New Mobile App Opens Up the World of CoCoRaHS

CoCoRaHS has utilized a mobile app for a number of years now, both Android and iOS versions. They were developed and maintained by a volunteer who at the time was working on mobile app development. The volunteer's career moved on in a different direction and they no longer have the time to keep up with maintaining the mobile app. We were in a position that, if significant changes to either Android or iOS requirements were made and the mobile app no longer worked, mobile app users would be dead in the water.

The current mobile app has served us well. However, it was mostly a one trick pony. It was limited to entering, listing, and editing daily precipitation data. Some of the error checks that we use on the web site were not utilized in the app. If you want to report hail, significant weather, or condition monitoring you need to use the web site. In addition, observers who exclusively use the current mobile app are less likely to visit the web site and take advantage of all the additional information available to observers.

We realized that the situation with the "CoCoRaHS Observer" mobile app was potentially a disaster waiting to happen. We needed to come up with something that could replace the current mobile app in case changes in operating systems or other issues rendered it unusable. This was a huge challenge. We could not afford to hire someone to develop a new mobile app and then monitor and maintain it. Dealing with the app stores and their requirements was a hassle at times. So, last fall we decided that we needed to come up with an alternative in case things with the current app went irreversibly south.

The home page of the new mobile web app in the light and dark modes.

So here we are. The new mobile app is a mobile-enabled web application. It looks like an app, acts like an app, and you can download it from either Google Play or the Apple store as an app. Our app will work across platforms (Android and iOS phones, tablets, computers) and browsers. This new app is full featured, allowing observers to enter data for any of our data types (Significant Weather, hail, etc.) and provides easy access to our current web site.

The development of this mobile app has been an iterative process with a great deal of input from hundreds of observers. When the basic app was ready, we released it to a small group of current and new mobile app users for testing and feedback. Bugs were found and fixed and usability issues addressed. Periodically we released it to additional groups of users for testing and feedback, and the process was repeated. So far, over 600 CoCoRaHS observers have tested this new mobile app. The new mobile app is now available for everyone to use.

What will become of the old app, "CoCoRaHS Observer"? Both the iOS and Android versions will continue to be available as long as they work. They are no longer supported, i.e. there will be no bugs fixed or improvements made. If there are changes to the Android or iOS operating systems that render the app unusable, it will be removed from the Google Play and Apple stores. That will likely happen at some point- we just don't know when.We strongly encourage you to use the new mobile app.

This new mobile app is a significant achievement for CoCoRaHS, thanks to the imagination, knowledge, and skills of our very own Julian Turner. Julian's vision was for a mobile-enabled web site that would have the features of the web site (and then some), be easy to make changes to (no more having to update separate Android and iOS versions of apps), and be the foundation of a new web site structure for CoCoRaHS. We also want to thank the hundreds of observers who tested the mobile app and provided feedback to help improve it. Without you we would not be where we are today.

Here are some of the features of the new mobile app (CoCoRaHS HQ). Note that you can also use this in your computer's web browser. 

• Enter, list, and enter date for daily precipitation, hail, significant weather, and condition monitoring. (E-T will be added in the future).
• A Monthly Zeros form
• A button to set all snow values to zero
• Buttons to quickly enter Trace and NA/Missing
• Quick link to the Data Explorer in the View Data menu
• Station specific Data Explorer shortcuts in the My Data / My Stations view
• Links to the Precip map and the Condition Monitoring map
• User settings to choose preferred
• Units display
• Light or Dark mode
• Mobile, Tablet, or Desktop layout
• Easy access to the primary CoCoRaHS web site through the More menu

 

To install the app, follow this link for complete instructions:

Installation Guide - CoCoRaHS Mobile App
CoCoRaHS Mobile App
 

Answers to frequently asked questions about the mobile app be found at:
CoCoRaHS Mobile App FAQ

This new mobile app is still a work in progress, and we welcome your feedback.