In this day and age, more and more people find themselves at the mercy of wifi when accessing content on certain apps. The problem is, not all places are created equally in terms of wifi availability. Most public areas, with the exception of certain coffee shops, will not provide wifi. Large conferences, expos, and social events may provide wifi, but with so many people attempting to access it at once, the service will be excruciatingly slow.
For an event app, dependence on the wifi availability can prove to be problematic; especially since during the event, many attendants will want to constantly check their mobile brochures for schedules, logistics, and announcements. So, in preparation for the World Wide Web 2014 Conference and the many other events to come, we’ve implemented a new version (v2.4.1 for iOS, v2.4.3 for Android) of the Whova Event app to prepare users for a variety of situations.
Our update incorporates an automatic content download system that allows users to download and store the information they need into their apps for later use. This process will automatically begin the minute users log onto the main menu page on the Whova Event app and can take up to three minutes or more. Content such as the online brochure, event logistics, and attendant list will be stored into your phone and can be accessed during later use — with or without internet.
Of course, the downloading process itself will require a strong internet connection, so a good place for this process to take place would be within the comfort of your own home.
WWW2014 will have more than half its attendants coming in from overseas. If you are among these individuals and do not have the luxury of cellular data whilst in Korea, perhaps you may want to consider downloading the latest version of Whova and storing relevant information about the conference into your phone prior to attending. Of course, this update will not allow you access to some of our features, such as Twitter, Messages, and My Schedule. Nevertheless, you will be able to have the general agenda and logistics ready at hand.