On Oct. 8, the Mercy Mobile made its debut and became available for download on Apple and Android devices.

The question students are really asking themselves is, “Do I really need this app?”

The simple and honest truth is simple. Yes, you definitely need to download this app.

The app has many features that are useful to even the most stubborn upperclassman.

Mercy Mobile is surprisingly user friendly with a plethora of features that will delight both faculty and students. The user friendly interface is smooth, clean and crisp with functions that are useful. Mercy Mobile has a basic design that is easy to navigate due to it only having one drop down menu that allows students to access tabs like campus news, athletics, grades, events, maps.  The app brings together all the important information that is typically on the complicated and unpopular Mercy Connect, which can be difficult to view on mobile devices.

The apps features act as a faster way to access useful links and student content. Mercy Mobile allows for a cleaner way to view their grades from any of their terms, and without clicking through various menus to find their transcript. Rather than list all the term grades in one document like a transcript, the app gives students the option to choose only the term they would like to view. It is not clear however, if the app will view the grades of students who have holds on their account. The college understandably declined to add financial aid information on the app, likely due to privacy and security concerns.

The application also provides students with the opportunity to view the upcoming Mercy events presented in a clear list that students can access from anywhere on campus. Being able to access event information in a simpler way, may even lead to student turnout to increase, and is a significant improvement to the original calendar format that is still offered on the website. Bored students can now go from just hanging out in the library to checking out the events and attending them in the same day. The app also contains social networking features such as links to Mercy’s official YouTube, where students can watch videos from Mercy events, speeches by Mercy officials and even watch some of the promotional videos that you see being shot around campus. There is also a Twitter link which allows students to catch up on what’s going on at Mercy’s and there is also easy access to the college’s Facebook page.

An important feature that should be used by all students looking for work is the link for Career Maverick. From the app students can log in and browse internships and even on campus jobs from Career Maverick. Related is the career services phone number which is also found in the app under the important numbers tab.

The Athletics tabs links students to the Mercy Athletics website which students can see how their favorite Maverick teams are doing. Other features include a map which gives users a bird’s eye view of the Dobbs Ferry campus. Campus news is easily accessible though the app along with important numbers such as emergency numbers, non emergency numbers and useful campus numbers like the number to career services, mercy online, libraries and academic support services. The college directory is also available which allows users to easily find faculty and administrative staff. 

One of the best features on the app is under the courses tab where there is a clear concise view of your schedule in a calendar format, which can be especially helpful the beginning of every semester when you are just getting acquainted with your schedule.

“I like it, especially because my first day I usually get lost and I have to fumble with a paper schedule, with this app it would be much easier to just find my classes,” said Fatjet Kosi, a senior majoring in computer science. “I think the app is great, although I haven’t really used it a lo,t but I plan to check it out a bit more.”

Some students may be reluctant to download the app, wondering why they would use it when they can just use Mercy Connect.

” I don’t really see the use for me personally, if I wanted to see my grades I’d just go on Connect to look at them, I’m not really interested in downloading an app,” said Clement Boumount, a junior studying psychology. “I do think it’s useful, for students who are into that sort of thing I’d definitely recommend it, although I wouldn’t use it myself.”  

Students may feel this way at first but if they actually give the app a chance, many will probably end up liking it.

“At first I was like, what is this why would I ever use this? Then I thought I’d give it a try just to see what it was about and I was pleasantly surprised with the impressive, and obviously professionally built app,” said Kosi.