2025 Product Roadmap

Lightspeed Releases and Roadmap Webinar

Today’s districts need tools to quickly see and report on edtech usage, simplify app approvals, and expedite privacy policy management. Watch the webinar to hear our passionate product leaders share more of the vision for Lightspeed and showcase new and upcoming enhancements that will help you better serve teachers and students.

Q&A: Questions that were submitted but not answered during the live webinar have been answered below.

• Q: With the new enhanced filter policy system, will there still be an option for merging policies in a hierarchy? We make big use of this with student policies.
• A: Instead of merging, you can easily duplicate the base policy and make the adjustments you need for your student policy – and apply it to the same groups you already have today. It lets you do the same things, but instead of having a single policy contain many sources for its various toggles and settings – it will all point back to a single place to look and make changes. Since access lists are managed independent of the policy, you can also set up and share the same list across multiple policies to easily make changes that impact both at the same time.

• Q: Can we still keep policies separate if needed? Our district has different policies for staff and students.
• A: Yes! Policies are still applied to groups at the end of the day, so you have the same capabilities for splitting out/making granular policies – you just get to manage them all in one place now more conveniently and bulk assign them.

• Q: Will the new policy feature replace how we currently use filter inheritance, or will it be in addition to our current setup?
• A: It will eventually replace it – you can still apply policies up and down your group tree as far as you want and as many as needed – but now you can mange them all in one place and make changes in bulk – instead of scoping in and out to make adjustments.

• Q: Are there any upcoming updates to SSL Decryption? It would be extremely beneficial for us if we could choose to decrypt nothing except for a list of domains. This would eliminate a lot of issues and prevent decryption of financial websites and other private scenarios. This is a feature I have been requesting for years and would love to see it implemented.
• A: For SSL decryption, our focus has been on resolving key issues to reduce the number of sites that break when getting SSL decrypted, as many critical features depend on decryption to function – not just full URL reporting. We will continue to be working on new features and enhancements beyond this though, and your idea has been added to our list to review and consider in the future – so thank you for asking about it as it gives us more to work with/consider.

• Q: Will there be any further development on scheduled reporting in Filter?
• A: Absolutely! We plan to add dashboards, PDF exports, and other delivery methods to improve this feature.

• Q: Can you now sync users directly from Azure rather than having to use LDAP for user sync?
• A: Yes, Azure syncing is supported today.

• Q: Any firewall integration ideas for Filter?
• A: We are exploring API/webook options for the Filter that would allow easy integration into other systems such as firewalls for triggering policy changes, updating rules, block lists, etc. Nothing to announce yet at this time though.

• Q: How will the updated Policy Management process affect how we have our users assigned to Policy Groups? Will we still need to use a nested model for Active Directory groups for policy hierarchies?
• A: Nested still allows for easy policy distribution to lower-level groups (the hierarchy still exists), however it really opens the door to managing your groups in other ways that may be more convenient. At the end of the day, you are still applying policies to said groups, so the flexibility improves how you manage independent sets of policies and removes the need moving up and down the tree in the application.

• Q: Will it be and AND or an OR when it comes to filter hierarchy vs filter policy? Meaning, will the hierarchy still exist if we opt into using policies?
• A: The new policy system will eventually replace the old one, however please note that the hierarchy of your groups still exists in the new system, and applying a policy at a top level still flows down to all the groups below it. The combining of policies for users in multiple groups into a new unique policy is the primary aspect being moved away from – plus just centralizing where the policies are all managed.

• Q: Is there a cost for parents to use the Parent Portal?
• A: No, there is no cost for this.

• Q: Has the limit on parent emails been expanded to allow for more than 2 parent emails able to receive the Weekly Parent Report?
• A: That will be coming with the release of our new guardian management tools, yes!

• Q: We are a small, rural school. Why would we enable the Parent Portal?
• A: The Parent Portal isn’t necessarily needed for every school out there – but with growing pressures and demands for insight into activity from parents and guardians, new legislation, etc. – it can be critically important for many schools

• Q: Will internal IP addresses for user traffic be captured on webactivity log soon?
• A: Web Activity Log already captures internal IP addresses for supporting devices – you do need to have your Chrome Extension enterprise deployed to Managed Chromebooks and be on version 3.8.0 or newer.

• Q: For Azure syncs, how are Filter Rules prioritized for users that are in more than one Group?
• A: This would be accomplished with the new drag and drop prioritization for all policies.

• Q: Is there any information on SmartShield development and upcoming changes?
• A: While recent focus has been on getting the new SmartShield 2.0 out, we do have plans to extend the function of CIDR policies and authentication to the SmartShield Proxy service. We also are working to improve the configuration management and certificate management – aiming to put more into the UI and provide more key SmartShield details (like internal IP, shortcuts to launch UI, etc) within the Filter application. These development timelines can be unpredictable however, so we do not have timelines on these changes, though note that they are in progress.

• Q: Where do you switch to the Live Activity Log? I can’t seem to find it.
• A: If you click into the Web Activity Log, you will see a tab for “Live User Web Activity”.

Agents: What’s New for Device Management 

• Q: Last macOS GA release was Aug 2024, and currently there are three (3) RCs for three (3) different code trains. When is a new, solid, non-RC macOS GA release coming?
• A: Coming very soon! Due to macOS being such a small % of users, it can take a lot longer to properly validate the release candidate out in the field.

• Q: Is the Agent 3.1.3 out of candidate?
• A: 3.1.3 was deprecated and replaced by 3.1.5 as a candidate, which will be going to Generally Available status soon.

• Q: Are the 3.x Filter agents for Mac and Windows going into production? They are still listed as Release Candidate.
• A: Yes! Windows has a version generally available, and macOS will be getting one soon. We also have new updates coming with additional enhancements.

• Q: Are versions 2.5-2.6.7 still operational? I’m finding devices with the older version are not showing as online.
• A: Yes, they are still operational. While these versions may get deprecated soon, they will continue to function and would just no longer be supported. Connectivity issues would be unrelated to any deprecation and would be unexpected. Please reach out for support.

Lightspeed Signal: Expanding Device Monitoring & Security

• Q: Does Signal work on all types of devices?
• A: Yes! ChromeOS, Windows, macOS, and iOS are all supported.

• Q: Are all features available on all platforms?
• A: There are some nuances per OS, but largely, it’s a cross-OS solution.

• Q: Does Signal require an additional agent to be installed, or does it work with the Filter or Alert agent already installed?
• A: Signal will have its own agents for Chrome, Mac, and Windows, and will use the Filter iOS agent.

• Q: Do ALL of the features for monitoring and tracking student devices work for iPads?
• A: There are a few things related to devices that won’t work on iPads: unknown and unassigned event user, Processor, Battery, Storage, and Memory. However, features like Off-district access event, VPN detected, Proxy detected, Tor detected, Device ID, OS Version, Last Seen Location, and more WILL work on iPads.

• Q: Will Lightspeed Signal be an additional cost if we are already using the entire suite?
• A: This is a topic you will need to discuss with your account manager because they will know the specifics of your licensing

Lightspeed Alert: Enhancing Safety & Response

• Q: How can we get better reporting on statistics of alerts and human review stats?
• A: You can work with your account manager to get additional reporting on Alert and Human Review stats. We are evaluating opportunities to improve visibility into actions taken for alerts within the UI, including more details on responses and actions taken.

• Q: Will SMS notifications for Alert be available for all or only HR items?
• A: When this feature is released, you will have the option to enable SMS notifications for contacts on your escalation list. These notifications will be triggered whenever an alert is escalated through human review. If you use SMS notifications, they will be included with your Alert + Human Review license, however, there may be carrier charges from the phone company if they charge for receiving text messages.

• Q: What is the timeframe on the escalation list enhancements?
• A: In the coming weeks, we will be rolling out UI enhancements offering greater flexibility and control over escalation lists, allowing you to add more contacts, set district and emergency contacts as “do not contact” outside work hours, and improve management options.

Lightspeed Insight: Turning App Insights into Compliant, Optimized Edtech 

• Q: Plans for tracking the level of accessibility of apps?
• A: Right now, we tag apps that have a public facing VPAT, and we plan to expand that functionality in the future to include tags for other types of accessibility compliance.

• Q: Is the app management currently in the system?
• A: Yes, it is currently in the system. Navigate to App Management in the top navigation and then select Approval Management. For more info, see our help page.

• Q: Is there a way to differentiate free vs paid sites in Insight if you have a subscription for certain campuses or grade level and others use a free version?
• A: It depends on how the app’s domains work. If the free and paid versions of the app share a domain, we can’t tell them apart right now, but we have a roadmap feature called “Full URL” that would allow us to differentiate apps by the full URL that may give us access to more free/paid app tracking.

• Q: How does the approval management work with Google Admin app management?
• A: Insight’s approval management indicates which apps are approved or not for use within a district, but does not connect to MDMs or Google Admin Console to push or provision apps.

• Q: Can Insight differentiate between free vs. paid app versions?
• A: It depends on the app’s domain structure. If the free and paid versions share a domain, they appear the same. However, an upcoming “Full URL” feature may enable more granular tracking.

• Q: Does Insight break down usage by building and/or grade level?
• A: Yes.

• Q: Do you have to independently configure those three lists in Insight, or is it controlled on the app itself?
• A: The app itself will have one status – so if it’s an approved app, it’s approved on all lists. But each list will be configurable in the sense that you could hide an app from a list of you wanted to, or NOT show a category of apps on a list. So say ChatGPT is not approved, and you decide to only show approved apps on your list, Chat GPT would not show up.