Just when we thought that CiviMobile project can move only forward, it dawned on us that in fact the road takes it far and wide in every direction, to every user, fundraiser, volunteer, supporter, enthusiast and every person who cares. This observation is now taking form in CiviMobile 5.0 release. Starting with version 5.0 CiviMobile opens up for a wide audience of unregistered users.
Support of Unregistered Users
Until recently CiviMobile strategy has mainly centered on enhancing collaboration processes of organization’s constituents and solidifying relationships with existing members. Accordingly, the roadmap for the app development was set in view of those defined objectives. While still uppermost, the objectives have broadened and now CiviMobile potential is used to raise the organization's profile with unregistered users.
By design, users who aren’t registered on the organization’s CiviCRM website, and therefore have no access to CiviCRM from the mobile app, will be able to use CiviMobile public view mode, suppose the organization chooses to activate the public area for unauthenticated users.
Few common use-cases of CiviMobile Public Area will include:
- Registering in CiviCRM
- Viewing and registering for public events
- Taking part in public petitions
- Viewing and making donations
- Reading organization news
The latest version of CiviMobile supports registration in CiviCRM from the mobile app, public events view and event registration, while other features are planned for next releases.
Registration in CiviCRM
Any nonprofit organization using CiviMobile as an enhanced communication channel may now use it to offer its prospective members an opportunity to register from the mobile app and do it in a significantly simplified manner.
By configuring settings in CMS the organization will grant or restrict registration permissions for unauthenticated users. To allow user registration admin will check the related box in CMS. Admin may additionally distribute ACL permissions “access CiviCRM” and “view my profile”. With such permissions allocated, users will view information in their profiles, calendar and activities. The permissions can be granted to any user who scans the QR code on your site or enters website url.
Public Events
When an organization chooses to activate public area to share information about forthcoming public events, then this functionality is enabled on CiviMobileAPI Settings page of CiviCRM, where the box Enable CiviMobile for Anonymous Users must be checked. After that all events which are marked as public will be available for unauthenticated users in CiviMobile app.
Now for an unauthenticated user suffice it to enter CiviCRM website URL or scan QR code on the website when CiviMobile will connect to the server granting an access to public information.
All available events will show up on public view. Upon the tap on the specified event the user will see the event details: description, start/end date, participants, contact email, address, Google map location. The public area functionality allows registering for the selected events.
After the form has been filled and registration completed, the participant will receive a ticket with QR code for use at the event entrance.
More Updates
Other major progress updates are results of our team’s consistent efforts to provide the best user experience and make data even more secure. Release 5.0 brings forward the enhancements to level up CiviMobile features, such as:
- PIN-code protected access
CiviMobile 5.0 enables users to protect CiviCRM data using a PIN-code. This adds another level of protection preventing other people from gaining unauthorized access to your device.
- simplified authentication
In order to support unauthenticated users we had to redesign login screen. With new design CiviMobile asks to provide URL to CiviCRM server first. Upon connecting it verifies setting and either allows access to Public Area or goes directly to login screen in case Public Area is not activated. But this should not scare inexperienced users - now the server connection process becomes automated with QR code scanner what eliminates the need to memorize CiviCRM website URL and allows avoiding typing mistakes when entering CiviCRM site URL. With new feature CiviCRM website displays a QR code that the user can scan with the mobile phone and is instantly connected to CiviCRM server.
- push notifications
Users will get real time updates since CiviMobile now supports push notifications. With push notifications activated, you will be able to send alerts to users even when CviMobile is not running. To activate the functionality, go to your user profile (or create one) on civimobile.org, generate server key for your CiviCRM and enter it in the appropriate field on the CiviMobileAPI Setting Page of CiviCRM
- optimized localization process
CiviMobile localization process is gathering speed now that app users are involved into the process. New language projects are regularly added, existing versions carefully reviewed, incomplete translation projects are actively supported through collective efforts of CiviMobile users (learn more at https://civimobile.org/civimobile-goes-global-with-optimized-localization-process/). Cultural barriers have already fallen for English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Hungarian, Ukrainian, and Polish CiviMobile users. In case your preferred language is missing from the list, join our localization project and help us adapt the app to your needs faster.
- custom names
CiviMobile app takes the plunge with personalization to offer a complete experience to its users. You can now use your organization name or any custom name as an alternative to CiviMobile. Simply go to admin panel and fill in the appropirate field on CiviMobileAPI Settings page
- onboarding screen
Interactive demo session appears the first time the user launches CiviMobile app. It presents all required steps the users should take when launching the app. The process is accompanied with detailed instructions and illustrated with visual presentation of all steps.
A lot more is planned for CiviMobile oncoming versions. Our next release will extend Event functionality by adding detailed agenda, information about speakers and venue, possibility to choose and store favourite sessions. At the exact same time the team is hard at work integrating PayPal, Stripe and some other payment API that will allows making payment (e.g. for event registration or membership) directly from inside the application on a mobile device.
Stay with us, the updates are close.
Source: https://civimobile.org/more-opportunities-for-wider-audience-in-civimobile-version-5-0/
