As I was going through the Walking For Rochester app, I kept in mind that a lot of the users are utilizing the app for service hours. The app was intended to be used simply, with only a few tasks or goals in mind. I was asking myself, should all of this content be on the app? What other information would users want? What should be easier to find on the app?

What is a companion application?

Companion apps are software applications that run on a different device than the primary intended or main application.

They usually provide content that is similar to the primary user experience but could be a subset of it, having fewer features and being portable in nature.

Ashley Zimmerman

More simply, a companion app is an app that the website developers created and intended for mobile use. It also allows more accurate geolocational data to be collected from your users. This makes using the site a more personal experience for your users, as there could be functionality issues if the companion application isn’t provided.

Benefits

The benefits of having a companion app outweigh the inconvenience of having to adjust your site for mobile. For starters, having a mobile-friendly site increases your brand reliability to the consumer – it makes you more credible. Having a mobile version also allows accessibility for your site. What if your users didn’t have access to a computer? I really don’t see any disadvantages (besides the slight annoyance and confusion that comes with building the settings).

Walking For Rochester & their app

Walking For Rochester is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization in Rochester, NY. What exactly do they do for the community? They host weekly Community Cleanups, plan private Corporate Cleanups for businesses/teams, offer a Volunteer Program to record service hours, and have a Litter Removal Service.

The Walking For Rochester app is designed for users that want or need to track their service hours while they volunteer. Additionally, the app serves as a tool for the organization to collect data on where users found litter within the city.

Getting to the root of it

Now that we know how to get to the companion app settings, we must return back to our original question: should ALL of the content be present on the mobile version?

My initial thought was ‘Yes! How else are our users going to know who we are or what we do?’

Now that I’m thinking about this on a deeper level, the answer is no. Certain things can be put secondary. Since users are already on mobile, our mobile app (Android and iOS) should be front and center. Users are able to download the app to record where they’re picking up litter, and that gives us more data on where areas of need are.

Another thing that should be put in higher priority is our community cleanup page and the schedule. Many mobile users get to our website from our social media pages after seeing an event announcement.

And the final thing that is a high priotity: our email subscription. This is a tool that assists the volunteers in spreading the word about the organization. Therefore, the homepage (as it currently does right now) has the email subscription at the beginning of the page.

I want to specifically think about things that would make it easier for our users to utilize the site on mobile. Some sites do have the exact same content, but with less of the cool moving graphics or pictures. I think matching the sites as similarly as you can makes the site more comfortable to use for your audience. If there is such a drastic change between the desktop version and the mobile version, your audience could lose trust, or would simply prefer one over the other.

Resources

https://www.armia.com/blog/how-to-create-a-companion-app-for-your-website

https://medium.com/peexell-en/the-importance-of-mobile-apps-for-your-business-10188256b8aa