{
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    "title" : "My TSA Mobile App |Digital.gov",
    "description": "My TSA Mobile App",
    "home_page_url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/","feed_url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2012/02/22/my-tsa-mobile-app/index.json","item" : [
    {"title" :"My TSA Mobile App","summary" : "Mobile Gov Experiences are agency stories about creating anytime, anywhere, any device government services and info. This entry is a story shared by the Transportation Security Administration about their MY TSA mobile app and website.","date" : "2012-02-22T12:28:21-04:00","date_modified" : "2025-01-27T19:42:55-05:00","topics" : {
        
            "mobile" : "Mobile"
            },"branch" : "bc-archive-content-3",
      "filename" :"2012-02-22-my-tsa-mobile-app.md",
      
      "filepath" :"news/2012/02/2012-02-22-my-tsa-mobile-app.md",
      "filepathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/blob/bc-archive-content-3/content/news/2012/02/2012-02-22-my-tsa-mobile-app.md",
      "editpathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/edit/bc-archive-content-3/content/news/2012/02/2012-02-22-my-tsa-mobile-app.md","slug" : "my-tsa-mobile-app","url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2012/02/22/my-tsa-mobile-app/","content" :"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eMobile Gov Experiences are agency stories about creating anytime, anywhere, any device government services and info. This entry is a story shared by the Transportation Security Administration.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe \u003ca href=\"http://apps.usa.gov/tsa-app/\"\u003eMY TSA mobile app and website\u003c/a\u003e developed by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is designed to help passengers better prepare for security so they can get through TSA airport security checkpoints more efficiently. The app has multiple functions to help travelers and uses information from TSA, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), NOAA and users.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"why-we-did-it\"\u003eWhy We Did It\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"image image-right image-right-legacy\"\u003e\n  \u003cimg\n    src=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/digitalgov/_legacy-img/2013/12/MyTSAmobile-app.jpg\"\n    alt=\"My TSA mobile app home screen\"/\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTSA gets hundreds of thousands of calls and emails each year, mainly from people asking about security procedures, ID requirements or if an item is permitted on a plane. Countless others forgo asking TSA or don’t know where to go for help, and just show up at the airport unprepared. The introduction of an app would provide the public with 24/7 access to the most frequently requested information—anywhere, anytime. Better preparing passengers to go through security with less stress is part of TSA’s overall strategy to calm security checkpoints and enable TSA officers to focus on real threats.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"what-we-did\"\u003eWhat We Did\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA project team was formed that included representatives from IT, legal, outreach, security operations and Deputy Administrator’s offices. Members of the team worked on issues including app content and development, terms of use, legal requirements, IT security requirements, and privacy issues.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs soon as we had a good version of the app to demo, we showed it to TSA’s Senior Leadership Team for their review and approval. As an early adopter of mobile apps, our biggest hurdle was getting the iPhone version of the app through legal clearance because of the Terms of Service agreements at the time. With help from GSA and other agencies, we were able to get over the legal hurdles and get the iPhone version into the iTunes store.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTSA rolled out “MyTSA” both as a native iPhone app and as mobile site/app using TSA data as well as data from other agencies. The app has multiple functions to inform passengers, including:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe “Airport Status” function provides general airport conditions and delays for U.S. airports, courtesy of the Federal Aviation Administration. The iPhone version accesses GPS to direct users to the nearest airport, or they can select a specific airport.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe “Can I Bring” tool was designed to answer the most commonly asked questions to TSA’s Contact Center about items passengers want to bring onto a plane. These questions make up about 70% of the calls and emails to the Contact Center, so by pushing this information out and making it available 24/7, the goal is to reduce the time and energy for people to get the information they need, and save TSA resources. Items not in the database can be submitted by travelers for consideration.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe “Guide” includes information on ID requirements; tips for members of the military and travelers with special needs and/or children; rules for liquids, gels and aerosols; packing and wardrobe tips for speeding through security; and information on traveling with food and gifts.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWait time information is crowd-sourced and provided by travelers in real time.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"how-it-worked\"\u003eHow It Worked\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe MyTSA app directly fits into TSA’s security strategy, which helped secure approvals from TSA leadership. It improves customer service to an increasingly mobile society and in the long run, can lead to cost savings for TSA through less need to call or email the TSA Contact Center.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTSA was one of the first apps featured in the USA.gov Mobile Apps Gallery in 2010. As of December 15, TSA had approximately 235,000 unique downloads from the iTunes App Store for the MyTSA application. On average, the mobile web version gets between 1,000 and 2,500 new downloads per week.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCitizen participation in the app has been very positive. The database of items in the “Can I Bring” database numbered approximately 800 at the time of launch, and due to submissions from users, there are now 3,300 items in the database, a 400% increase.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"what-we-learned\"\u003eWhat We Learned\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCommon gov-wide terms of service speed time to market.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMobile development expertise is critical to ensure a good user experience with apps. Solutions must recognize the limits and capacities of the target devices which are not small websites.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePromotions are critical to adoption. The launch of the app gallery on \u003ca href=\"http://apps.usa.gov/\"\u003eapps.usa.gov\u003c/a\u003e helped promote the app. Other marketing efforts have included signage in airports, periodic promotions of the app on TSA’s blog (\u003ca href=\"http://blog.tsa.gov/\"\u003ehttp://blog.tsa.gov\u003c/a\u003e), and media outreach.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n"}
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}