App Profile: MiniVAN Touch

Robinanyc

Rating: 3/5

I used this for the first time in 2024 although I understand it dates back about 15 years. I found the app intuitive. However, I did notice that I was making mistakes. For example, some of the script didn’t appear on the screen (importantly “do you need a ride to the polls” and I didn’t know I needed to scroll down to find more questions. My suggestion is that the developers add the capability of adding two or three practices with instant feedback on whether anything was missed by the canvasser such as tailored questions. Even experienced canvassers should benefit

Peter James Bond

Rating: 2/5

Overall, we have found this app to be helpful and less bulky than carrying around paper lists. The biggest problem is that no matter what we do, we cannot get this app to sync with other users. After a couple hours of canvassing and refreshing the sink several times per hour, we still can’t tell where the other canvassers have been as shown in the instructional video. It did work one day out of about 200, so we know it is possible, but we have never been able to duplicate that before or since. We end up having to spend an extra 20 minutes going through our individual lists with one another and manually adding them to our own phones. Super inconvenient. The other problem with this app is that the map feature seems to be based on Apple Maps, which as everyone knows, is terrible. It rarely shows an accurate picture of where an address physically is. Google maps is much better in that regard.

Bethysue382

Rating: 5/5

I’ve been canvassing with miniVAN for a few months now, and the benefits far outweigh my complaints. Being able to see all the houses you’re going to along with your own location is so much easier than trying to follow a paper list of addresses (which I’d end up finding on my phone’s map anyway!) My only complaints are that results imputed from paper packets don’t appear on the app, and that sometimes the gps will show the icon for the address at a completely different location from where it actually is (I was walking “park ave.” and it showed some of the houses as being across the city on “park st.” and I didn’t realize the mistake until I had already driven across the city to get the rogue houses -_-). Still, better than paper!