Every statement about another product on this page comes from that vendor’s own pages, linked under Sources, and is the vendor’s claim, not something we have tested. Products change; check each vendor’s current pages before you decide.
At a glance
| Varsio | campusM | myday | ReadyCampus | Modo Labs | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Made by | Shacksolutions, London | Ex Libris, part of Clarivate | PebblePad, Telford, since January 2026 | Ready Education, Burlington, Massachusetts | Modo Labs, Boston, Massachusetts |
| How it is branded | Your name, colours and crest, published from your own App Store account | “Native mobile app and fully responsive web portal” | “White-label with your institution’s branding” | “Branded for your institution” (its CampusGroups app) | Customised branding, content, layout and UI |
| AI assistant | Ships with your pilot: answers from sources you approve, shows them, asks before acting | Not on its product pages. Its 2026 roadmap listed an AI time-management assistant for Q2 and institutional AI “delivered via an embedded chat interface” for Q3 | Not on PebblePad’s pages | Yes: “Dean is a conversational AI assistant” | Yes: “Modo My Agent”, which can “execute tasks within connected systems” |
| UK universities it names | None yet; its team runs RHUL Mobile | Lancaster and Middlesex, in its case studies | Swansea and University of Wales Trinity Saint David | None found | None found |
| Security it states | Cyber Essentials | Based on ISO/IEC 27001 and 27018 | PebblePad states Cyber Essentials, Cyber Essentials Plus and ISO 27001 for its platform | SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001 | SOC 2; ISO 27001 and SOC 2 Type II stated for Modo Workplace |
| Time to launch it states | 2 to 4 weeks | Implementation: IT teams “hit the ground running within 2-4 weeks” | Not stated | Not stated | “As fast as 30 days” |
| Public price | No | No | No | No | No |
Where Varsio is different
Each of these comes with a Varsio pilot.
- Read rates you can act on. Staff will see how many students read each notice within 24 hours, by year, course and hall, with no names and no group under 10 reported.
- An assistant that asks first. It answers from the sources your staff switch on, shows them, and is set up to ask the student to confirm before it books or reports anything.
- “Never trained on student data.” It is a term in our data processing agreement.
- One term to find out. A one-term paid pilot at one written price, and a non-exclusive contract.
Where others are further ahead
Varsio is newer and smaller, and it is fairer to say so here than to leave you to find out:
- campusM and myday each name UK universities that use them. Varsio names none yet. The app its team runs, RHUL Mobile, is independent: it is not part of, affiliated with or endorsed by Royal Holloway, University of London or its Students’ Union.
- ReadyCampus states ISO 27001 certification, PebblePad states it for its platform, Modo Labs states ISO 27001 compliance for Modo Workplace, and campusM states that its model is based on ISO standards. Shacksolutions holds Cyber Essentials, and an independent penetration test comes before launch.
- campusM states over 40 ready-made integrations, and Modo Labs over 100. Varsio’s timetable, sign-in and VLE connections are planned.
- ReadyCampus states that it is “aligned with WCAG 2.2 AA across web and mobile” today. Varsio’s app will be built to WCAG 2.2 AA and tested before launch.
Other routes students already use
- The students’ union’s app. MSL, which says it works with over 130 student organisations, offers StudentLink+, “a branded, mobile app that integrates seamlessly with your MSL website”, for tickets, elections and groups. Varsio links to the union’s app rather than replacing it.
- The VLE’s own app. The Moodle app is free, with a paid Premium tier and a branded version; Canvas and Blackboard have their own apps too. They are built around courses.
- Microsoft 365. The SharePoint app in Teams, formerly Viva Connections, can show branded news and announcements to chosen audiences, students included, with the right Microsoft licences.
- Building your own. Possible, with the cost of keeping it running for as long as students use it.
Questions to ask any supplier
- Which UK universities use it, and can we speak to one?
- Where is student data hosted, and who are the sub-processors?
- Is student data used to train any AI model, and is that in the contract?
- What does the assistant answer from, and does it ask before it acts?
- How are read rates reported, and can they identify a student?
- What evidence is there of WCAG 2.2 AA for the app itself?
- What happens to our data, and our app, when the contract ends?
Book a demo and put these to us too.