GENIE Support
GENIE is an academic support and accountability platform for tertiary institutions — universities, polytechnics, colleges of education and health institutions. It is used by students, lecturers, parents, sponsors and guardians, and institution administrators. This page tells you how to reach a person.
1. How to reach us
Email is the primary route and the one to use if you are unsure. It reaches the whole support team, it keeps a record you can refer back to, and it works whether or not you can still sign in. Please include your institution and, if you have one, your matriculation or staff number — it is the difference between an answer and a round of questions.
Email — the primary route
We reply within 2 hours on business days. Outside business days you will get an answer on the next one — we do not staff this around the clock and we would rather say so than leave you waiting on a promise we did not make.
Message the GENIE WhatsApp number and a real member of the support team responds within 2 hours on business days. The same number runs the GENIE bot, so you can also check attendance and exam eligibility there without waiting for anyone.
Phone
Available during business hours. If nobody picks up, send an email or a WhatsApp message rather than calling repeatedly — both are logged and neither can be missed.
2. Common questions
I am signing in for the first time. Where do my details come from?
If your institution has deployed GENIE, your account already exists — it was created from your institution’s own student or staff records, and an activation email was sent to the address they hold for you. Follow the link in that email to set your password. If you cannot find it, check your spam folder first, then ask us to resend it.
If your institution is not on GENIE, you can create your own account and build your schedule yourself. The fastest route is WhatsApp: send Start to the number above and follow the prompts.
Why does the app ask for my location?
To confirm you are in the room. Attendance in GENIE is evidence, not a self-report, so when you check in to a class the app compares your position against the venue the lecturer scheduled. Without that check, a check-in proves only that you have a phone.
The permission is used for check-in and is not a background tracker following you between classes. Our privacy policy sets out exactly what is stored and for how long.
Why does the app ask for Bluetooth?
Because lecture theatres are where mobile data goes to die. GENIE can check you in over Bluetooth Low Energy instead: the lecturer’s phone broadcasts the session, your phone hears it, and being close enough to hear it is itself the proof of presence. It needs no internet at all.
Bluetooth is used for that exchange and nothing else. If you decline it, check-in still works over GPS or WhatsApp — you simply lose the option that survives a dead network.
What happens to my attendance when there is no internet?
It is recorded on your device and uploaded when you are back on a network. Your check-in is timestamped when it happens, not when it syncs, so a late upload does not make you late. You do not need to do anything to trigger it.
If a record still has not appeared after you have been back online for a while, tell us the course and the date and we will trace it.
How does a parent, sponsor or guardian get access?
The student invites them. A parent, sponsor or guardian gets their own account — they never use the student’s — and the student links it from inside GENIE. The link can be withdrawn by the student at any time.
We do this deliberately rather than letting an adult claim a student. It means access is always something the student granted, and the Parents, Sponsors & Guardians page explains what they can and cannot see.
How do I delete my account?
From inside the app, or from the open web if you no longer have it. The delete-account page walks through both routes and says plainly what is deleted, what is kept, and why — including the parts your institution controls rather than us. There is a 30-day window in which you can change your mind.
3. Institutions
Registrars, IT teams and institutional administrators
Institutional enquiries go to the same address — support@thegenieos.com. Roster and timetable imports, account provisioning, role and permission questions, and anything affecting more than one user belong here rather than with an individual’s ticket. Name your institution in the subject line and we will route it to the team that runs your deployment.
Still stuck? The FAQ answers a great deal more, in plain English. Our privacy policy covers what we hold, and the delete-account page covers leaving.