Hinsdale District 86 Launches Mobile App

Submitted by Hinsdale Township High School District 86.

Hinsdale Township High School District 86 today announced the launch of its mobile app. The app is the first step in the District’s commitment to upgrade its communications and will provide an effective means of updating District families, the community and staff of the latest news and events via their smartphones or tablets. It is available for download on the iTunes App Store for Apple devices and Google Play. There is no fee for users to download the app.

“We are thrilled to rollout the initial version of our app just a few weeks after promising our community that we would commit to advancing our communications methods,” said Superintendent Dr. Bruce Law. “We will continue to enhance the functionality of the app over the coming months and users can expect more robust features to be in place at the start of the 2015-2016 school year. Even better, users will not have to do anything as we add functionality. Once downloaded, enhancements will be integrated automatically.”

Users are encouraged to download the app today and enable push notifications on their devices. Push notifications will “wake” a device “and appear on the screen within moments of their publication, even if the app is not currently open. In addition, users will receive alerts based on the settings they selected on their individual device. For example, users can choose how the alert will be displayed on the screen as well as manage the sounds and vibrations associated with the alert.

The District will use push notifications as another means of notifying staff, families and the community in the case of an emergency or crisis situation. In order to give people the opportunity to familiarize themselves with these push notifications and to optimize their individual settings, the District will issue some scheduled test push notifications over the next week. This should help users ensure that their device settings are configured to their preferences.

Please be advised there may be times when unscheduled test notifications are issued to ensure the app is running properly. All test notifications will appear as “Test, Test, Test.” If for any reason users do not receive the test alerts, they should contact Director of Communications Karen Warner at kwarner@hinsdale86.org.

With the implementation of the new website, functionality and more robust features such as SMS text notifications will be added over the coming months. Once downloaded, users will not need to re-download as capability is added. Features will be integrated seamlessly to the existing app.

According to the Pew Research Internet Project in 2013, 91 percent of Americans have mobile phones and 60 percent use them to access the Internet and 50 percent download apps.

To download the free app, follow the following links to find the Hinsdale District 86 app at the iTunes App Store or on Google Play.

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