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Troubleshoot Common Account Issues

[For Admins + Managers] Learn how to help guardians resolve sign-up issues they may encounter with brightwheel.

Audrey avatar
Written by Audrey
Updated over a week ago

It may be necessary for providers to assist student contacts such as parents, family, or approved pickups with issues they may encounter with brightwheel sign-up. This resource is designed to equip program admins to assist with common scenarios faced by families.

💡 We encourage student contacts to reach out to our Support Team directly at help@mybrightwheel.com if they need further assistance!


Student contact experiencing issues logging into brightwheel

If student contacts can't log into their Brightwheel account, have issues with their 2FA verification code, or encounter sign-in error messages, confirm the following information with them to try and troubleshoot the issue:

  • Are they receiving an error message? If they are, confirm what it says and review Troubleshoot Login Issues for solutions on specific errors

  • If they are receiving an “Invalid email/phone number or password” error message, verify they reset their password

  • Verify they are logging in with the email or phone number that is listed on the child's contact list

  • If it says they have "Signed-up"on the contact list, verify that they are clicking Sign In instead of Sign Up

  • Verify if they can login to their account but just cannot see the student profile


A guardian contact for the student has two accounts and needs to merge the two

While it is not possible to merge guardian accounts, it is possible to disconnect and deactivate one account and then add the information to the desired one. In order to free up the information to be used on another guardian account, the deactivation must be completed first. The guardian should reach out to brightwheel Support and ask to have one of their accounts deactivated so that they can then add that contact information to the account they intend to use.

If the guardian contact needs to utilize brightwheel as a student contact and staff, they will want to maintain separate accounts and switch between both. Review our resource here for more information on how their accounts should be set up.


Guardians can't see their child's profile and it asks for a 10-digit code.

If student contacts can't see their new school, are missing student profiles, or are asked for a 10-digit code, it means they were not added as a contact on the child's profile or are logged in with a different email or phone number than what was used to invite them.

To resolve this, provide parents with the 10-digit code for each child they need to be connected to (providers must first create a student profile to generate the code), or instruct them to log out and log back in using the information listed on their child's contact list. This code can be found in parent invitations or the child's contact list.


A student contact did not receive a text invite

They could have unsubscribed from brightwheel SMS messages. Have them text START to 844-335-4655 to resubscribe and see if the invite arrives. If the contact is unsure if they previously unsubscribed, have them try this to rule it out as the issue.


A student contact (Parent, Family, Approved Pickup) can't see Messages

This may mean the contact was not setup correctly.

  • Parent contacts can see messages from admins/staff and also respond to messages. If they are reporting they cannot, encourage them to reach out to brightwheel Support for further investigation.

  • Family contacts cannot see any messages from admins/staff but can send messages from their account.

  • Approved Pickups cannot see or send messages.

  • Emergency Contacts cannot see or send messages and do not have access to login to brightwheel.

Double check what contact type is being used and follow the steps above to update the contact type if needed.


A student contact (Parent, Family, Approved Pickup) can't see Billing

This may mean that they have been added as a Family or Approved Pickup contact but not yet added as a brightwheel payer.

When a Parent contact is added, they are automatically added as a payer. But Family or Approved Pickups need to be manually added as payers following these instructions. Double check if the Family or Approved Pickup contact is added as payer following the steps in the link above to resolve this.

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