iPad App Development

Socially Distanced Campus Tour

Custom iPad app, written in Swift and Swift UI, allowing drive-through tours of Biola University's campus.

Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Biola University was restricted from hosting in-person campus tours by local health authorities.

However, campus visits are the key factor in a student deciding which college they should go to.

With a little bit of creativity, Biola's teams determined they could offer drive-through tours of campus without violating health ordinances.

Families would pull up to campus, borrow an iPad from an Admissions representative, and then drive the pre-planned campus route. At multiple places, they'd stop to play videos from the iPad — all from the safety of their own vehicle.

Each iPad was loaded up with a custom app that I wrote in Swift and Swift UI. This app provided a highly branded interface to play the videos, which were cached locally since Biola's wi-fi coverage wasn't great in all of the tour locations. I also configured the iPads so they were only able to use this custom app.

My team and I shot and edited the videos that were on the iPad. I encoded them to include a closed captioning option for those families who preferred that.

While nothing can replace being in-person, this custom iPad app allowed families the ability to explore Biola's campus — and, critically, it also allowed Biola to continue marketing itself to prospective students, despite health restrictions.