FAQ
Twelve questions, answered from sources
The ones people type into a search box. Where the answer is “not published”, that is the answer; we would rather be useful than complete.
What does SmartPass cost? Is there SmartPass pricing published?
No public price list. SmartPass's pricing page is a demo-request form, and the product is sold per student in three tiers (Lite, Standard, Pro) on a quote basis. The one figure we can verify from a primary source is Frederick County Public Schools, MD, which awarded Raptor a SmartPass contract at $3.15 per student per year for July 2025 through June 2028 with one optional two-year extension. A competing vendor's comparison page puts the range at $2.50 to $5 per student; treat that as unverified.4,6,7,16
Is SmartPass free?
Not as far as anything published says. The SmartPass site offers free student ID cards as a separate item, and the site invites a demo rather than a sign-up. Raptor's plan matrix shows a Lite tier for basic passes, with kiosk mode and approvals at Standard and parent accounts at Pro. If you want a no-cost way to run passes, the paper log on our free tools page is genuinely free; if you want a no-cost way to instrument the front door, EduQueue's one-building tier is.4,5
Who owns SmartPass now?
What happened to SmartPass pricing after the Raptor acquisition?
We do not know, and neither does anyone relying on published sources. The acquisition announcement says nothing about pricing or bundling. Raptor's product page places SmartPass within a Campus Movement suite alongside visitor and dismissal products, which suggests bundles are offered, but no bundle price is public. The post-acquisition Frederick County award ($3.15 per student) is the only primary figure we have found.1,5,7
e-hallpass vs SmartPass: what is the difference?
e-hallpass is now Securly Pass; its old Eduspire URL redirects to securly.com/pass. Feature for feature the two are close: both offer pass limits, encounter or contact control, location limits, kiosks and appointment or scheduled passes. The published differences are in what surrounds them. Securly publishes a clear student-data retention clause (deletion within 30 days of contract end) and names no SIS connectors on its product page; SmartPass names Clever, ClassLink and Google for rostering and has parent accounts on its Pro tier, but its public privacy link lands on Raptor's website policy. Neither publishes a price.4,5,9,10,11,12,13
Is e-hallpass still a product?
The name survives on login pages, but the product is sold as Securly Pass. Securly announced that it and Eduspire Solutions (e-hallpass, FlexTime Manager) had joined forces, and eduspiresolutions.org/e-hallpass now redirects to securly.com/pass.10
Are digital hall passes a privacy problem?
They can be, depending on retention and on how the school uses them. Both Raptor and Securly say their passes are not location trackers and do not use GPS; they record intended destination and time, like a paper pass. The concerns raised in New York City, where 167 schools use SmartPass, were about micromanagement, loopholes, and a lack of published rules; the NYCLU called it creepy and a petition drew about 1,400 signatures. The ACLU's 2023 survey found 87% of students report surveillance technology at school. Our view is on the page Do you need a hall-pass app: the fix is a written retention period, a named report reader, and telling students what is recorded.8,17,18,19
How long do hall-pass vendors keep student data?
Securly publishes it: Student Information is deleted when no longer needed and in any case within thirty days after the school's agreement ends, and is not sold or used for profiling or advertising. SmartPass's privacy page redirects to Raptor's website privacy policy, which states it does not apply to services provided to schools; the services policy was not at a public URL we could reach, so the retention period is not published where we could find it. Minga and 5-Star Students do not state a period on the pages we reviewed. Whichever you choose, write the period into the contract.9,12,14,15
What is tardy tracking software, and is EduQueue one?
Tardy tracking is the part of attendance that records late arrival with a reason and a code. Several pass tools include a module for it (Securly Pass Tardy Management, Minga's built-in tardy management, SmartPass missed-class-time tracking on Pro). EduQueue is not a hall-pass app, but late arrival is its core campus feature: a Late to School event assigns an outcome (Tardy, Late, Unexcused) from the scan time, carries the district's own attendance code, and posts it to PowerSchool. The late-arrival playbook describes it step by step.5,11,14
Does EduQueue replace SmartPass or Securly Pass?
No. It does not issue passes, cap passes or block two students from meeting in a corridor, and we do not offer it for that. It records the other half of student movement: arrival, late arrival, dismissal, shared-campus building exchange, and visitors at the door. Schools can run it next to any pass tool; neither depends on the other.
Which hall-pass tool works offline?
None of the four publishes an offline mode. Kiosk modes are published for SmartPass (Standard tier and up), Securly Pass (Pass Kiosk) and Minga; 5-Star Students describes barcode scanning. EduQueue's kiosk also needs a connection. If a building's Wi-Fi is unreliable, the paper log on our free tools page is the honest fallback, and the front-desk SOP in the playbook includes the paper procedure for when the kiosk is down.4,5,11,14,15
Which digital hall pass integrates with PowerSchool?
SmartPass names Clever, ClassLink, Google and CSV for rostering and says activity attendance can be exported to the SIS, without naming which. Securly Pass names no connectors on its product page. Minga describes MingaSync rostering from the SIS without naming systems. 5-Star Students publishes nothing on integrations. EduQueue rosters from PowerSchool nightly through a district-installed plugin and posts late-arrival attendance codes back (nightly file today; direct write-back in rollout). For any other SIS, ask us before assuming.4,5,11,14,15
Sources (all fetched 4 September 2026)
- Raptor Technologies, “Raptor Technologies Acquires SmartPass”, 10 December 2024: SmartPass is “a digital hall pass + student accountability solution that replaces traditional hall passes”, “supporting over 3,000 K–12 schools nationwide”; “The integration of SmartPass with Raptor’s product portfolio will provide the most comprehensive unified platform for schools to manage daily operations”. No pricing or bundling statement. raptortech.com
- EdWeek Market Brief, “K-12 Dealmaking: Raptor Acquires SmartPass; zSpace Raises $10.8M in IPO”, 12 December 2024: terms not disclosed; SmartPass previously raised seed funding from Reach Capital and Edovate Capital; Raptor backed by Thoma Bravo and JMI Equity; follows Raptor’s April 2023 purchase of SchoolPass. marketbrief.edweek.org
- smartpass.app home page: product now styled “Raptor SmartPass”, “Now a Raptor Technologies Company”; “Smarter Movement for 2 million+ Educators and Students”; “Manage Virtual Queues, Room Capacities, and Pass Limits”; iOS app with kiosk mode; COPPA and SDPC badges; “All SmartPass products are compliant with data protection regulations and standards”. smartpass.app
- smartpass.app/hall-pass: “Limit the number of passes students can have per day, week or term”; “Prevent 2+ students from being in the hallways at the same time. They are automatically blocked and notifications are sent to teachers”; kiosk at the main office or in classrooms; rostering via Clever, ClassLink, Google, or CSV; tiers named Lite, Standard, Pro; no dollar amounts. smartpass.app/hall-pass
- Raptor, “SmartPass Digital Hall Pass System” product page: plan matrix with “Kiosk Mode” and “Passes Need Approval” at Standard and above, “Parent Accounts”, “Missed Class Time Tracking”, “Emergency Mode” and “AI-powered Detected Encounters” at Pro; “Attendance can be taken and edited directly within activities, then exported to the SIS”; presented within Raptor’s “Campus Movement” suite alongside visitor and dismissal products. raptortech.com
- smartpass.app/pricing is a demo-request form with no prices, tiers or terms. smartpass.app/pricing
- The Frederick News-Post, “Schools can purchase digital hall pass system starting in July”, 14 May 2025 (republished by Raptor): Frederick County Public Schools, MD, awarded Raptor a SmartPass contract at $3.15 per student per year, July 2025 through June 2028 with one optional two-year extension, on a 3–2 board vote. raptortech.com (reprint)
- Gothamist, Jessica Gould, “New digital hall passes track bathroom breaks, gather data in NYC schools”, 24 March 2026: NYC education department spent $368,000 on SmartPass contracts in 2025 and $120,000 the year before; 167 schools; student Shokhjakhon Samiev: “It’s taken micromanaging students to a whole other level”; NYCLU’s Johanna Miller: “It’s just creepy”; DOE’s Onika Richards: “all approved tools must meet established privacy and security standards”; ~1,400-signature petition for an AI moratorium. gothamist.com
- smartpass.app/privacy returns HTTP 301 to raptortech.com/privacy-policy/ (last updated July 2026), which states it “does not apply to any information we collect pursuant to agreements to provide services to our customers, including schools” and refers to a separate services privacy policy we could not reach at a public URL. A student-data retention period for SmartPass is therefore not published where we could find it. raptortech.com/privacy-policy
- eduspiresolutions.org/e-hallpass/ returns HTTP 301 to securly.com/pass. Securly’s blog announced that Securly and Eduspire (e-hallpass, FlexTime Manager) had “joined forces”, quoting Securly CEO Bharath Madhusudan. blog.securly.com
- Securly Pass product page: “Live Dashboard”, “Student Pass Limits”, “Contact Control”, “Auto-Pass”, “Appointment Pass”, “Location Pass Limits”, “Pass Kiosk”, “Proxy Pass”, “Tardy Management”; “All data in Securly Pass is encrypted and protected using industry standard security practices”; data collected is names, school emails, optionally ID number and grade. No integrations or prices named on the page. securly.com/pass
- Securly Privacy Policy, effective 19 January 2026: Student Information deleted “when it is no longer needed for the purpose for which it was collected and in any case, within thirty (30) days after the School’s agreement with us ends”; “Securly does not: Sell Student Information; Build Student profiles for commercial purposes; or Use Student Information for advertising”; acts as a FERPA “school official”. securly.com/privacy
- securly.com/pricing is a demo-request page with no prices; sales contact only. securly.com/pricing
- Minga, “Digital Hall Pass”: “Daily Hall Pass Limits: Prevent ‘frequent flyers’ by capping the number of passes per student”; restroom-specific limit example “3 per day”; “Kiosk Mode”; “Weekly Parent Summaries: Parents get a weekly email summary of their child’s behavior and missed class time”; “Automated Meetup Blocking”; “built-in tardy management”; rostering from the SIS via “MingaSync”; tiers Basic, Plus, Premium, prices on request. minga.io/digital-hall-pass; scale claim “over 2,500+ Schools and 750 Districts” from minga.io.
- 5-Star Students, Pricing: per-school annual subscription including hall passes; secondary schools by enrolment — under 300 students $2,300 start-up / $1,400 renewal; 300–1,000 $2,850 / $1,850; 1,001–2,500 $3,350 / $2,250; 2,501–5,000 $3,850 / $2,650; student-communications add-on $250–$1,000; on-site training $2,500/day. 5starstudents.com/Pricing; hall pass and barcode-scan features from 5starstudents.com.
- Hallwise (a competing hall-pass vendor) publishes a comparison page claiming SmartPass at “$2.50–$5 per student” and e-hallpass at “$3–$5 per student … plus $1,000 one-time setup”, and states “Neither vendor publishes a price list; both quote on request.” Competitor-authored; we cite it for the range and the quote-only point only, and the one primary figure we can verify is note 7. hallwise.com/compare
- Raptor blog, “Student Visibility Isn’t Surveillance. It’s Safety & Accountability.”, 1 May 2026: “Contrary to popular belief, digital hall passes aren’t designed to track students in real time. There’s no live location monitoring.” raptortech.com
- Securly blog, “3 Digital Hall Pass Myths Debunked”, March 2024: “Securly Pass is not a tracking and surveillance device. It does not use GPS … It only knows the student’s intended destination.”; principal quoted that hallway numbers “gone down by 30-40%”. blog.securly.com
- ACLU, press release for “Digital Dystopia: The Danger in Buying What the EdTech Surveillance Industry is Selling”, 3 October 2023: 87% of 502 surveyed students aged 14–18 report surveillance technology at school; 26% concerned about data privacy; K-12 spending on security products estimated at $3.1 billion in 2021. aclu.org; coverage with the 32% “always feel like I’m being watched” and 40% “safe” figures: K-12 Dive, Anna Merod, 6 October 2023, k12dive.com.
- U.S. Department of Education, “Chronic Absenteeism”: “typically defined as missing at least 10 percent of school days, or approximately 18 days in a year, for any reason, excused or unexcused”; national rate about 31% in 2021–22 and 28% in 2022–23. ed.gov
- Nat Malkus and Sam Hollon, “Need Not Be a Surprise: Early-Warning Systems for Chronic Absenteeism”, American Enterprise Institute, 14 October 2025 (updated 27 May 2026): models built on routinely collected absence counts predict chronic absence at roughly 90% accuracy; “Waiting to intervene until midway through the year will certainly make it clearer which students are on track to become chronically absent, but by only a few points of accuracy.” The report models absence counts, not tardies. aei.org