A School Diary in a Few Taps: MAX Adds Quick Access to the Mobile School Diary
Users can now follow the “Chats” – “Sferum” – “Diary” – “My School” path to view grades, schedules and homework assignments.
Russia’s national messaging app MAX now offers a faster way to open the mobile school diary. Accessing schedules, grades and homework takes just a few taps: from the “Chats” section, users can open a widget for the “Gosuslugi. My School” service directly within Sferum. There is no longer any need for a separate shortcut on the smartphone’s home screen. Everything is now gathered in one secure environment.
Fewer Steps, Less Hassle
The update’s main benefit is that it helps users stay focused. Previously, checking grades or finding a homework assignment meant locating a separate app, remembering a password and switching between windows. Now, everything opens directly from a messaging app that many people already use every day. Students can find their schedules more easily, while parents can quickly review their children’s academic progress. It is a small but thoughtful interface improvement that makes the digital environment a little easier to navigate.
Just as important, users remain within a protected digital environment, so school-related communication takes place in a space designed to meet security requirements.
A Mark of Quality
Russia’s Ministry of Education first presented the “My School” system as the foundation for a digital learning environment in June 2022. The goal was to bring the electronic diary, gradebook, class schedule and learning materials together on a single federal platform.
In 2025, Sferum was integrated into MAX. “A comprehensive federal information system called ‘My School’ is now taking shape. It will contain content for every subject in the general education curriculum at all levels, and that content will carry a government quality mark because it will be reviewed by experts,” Education Minister Sergey Kravtsov said.
Sergey Boyarsky, chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, emphasized a related benefit: “All educational communications are now protected within the national messaging app, ensuring control over data, protection from external threats and a reliable digital environment for schools and families.”
By May 2026, the “Gosuslugi. My School” app had been downloaded and installed more than 10 million times nationwide, with its monthly audience reaching approximately 5 million users.
Other countries have made similar changes. In South Korea, the fourth version of the national NEIS system was introduced in June 2023. It was specifically updated for mobile devices and designed to make the system easier for teachers, students and parents to use. In Singapore, meanwhile, the Parents Gateway app, developed by the Ministry of Education and GovTech, has become an important channel for communication between schools and families. It is used to send notifications, confirm children’s participation in school activities and handle administrative tasks. Schools are increasingly adopting dedicated digital channels that help them manage both information and everyday responsibilities.
MAXimizing the Possibilities
The Republic of Tatarstan has long been one of Russia’s most active regions in connecting government services to the national messaging app. Residents can already use MAX to pay utility bills and kindergarten fees, submit meter readings, check fines and access the republic’s government services portal. Expanding these capabilities supports the objectives of the national Data Economy project.
More than 539,000 students and educators have already moved to MAX, with the transition completed without disruption thanks to its integration with Sferum. The republic has more than 1,300 official school channels. Existing features have also been retained, including the interactive whiteboard, document collection, class chats, and links to the electronic diary and class schedule. With so many services brought together, MAX is becoming more than a messaging app: it is part of everyday digital life.
The Value It Delivers
The service could offer even more over time. If more people begin using its features, it could support the growth of Russian educational technology products and strengthen connections between government information systems. For the digital diary to become a dependable part of everyday life, the data must be accurate, the system must operate reliably, children’s personal information must remain protected, and access rules must be clear. Ultimately, the key question is not how many integrations the platform offers, but how convenient and reliable they are for the people who use them: families and their school-age children.
