CHI311

I appreciate the amount of information on the app - the “learn more” pages for service requests is super helpful for example, and I recognize that a lot of work probably went into building this. However, there are a few things that need improvement for this app to be truly useable. I experienced a lot of issues with confirming my email. It resolved eventually (that is, after trying to confirm my email but being unable to load the page after clicking the link in the email, a few months passed and randomly I managed to reset my password and successfully log in) but it shouldn’t have been an issue in the first place. The app also doesn’t keep me logged in, which is annoying. There are no options to stay logged in. I also am unable to follow requests. When looking up a service request number, pressing the “+ Follow” button collapses the open request but does not add it to my “following” list of requests. Could be a great city services app. Hope it will be, sooner rather than later. God knows we pay enough in taxes!

This app glitches out and doesn’t work in many different modals. One of the most annoying ones is the password reset feature. If you forget your password, you’ll enter your email to receive a reset email. When you click on the link provided in the email, you’ll be taken back to the original screen asking you for your email again to send a reset password to it. Repeat this process an infinite amount of times. As usual Chicago has come through with another failed attempt to create something that probably cost a ton of money and doesn’t work. This is just one of the simplest issues I’ve encountered. Often times you will go through the modals to create a ticket of some sort and at the very end it’ll tell you that it just failed lol. If you built this app or maintain it, be embarrassed.

I’m not sure the developers of this app actually use the app. I almost always use this exclusively to file yard waste pickups (which should be automatic, but that’s a topic for a discussion elsewhere), but I have no way to set “favorites”. I would add yard waste as a home screen fav so it is easy to get to, but can’t. Instead, the app has graffiti removal, rat abatement, potholes, and street light complaints as the default “Top Service Requests.” I’ve maybe only used one of those ever. Secondly, while filling out the yard waste request, there are 8 questions, several of which are duplicative. For example, the request asks “Where is the yard waste located?” with an empty text box. The very next question is multiple choice of “Is your garbage picked up on the curb or alley?” Garbage collection isn’t relevant for yard waste pickup, and if it is, make the previous question multiple choice with an Other option and a text box to fill in if Alley or Curb aren’t relevant. For the question of “how many bags” the text box defaults to the letter keyboard and the app should default to the number keyboard. It’s generally a fine app, but improving the user experience with smarter, and less question, would be appreciated.