For Students, By Students: Redesigning the UC Davis Mobile App
Quick Summary
- The updated UC Davis Mobile app for iOS and Android was built through a collaboration between students and Information and Educational Technology (IET) staff to solve real campus user pain points.
- The new app offers real-time Unitrans bus tracking, a centralized campus resource directory, a modern design, and updated accessibility features.
- By replacing separate outdated systems with a unified codebase, the new app ensures a consistent experience across platforms and allows for simpler long-term maintenance.
The UC Davis Mobile app got a major makeover—thanks to a partnership between a group of passionate students and campus technical professionals. In August 2026, a new UC Davis Mobile App for both iOS and Android devices launched, bringing a more accessible, modern, and maintainable mobile app experience to the university community.
"The best part is it’s an app for students made by students, so we already knew the pain points,” said Vijit Dua, a student who helped design and build the new app.
With mobile device ownership and app usage nearly universal among students, faculty, and staff, launching an updated digital, mobile-first experience sets the stage for growth—providing opportunities for proactive, unified, and relevant campus communications.
Built for Students, By Students
The new UC Davis Mobile App was developed through a collaborative partnership between the Associated Students, University of California, Davis (ASUCD) Innovation and Research Lab (IRL), the IET staff and students in their Student Professional Development Program (SPDP). Students provided firsthand insight into campus “pain points” ensuring the app addressed real student needs.
“We updated the Unitrans integration, so bus times and locations are accurately displayed,” explained Vijit. “We just tried to make the experience smoother for everyone."
The students developed new app features and updated existing ones with help and guidance from several IET Enterprise Infrastructure Services staff members, including Thomas Amsler. The applications programmer and SPDP mentor said students really took ownership of the project.
“We’ve been meeting regularly, and the students report what they’re working on what they’re going to work on next,” said Thomas. “They’ve done some polling and research with their peers about what features were important. We even had student graphic designers help with styling and user interface decisions. So, the overall design was all them.”
Enhanced Features, Accessibility & Sustainability
The new UC Davis Mobile App includes features most used and loved by students but improves upon the original version with some highly requested tools.
- Real-Time Unitrans Tracking: As the "flagship" feature, the app provides real-time bus tracking, predicted arrival times, and users can add their favorite stops.
- Campus Resource Directory: A centralized, searchable directory provides quick access to important campus resources and contact information.
- Inclusive Design: The new app is built to be WCAG compliant, ensuring it works with assistive readers and other accessibility devices.
- Modern Look & Feel: Updated interface designed by students provides a fresh, modern app experience.
Technically, the new app also resolves a long-standing maintenance challenge. The previous UC Davis app relied on two separate outdated codebases for iOS and Android, which made updates difficult. For the redesign, the teams created a single codebase to ensure features are identical across both platforms and makes long-term maintenance easier for ASUCD and IET.
Learning Beyond the App
The collaborative development of the new UC Davis mobile app bridged the gap between academic theory and professional practice, while introducing fresh perspectives on technology and design.
Students in ASUCD and SPDP learned to navigate the entire software engineering lifecycle, including user testing and the importance of persistence when solving technical problems. “Just seeing the progress between last year and this year just made me realize that just having the patience to work through and grow through it was the most important part,” said Vijit.
Staff viewed the project as a collaborative learning environment where mentorship was often mutual. “There were so many brilliant students working on this project,” Thomas recalled fondly. “The students would share other cool projects they're working on and technologies they explored. I learned as much as I taught.”
"This is really a passion project," noted Ira Tarshis, Information and Educational Technology (IET) Enterprise Platforms Supervisor. "It’s a really cool thing to see come to fruition".
Transition and Launch
In August 2026, notifications were added to the old app, directing users to delete it and download the new version to take advantage of additional and improved features. The old app will eventually be removed from the marketplace as its backend dependencies are retired.