Babysitting - Parent

	Care	Bambino	Helpr	Urbansitter
Opening Screen		Asks for phone number (requires PIN), then full profile	First, Last, Email, Phone, Password to get in	Very nice initial splash screen, inviting to “Find Care” or “Apply to Jobs”
Onboarding Process	Fairly simple - zip code, birth month of kids, when care is needed	Requires location; before looking for a babysitter, at least one child profile must be completed	Required info on parking and pets before getting far	Lots of account options, including Facebook, Google, Apple; signing in with Apple provided first, last, and email; progress indicator at the bottom; required address to see caregivers
Additional Child-Related Info	Places for additional info on particular needs	Specifically asks about food allergies; textarea for more info	Asked questions on health / vaccination before searching babysitters	Unlike other apps, did not require exact birthdate - just month and year
Sitter Finder	Lots of filter options available, including language, distance, comfortable with pets, etc.	Requires date and time first, then shows available sitters; filters by sitter’s “Level” - Junior, Standard, Advanced, Elite	Limited to certain areas in the country - searching near me turned up nothing	Lots of filter options
Reviews	Yes - with a star system	Yes - with a star system	None that I saw	Yes - with a star system
Safety	“CareCheck” - but it’s on the user to do a real background check and verify identity; link in profile section takes you to lengthy text on the website	All sitters go through some screening; sitters who go through the most thorough screening are awarded “Elite” status; can filter for “Sitters my friends recommend”	Has a “Blocked Helpers” section; “Background Check” on profile	Detailed info in the profile of which background checks have been performed; the user is required to add their own photo before posting a request for a worker
Social		Connect with “friends”, and see their favorite sitters		Can join school or other group, to see caregivers hired by people in that group; can also add “friends” to see who they booked
Messaging	Yes, direct messaging with potential babysitters - paid upgrade required (pay monthly or annually)	Yes - both sitters and “friends”	Found nothing	Usage of messaging requires ID check - either through linking to Facebook, or some other means
Sitter Profile	Yes - including typical response times	Yes - including age and distance from your home	Included a self-introductory video; otherwise much less info	Photo, reviews, location, rate, when last active, other services, does/doesn’t accept credit card, background check info
From the Sitter Perspective	There is a separate app, “Caregiver”, for the workers	It appears employees use the same app	Separate section of desktop website	Has a separate “web portal” for workers
Email Communication				Sent an email explaining that “Upgraded Background Checks” are available - just tell them who you want checked, and they’ll “take care of the rest”
Overall Observations	Emailed me a 20% discount a few days later when I didn’t sign up for monthly membership		More frustrating to use than the others; required more solid info before moving very far	In my area, there is only one reviewed babysitter (with only one review) who has been “Active in the past month”