wardens hear when someone is not back.DAILY LIFEEmergency button for residentsA resident in house presses Emergency on the portal or in the app. The wardens are told at once, at any hour, with the name, the room and the phone number. Each gets a to-do, and a high-severity incident is opened. Wardens, the desk and managers have an SOS of their own in the staff app.DAILY LIFENotice board and pollsPost notices to whole hostels, some blocks or some floors, pin the important ones and let them expire by themselves. Add a poll to a notice and residents answer on the portal or in the app.BILLINGRent collection online and at the deskEvery invoice goes out with a link to pay, and residents and guardians also find Pay on the portal and in the app. Money paid at the desk, in cash, UPI or by card, gets a numbered receipt and goes against the oldest dues first.PORTAL AND APPSThe staff app for wardens and the deskSmartMy Hostel Staff puts the warden's and the front desk's day on a phone. Wardens approve leave, mark residents out and back, and take the night roll call, even without signal. The desk searches residents, checks them in and out, takes payments and records inspections, incidents, late entries, visitors and meter readings. Any of them can press SOS to call the other staff for help.
See it with your own blocks and classes.
Tell us how many hostels and students you have. We will show you an allotment, a leave request approved by a parent and a night roll call, set up the way your hostel works.