Everything you need to know about UNC Greensboro, right on your phone. That’s the goal of the UNCG Mobile app.
The University’s mobile application launched this summer and is quickly changing the way that students, faculty, staff, alumni, parents, and friends engage with the University.
The free app, available for download at the Apple App Store or Google Play Store, has personalized content depending on your role in the campus community.
For example, students can access a campus map, real-time tracking of Spartan Chariots, and a live look at the Chick-fil-A line in Elliott University Center. Faculty and staff can easily access academic and human resources calendars. Alumni can view UNCG Magazine and a calendar of upcoming events on campus.
Currently, there are seven personas: Faculty/Staff, Student, New Student, Graduate Student, Prospective Student, Alumni, and a community persona called Families, Friends, and Fans.
“While we don’t see the app replacing all traditional communication, we know that the incoming students are accustomed to managing their day with their phone in hand,” says Craig Biles, the developer of UNCG Mobile. “Putting key UNCG information into their phone is going to help us assist them to become successful with their classes and life here at UNCG.”
Users can view news feeds from Campus Weekly and UNCG Now, UNCG social media accounts, and UNCG Athletics. While emergency alerts will continue to be sent through email and text messaging, they will also be communicated through the app.
UNCG Mobile includes a combination of original content, web content, links to other resources, and connections to third-party apps such as Dining on Campus and LiveSafe. Third-party apps will initially need to be downloaded, but once the third-party app is loaded onto a device, UNCG Mobile will connect to it directly. This will allow the app to consolidate all third-party apps that a student or staff member may need in one convenient location on their phone.
So far, there have been 8,097 downloads of the app. UNCG will match 1,223 of those downloads (the number of downloads during the week before move-in) with a food item donation to Spartan Open Pantry, benefiting students in need.
UNCG Mobile users can suggest changes or report problems directly from their phones via the feedback tile in the app.
“We’re just scratching the surface right now with the potential of this technology,” says Biles. “As we begin to work with faculty, staff, and students to tailor the app with even more information and functionality, I think you’ll see UNCG Mobile take off.”
Story by Matthew Bryant and Alyssa Bedrosian, University Communications
Photography by Martin W. Kane, University Communications
