KSUMobile, the official mobile app for Kent State University, made several changes to improve student usability for the school year.

The KSUMobile app allows students and staff to view their university information, navigate through campus, read news about Kent State and more.

The app released a newly designed Me@KSU feature. This design offers a more accessible look into a student’s Kent State account, showing that student’s Kent State ID number and FlashCash balance, as well as offering university career information.

Sameer Jaleel, director of Enterprise Application Services, is in charge of making decisions on what new features will be released for the app.

“We did a complete redo of the Me@KSU module,” Jaleel said. “[We made] it customizable and changed it from the previously tabbed interface to a sliding interface that users are more accustomed to on mobile devices.”

According to the app’s description, a Dining Plan Matrix feature was added, which will allow students to keep track of their meal plan spending. The app also added a Kent Student Center parking module, allowing students to view the number of parking spots available in the Student Center parking lot.

Meredith Garrett, the systems specialist at Kent State, said the booths in the Student Center lot count cars entering and exiting, and then they transfer that information to the app.

“Our student lot is filled every day, so it’s frustrating for the customers,” said Garrett. “We thought it’d be an easy addition to the app.”

Student users of the app have taken note of the changes.

“It’s definitely easier to access and read,” said Emilia Sneed, a sophomore merchandising major. “I think adding more events to the academic calendar would be helpful, but other than that it’s pretty straightforward.”

Though changes were made, Jaleel said he and his team are continuing to make improvements. In the future, app users can expect more new features, including a GPA calculator, an academic calendar and access to their school email account.

“We have been working hard to release a new version (of the app) every four months,” he said. “KSUMobile is in perpetual development, so we don’t ever consider it done.”

KSUMobile was first released for free in 2012. Jaleel said, since its release, it has had 41,000 iOS downloads and 18,500 Android downloads.

You can download the KSUMobile app and other Kent State apps for free at: http://www.kent.edu/mobile.

Theresa Cottom is the technology reporter for the Kent Stater. Contact her at [email protected]