A new, student-created iPhone application, iJumbo, provides users with a single convenient source to satisfy their campus-related information needs.
The free app, released earlier this month by sophomore creators AmadouCrookes, Jake Rosenberg and Nate Tenczar, includes information regarding university events as well as the Joey Tracker, dining hall menus, Trunk, a map of the Medford/Somerville campus and articles from the Daily.
The idea for the app was born after a friend showed Crookes a similar application at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
"I realized I was always on my phone going to a bunch of different websites to find a bunch of different information which made it super difficult," Crookes said. "I just wanted to be able to enhance the Tufts mobile experience by giving [the community] a convenient way to access stuff about the school."
Crookes and his team began developing the program at a Hackathon last April, but the time-consuming and multi-part project took much of the summer to complete.
"Over the summer, I did all the programming for the iPhone part," he said. "What took a lot of time were the icons because I had never done graphic design, so I just downloaded this program for $50 and doodled around on the program all summer."
Although the team invested significant time and some money into creating the app - purchasing both an Apple Developer License and the graphic design software -- Crookes expects iJumbo to remain free for the foreseeable future.
"I think it's fine being free," he said. "I also don't know if I can [charge for it] because the data is not technically mine, so I'm not sure how that would work out."
While his project did not receive funding or technical support from the university, Crookes hopes the admissions office will help advertise the app to potential applicants and incoming students.
"We haven't really been in contact with anyone, but I was talking to my advisor [Assistant Professor of Computer Science] Ben Hescott, and he was saying he'll talk to admissions and maybe have them advertise it," he said.
The app is currently only available for the iPhone and iTouch, but the crew is working on developing an app for the Android phone.
"We are all going to kind of tag team the Android at the same time, so hopefully that will be out soon," he said.
Freshman Kendall Todd, who learned about the new app from friends, is excited about its many potential uses.
"I wanted it because it had the menus for the dining hall on it," she said. "I think it's a handy tool for students to have."
The app can be found on the Apple iTunes store by searching "Tufts" or "iJumbo."
