Utah State's mobile app to be revamped
A committee that has been working to update Utah State University’s mobile app gave an update on its progress at the first meeting of the student government President’s Cabinet on Thursday.
At the meeting the committee discussed the app and what could be improved. The committee also made plans to work with the university’s IT professionals on continuous maintenance throughout the year.
Committee head Spencer Perry said other state universities’ apps are a great example of how Utah State’s should look.
“I am really impressed by Utah Valley University,” Perry said. “Their app looked really good and was easy to use.”
Perry said the UVU app was more user-friendly, with a homepage that made it simple to navigate through the menu. The details on the app were clean and didn’t cause confusion as to where the links would take them.
Utah State’s current iPhone and Android app is not as useful to students due to the lack of resources on the app and a tendency to crash. The committee has been charged with recommending changes to benefit students on and off campus.
Cody Davis, a committee member, said he would like to see an updated calendar with push notifications for student events so students can know what is going on that day.
“The biggest thing that Utah State students need is a calendar,” Davis said. “The calendars online are not updated and don’t get updated regularly. I wouldn’t know what was going on if I wasn’t involved. The school is always planning something and there is always an event going on. Most people just don’t have a way to know that.”
Utah State’s current app has features that help student map their classes, bus routes, schedule study rooms in the library and a direct link to Canvas, the university’s online class management program.
“The app has great features already, it just doesn’t work,” Perry said. “This was only our first meeting and all of the ideas we contributed give me great expectations for what will be coming — I am very excited.”
The new committee plans to work on the USU app throughout the semester.