In your pocket
First Six on the phone students carry: the student web app works in any phone browser and adds to the home screen, and a native app can be part of your rollout.
The first year, in their pocket
Four things students reach for most, each a tap from Today.
Today, the check-in, help, the timetable, events and maps, on the phone students already carry, whether they use the browser or the native app.
Built for the phone, not shrunk to fit
Students live on their phones, so First Six meets them there in two ways. The student web app works in any phone browser, and students can add it to their home screen so it opens full screen with its own icon. There is nothing to download from an app store for this.
A native iOS and Android app is also built, and it can be part of your rollout. It opens on Today and carries the weekly check-in, help and the help inbox, the timetable, events, campus maps, resources, saved items, People and wellbeing, in your logo and colours. Push notifications come through the native app, are opt-in, and cover things like a reply to a help request and reminders the student set. Whether the native app is part of your rollout is something we agree with you; students never need it to use First Six.
What students do in the app
Four things students reach for most, each a tap from Today.
01
Open on Today
A single calm screen: this week's briefing, what's next on their timetable, and a gentle prompt to check in. No feed, no noise, just what matters this week.
02
Check in for the week
A five-face check-in that takes seconds. It builds a quiet trajectory for the student, feeds an aggregate cohort view for staff, and lets the support team follow up when someone is having a hard week.
03
Ask for help, reach a human
The help inbox is a real conversation, not a bot. Students raise what's going on and get replies from your staff, all threaded in one place.
04
Plan the week
Their timetable, events they can mark "I'm going" to add to their calendar, and campus maps for finding the room. The practical side of first year, sorted.
The first year, in their pocket
See First Six on a phone the way a commencing student would: calm on Today, honest on wellbeing, human on help.
Where we draw the line between support and surveillance.
Support means hearing from students, not watching them. Staff read the cohort in aggregate, every look at an individual record is logged, and nothing is inferred from clicks or log-ins. We built that line into the product itself.
No AI in the student app
The student app contains no AI, and no student's record, name or own words reaches any AI. Ask Anything searches answers your staff wrote, and people answer help requests.
No flags from app use
Needs attention reads check-in answers only, never logins, app opens or page views.
Private stays private
A student's tasks, notes and daily check-in note never appear on any staff screen, report or export.
No marketing pushes
Notifications are opt-in and limited to things like help replies and reminders the student set. Never promotions.
Plugs into the systems you already run
SSO, roster sync, calendar integration. Your stack stays yours, and your students see only your university.
SSO, no new passwords
Sign in through your own identity provider over OpenID Connect, including Microsoft Entra ID, so there is no First Six password. SAML is a proof of concept only.
Calendar stays theirs
A private calendar feed puts classes, events and task deadlines into Apple, Google or Outlook on the same phone.
Your brand on their phone
Your logo and accent colour carry through, so it reads as your university's own app.
Outbound webhooks
Subscribe your own systems to signed First Six events (request created, crisis, updated, resolved), delivered over HTTPS with an HMAC signature you verify.
Help desk & CRM (email-to-ticket)
When a student asks for help, open a ticket in the help desk your staff already watch (ServiceNow, Salesforce, Jira Service Management, Zendesk, Freshservice) via email-to-case.
Calendar (ICS)
Pull your institution's events in from a public iCalendar (.ics) feed, and give each student a private feed for Apple, Google or Outlook calendars.
Student information system
Keep cohorts current from your student information system: push roster and enrolment as JSON over HTTPS, or import a CSV with no IT work at all.
SAML 2.0
SAML 2.0 is a proof of concept and is not available for production sign-in. OpenID Connect is the production path; production SAML can be enabled within an engagement that needs it.
OpenID Connect (OIDC)
Single sign-on through your identity provider over OpenID Connect, the production sign-in path. Students and staff never have a First Six password.
Microsoft Entra ID
Single sign-on through Microsoft Entra ID using OpenID Connect, with a documented setup walkthrough. Your MFA and sign-in policies stay in Entra.
FAQ
Questions about how First Six works and what it does for your students.
No. It is the same First Six. Most students can use the web app in their phone browser or from their home screen. The native app carries the core of it (Today, the check-in, help, timetable, events, maps and more); a few parts, such as the workspace and the rolling-term home, live on the web for now.
No. They sign in with their university SSO, the same identity they use everywhere else. There is no new password to create or forget.
Push comes through the native app only and is opt-in. It is used for things like a reply to a help request and reminders for tasks and due dates the student set, never marketing. Web push is not switched on, so students on the web app hear about help replies by email.
No. The web app works in any phone browser and can be added to the home screen, with nothing to download from an app store. The native iOS and Android app is built and can be part of a rollout we agree with you.
Check-in answers belong to the student and build a trajectory they can see. Staff read the cohort aggregate by default, which names no one. The support staff responsible for a student can also see that student's own answers, so a hard week becomes a real follow-up rather than a statistic, and every access is audit-logged. That is support, not surveillance, and students are told so in their own guide and on the screen where they pick a reason.