A new student-oriented app will be released this fall to replace the features removed in the most recent update of the University of Texas at Austin app, labeled TexasLonghorns on mobile devices. The TexasLonghorns app now features only sports news and updates.
The new app, called MyUT, will allow students to access Canvas resources and financial aid information from their phone, which used to be features in the TexasLonghorns app. It will also include the campus map, student schedules and other student-specific resources.
Joey Williams, communications director for the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost, said the MyUT app will be a mobile version of the MyUT website.
“The MyUT app will be much more robust and have all of the resources that students need to do their academic work,” Williams said. “It’s going have a lot more utility than what students could access in the previous TexasLonghorns app.”
Before the TexasLonghorns app was updated, the app contained sports news, schedules and updates in addition to student resources. Now, the TexasLonghorns app will be managed by Texas Athletics to entertain a sports audience, and the new MyUT app will be geared specifically toward students for academic purposes.
“The athletics app has a lot more video and full color visuals in it, whereas the MyUT app will be much more functional,” said Carolyn Connerat, associate vice provost for enrollment management. “It’s about doing what you need to do while you’re a student at UT. The apps are going to look completely different, and they’re going to have different purposes and audiences.”
While students are waiting for the new app to be released, there is a link within the menu of the TexasLonghorns app that directs users to the MyUT website.
Cerena Ermitanio, international relations and global studies sophomore, said she unknowingly opened the updated TexasLonghorns app 30 minutes before a class started to check it location, but was confused to find the app full of only
sports content.
“I had time to spare before my class, so I went to the app store and looked at the update history to see what happened,” Ermitanio said. “Out of the blue, the app updated to something completely different from the utility-based app it was before.”
Ermitanio said she started frequently using the old TexasLonghorns app her freshman year when she lived on campus.
“I was on that app pretty much every other day because it just made navigating campus so much easier, so I’m really excited for the new app,” Ermitanio said. “It would have been a little less scary if the MyUT app was released before the
TexasLonghorns app updated.”
Williams said the MyUT app will be free for all students and released before the end of the fall semester.
“We’re testing the app right now,” Williams said. “We have to make sure that it passes all of our security and privacy protocols. We will be sending out a message to the students through various channels to make sure everybody is aware we launched the app, how you access it and what it’s for. So, students can expect to have all of that information.”
