UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Timing is everything, but no one could have foreseen that two months after Penn State launched its official all-in-one mobile app, Penn State Go, in January 2020, the entire world would be impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

With the transition to remote teaching and learning, it became more critical than ever for instructors, students and staff to stay informed and connected to what is happening at Penn State and access key University resources.

A year later, Penn State Go has reached a milestone achievement of more than 100,000 downloads. To help mark this accomplishment, app users can share their Penn State spirit by downloading the Penn State Go iMessage sticker packs.

Growing in popularity, users have opened the app more than 4 million times, clicking through 15 million pages and external links. In addition, more than 71,000 users have enabled the push notifications feature in the app to receive relevant and timely messages to stay informed, including information on COVID-19 resources, travel guidelines and much more.

Available on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store, Penn State Go includes many popular features, such as Canvas, Penn State email, LionPATH, LionCash+, library services, Starfish academic advising, Penn State Eats and more.

When the app initially launched, students were able to curate their experience by selecting University Park, World Campus or a unified Commonwealth Campus option. Throughout the summer and fall of 2020, Penn State Go continued to make updates and improvements to enhance the mobile experience.

By May 2020, students at Commonwealth Campuses were able to select their individual Penn State Go Commonwealth Campus experience by clicking on the "Change App Experience" button in the app. The individual campus experience allowed students to receive important messages to stay connected to what is happening at their campus and access events, dining, news and safety information.

Many special events also were made accessible via Penn State Go to allow students to engage virtually, including THON 2020, Welcome Week, Class of 2024, Penn State Homecoming, and PS I (heart) U Week.

Other features added to the student experience include overlays in the maps function for remote learning rooms on campuses, Penn State Eats for contactless ordering, live IT support chat for technical questions, an enhanced Canvas integration, and ways to stay engaged through You@PSU and with one’s academic college.

Initially focused on the student mobile experience, the app’s development rapidly accelerated, driven in part by the pandemic and the need to extend University resources to reach the broader Penn State community.

In August 2020, the faculty and staff experience was released in Penn State Go. In addition to the features available for students, faculty and staff can receive targeted push notifications, in-app banner messages, and access Canvas Teacher and Workday.

Looking ahead, the Penn State Go app development team hopes to provide students, faculty, staff, alumni and campus visitors with access to all of their needs, including academics, student life and resources — from anywhere and at any time.

Several new feature enhancements and integrations are underway or in testing, including location-based and personalized notifications, an alumni experience, and a desktop version of Penn State Go. The first iteration of the Penn State Go desktop version will focus on World Campus students, allowing access to key links to Penn State resources and services on the web.

For more information, visit the Penn State Go website and learn about its features.