Academy app review: a social media app for the academic world

Introduction

When I began College, Social Media was in its infancy and nobody was even dreaming about an app designed specifically for academics. Fast forward a few years and social media has come a long way to the point that there is now a social media app specifically made for the academic world.

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Academy is an app designed to assist you in your studies by providing you with a forum in which to share ideas and assignments with your peers. It’s a unique concept and you might say it’s time has definitely arrived.

On the developer’s website, they mention that this app is a great way to keep your eye on the prize. You can track your progress every day in real time and compare it against your peers. There is no substitute for healthy competition to bring out the best in any one and this app can help do that.

Another thing they mention, is that they’ve put a lot of effort into ensuring that your security is protected and that’s a really important factor for most people when it comes to their grades. It should always be up to you as to what academic information you want to share. And, the developers of this app have recognized the importance of that.

Achieve Your Academic Best

It’s sometimes hard to keep track of all the Social Media apps that come along, but that’s because they’re generally just different variations of the same theme. In a nutshell, most of them are simply Facebook clones and that’s why they generally end up becoming a footnote in App Store history.

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Academy is very different. This app is without a doubt very unique and is not meant to be a competitor to Facebook, Twitter, or even Instagram. What differentiates this app from other Social Media apps is its clear focus on academics and academics alone.

Before you can use this app, you’ll need to make sure that you’re running at least iOS 8.4 or greater. If not, then it’s time for an upgrade. This is a relatively new app having only been released in 2015 and that’s one of its biggest drawbacks – to date, it’s only available for a few colleges and universities.

There’s a good chance that yours won’t be on the list, so you may have to wait. That also means that there has been very little feedback from other users so you will have to rely on our review and your own opinion. Overall, it does have a great layout which is very intuitive, free of unnecessary clutter, and completely free of ads. It also takes up very little room on your iOS device requiring only 13.1 MB.

The Mechanics of the App

Social media apps, regardless of their purpose, have a few common features. Those features include a user profile, the ability to share opinions and ideas in some way with your peers, and some sort of social media feed to keep you up-to-date on what’s going on. All of these things are included in the Academy app – they’re just focused on academics instead of everyday life.

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The main social feed includes a list of your classes, upcoming assignments, and upcoming exams. There’s also a separate feed, under a section called courses where you can provide your own input and ideas to share with the rest of your class. The layout’s definitely a little different from other Social Media apps, but it’s very intuitive and it works for an academic atmosphere.

Along the bottom of the app is a menu that provides you with all your navigation tools. Here you’ll find links to your courses, to your timetable, and a tab that will show you notifications about any of your courses that might be important to you. The courses tab is an interesting one, here you’ll find links to a lot of information. Along with links to your course outline, class schedule, exam schedule, and course grades there’s also a cool social feed feature. This is where you can exchange ideas with other classmates and provide your own comments as well.

One of the tabs that we didn’t mention that’s also on this navigation menu is the home button. This tab will take you back to your main feed which we’ve already mentioned above. In a nutshell, this app is designed to keep you on track in your academic life and moving in the right direction.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Has a simple and intuitive user interface
• Provides a forum to keep track of your academic life
• Includes links to courses, timetables, and notifications
• Also includes a section for social interaction with your peers

Cons

• Still relatively new so there’s very little feedback for this app
• Currently only available for a few colleges and universities

School's Out

The Academy app is a unique way to keep up to date with your academic progress and stay in touch with what’s going on in your courses. They’ve included everything you’ll need to keep track of your courses, your timetable, and any other pertinent information relating to academics. This is definitely an app with a lot of potential for growth.