Like many students, college will be the first time your child will ever fully be in charge of themselves. Keeping track of themselves, friends, classes, and activities might be a challenge. Luckily, nowadays there’s an app for everything. Here are a few that have proven to be especially useful during a student’s time at Purdue:
PurdueGuide: PurdueGuide is a mobile app that enables Purdue students to access information such as their Boiler Gold Rush schedule, virtual campus tours, Supplemental Instruction information, and more. This will have all the official schedules for both parents and the students for BGRi/ International Parents week. Should be downloaded by parents also!
Duo: This is for authentication for logging in to the Purdue systems. You should already have downloaded this by now
Brightspace Pulse: This is a mobile app that can help learners stay connected and on track with their courses in Brightspace. It provides one easy view of course calendars, readings, assignments, evaluations, grades, and announcements. The app can help learners make better decisions about how to handle workload, when to submit assignments, and when to prepare for tests. Real-time alerts can let learners know when classes are cancelled, rooms are moved, or new/updated course content and grades are made available. The schedule view and weekly visualization provides learners with a quick, at-a-glance view of what is due today, this week, and later in the term across all their courses.
Gradescope: Gradescope is an online grading tool for scanned, pen-and-paper, free-response assessments. This tool supports workflows for both individual student assignment (homework) and instructor upload of assessments (exams). Students taking a course that utilizes Gradescope will be enrolled in Gradescope automatically by their instructor. Students will access Gradescope from an instructor-provided link within Brightspace.
Shovel: A Time Management App. Shovel is a new, real-time college planner app that Purdue is offering free to all students; it can help you to schedule your time effectively with less stress. With Shovel you can enter your course requirements, co-curricular commitments, and/or employment hours–and be able to balance your time so that you also schedule downtime and breaks. Shovel is a tool that can assist you in creating structure to your days, and avoid the risk of sitting in front of your computer for long stretches of time. It syncs with Brightspace/Canva/etc. You can access your free Shovel account by following this link and using your purdue.edu email to sign-up.
Purdue Mobile Menus: Everyone loves food and Purdue Menus can help find the best food on campus. Not only does it show when each of the Purdue dining courts are open, but it also lists the hours and locations of other snack spots on campus (like places that accept Dining Dollars). The app lists the menu for each meal at each dining court and allows you to mark your favourite foods so you know where to find them. It’s complete with nutritional information and filters to help you meet your dietary needs and avoid allergens.
Transact Mobile Ordering App: If you’re mobile ordering from within the campus residential dining options.
Starship – If you’re on campus you can use the cute robots on the footpaths. They are called a Starship and they deliver food and snacks from restaurants on campus/nearby. You pay for the service just like any other delivery service. Click here
MyCityBus: Using the NEW MyCityBus app, you can access transit schedules and real-time GPS-based bus location information, track your bus on a map, and receive transit news and route-specific alerts.
529 Garage: For those of you who will have a bike on campus.
PaperCut Mobility Print: You can easily print to printers at Purdue from mobile devices, such as laptops or phones, using PaperCut Mobility Print and Mobile Release. It can be downloaded on Chromebooks, iPads, iPhones, Macs, Windows, and Android devices. Download here and the instructions on how to use it can be found here.
CSCPay Mobile laundry: This app is new for 2024-25- and will be used to pay for all Laundry machines in the on campus housing halls.
Yikyak: A Reddit type discussion app (but anonymous) which is local to Purdue – available only for iOS devices and apparently very popular.
Transact eAccounts: for loading BoilerExpress/ laundry money and checking how many meals swipes/dining dollars you have left.
Hotseat: (for classroom backchannel participation if your course is using it) see here
Purdue RecWell: For the gym and related facilities at Purdue. The app lists available hours for all facilities and lists group schedules by day, allowing users to reserve their spot in a class. There is a direct link to intramural leagues. Users are able to register for additional programs, scan bar codes for RecWell access, and purchase amenities like lockers and towel service.
UHCSR Mobile App: This is your medical insurance app.
Delta Mobile App: This is the app for the dental insurance you paid for.
Outlook: Professors tend to use email as their primary method of communication, so it’s important to have easy access to your school email account to ask or answer quick questions and stay on top of your classes.
OneDrive and/or Google Drive: Having a method of file sharing can help with group projects and it can even help yourself. Programs like OneDrive and Google Drive allow you to grant access to your files to anyone you want as long as you have their email. Each Purdue student is set up with an Office 365 account which gives you access to both Outlook and OneDrive. Google Drive is for G-mail users and has a user-friendly interface but more limitations to editing styles within the online editing capabilities of each Google program (Google Slides, Google Docs, etc.).
Groupme and Discord: Many housing and Learning communities and clubs at Purdue use the Groupme and Discord apps to collaborate and disseminate information within members. Reddit will have the latest updated Master list of all Groupmes- here is a static list as at the time of writing
Cam Scanner: Cam Scanner is an outstanding tool for electronic filing. Simply take a picture of a piece of paper (like a homework assignment) and Cam Scanner will sharpen the image and make it into a neat, readable document. App users can sort pages into documents and documents into files and then export them as PDF or JPG files. With electronic submission becoming increasingly commonplace, this tool can be especially helpful for submitting assignments.
Zelle, Venmo and Paypal: Venmo is a convenient app for paying your friends. You can split bills and pay them back with ease: just connect your debit card to get started. Venmo is run by Paypal, which can be used across many online shopping sites like Amazon and Etsy. You might have to wait till you open your bank accounts in the US to start using them after linking them. Don’t activate Paypal in your home country as it has restrictions depending on location- you want to do this after landing in the USA.
Waitz.io: New app- finding study spaces in libraries. Based on the number of wifi signals in a given area, an algorithm can provide real-time estimates with ~90% accuracy of how many people are in a given area. You can now find which libraries have lower occupancies before heading out to study. Know before you go. Click here
DoorDash: This is the most popular food delivery app (from outside the regular meal plans) from outside restaurants used by students on campus.
R2U Connect app: An app is now available to reserve a seat on the free shuttles between Purdue’s West Lafayette and Indianapolis locations. It allows riders to reserve a seat and see when the shuttle is close to pick-up and drop-off locations. It is available through Google Play or the App Store. Purdue students, faculty and staff will need to create an account using their Purdue email. Using a Purdue email will ensure rides are free. Riders are not required to use the app to ride the free shuttles but are encouraged to use it to guarantee a seat.
LinkedIn: Create an account and start documenting your academic career- so you have a professional way to network and connect to potential employers/internship opportunities etc.
Note: TikTok is banned on Purdue campus
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