BUCKLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. -- Remember the time when your math teacher said you would never have a calculator handy all the time? We had to learn how to solve problems for ourselves. Fast-forward to now: We still learn the basics, but now we have access to so many tools to expediently acquire the answer. The most common being our mobile devices.
The Air Force now has an enterprise-wide mobile app designed to provide Airmen with streamlined access to information they need for their lives and careers.
Members assigned to Buckley Air Force Base, Colorado, can add the 460th Space Wing as a “Favorite” to receive access to local content within the Air Force Connect app. To access the Favorites portal, Airmen tap the icon at the bottom right-hand corner of the app, where they’ll be presented with a list of all available units. Once added, users can swipe left and right from the home screen to access their saved local content.
The app is designed to offer Air Force organizations at all levels a way to deliver timely and relevant information to Airmen, their families and members of the local community. The app is now available in the Apple App Store and Google Play.
Each Favorite is a full-featured mobile app, or sub-app, that resides entirely within the Air Force Connect platform. This consolidation allows Airmen to download one app, regardless of where their Air Force job or career takes them, instead of downloading multiple apps for different home-station or TDY locations.
The Air Force Connect app and all sub-apps offer a variety of features designed to engage Airmen and reduce reliance on traditional computers to access career and other personnel resources. Popular features include Directory, Checklists, Groups, Polling, Events, PFT Calculator and Notifications. All features can be customized at the local level to meet specific needs.
Mobile Common Access Card
In addition to the various content available within the primary app and the multiple sub-apps, the Air Force Connect team is currently beta testing mobile CAC functionality. This feature would allow Airmen to pair their device with a mobile CAC reader to access some CAC-secured sites, such as:
• Air Force Portal
• Defense Travel System (DTS)
• eFinance
• Webmail (iOS currently unable to access Air Force webmail)
• Air Force Reserve Command Network (ARCNet)
• Volunteer Reserve System
• Reserve Management Vacancy System
• Virtual Personnel Center (vPC)
Spark Tank authorized funding to purchase several thousand mobile CAC readers. The readers are being distributed across the total force as the app is deployed to individual units. Later this year, the Air Force Connect team will use information from the beta test to make a recommendation to Air Force technology leaders about long-term viability. Complete instructions on the required hardware and how to use this advanced feature are available within the CAC Feature’s “Help” section.
The app provides local organizations with an innovative tool to distribute command information without any added cost or need for contracting. All features can be customized to meet the needs of local audiences, making the app a powerful and flexible tool for delivering information to Airmen.
(Localized and rewritten from Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs article: https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/1810864/new-mobile-app-enables-engages-empowers-airmen/ )