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Harlingen unveils redesigned city mobile app with citizen request tracking and notifications
Summary
City staff demonstrated a new Harlingen mobile app that adds sign‑in, request tracking, push notifications, quick links and a points system; staff reported fewer than 100 downloads for the new app and asked commissioners to help promote adoption.
City staff on July 1 presented a redesigned Harlingen mobile application that adds account sign‑in, request tracking, push notifications and quick links to city services, and includes a points system to encourage resident engagement.
"The purpose of city, city app is to, enhance communication between the city and its residents and by actively engaging the community and local events," said Sergio Mojica, a city staff member who led the presentation. Mojica demonstrated features that allow users to sign in with social accounts, submit and track service requests, receive notifications when requests are in progress or completed, and view quick links for parks and recreation, the animal shelter, building permits and other city pages. A short promotional video produced by the media department was shown during the presentation.
Mojica said the new app supports account recovery, stores a user request history, and will enable mass notifications to registered users. He described a points system tied to citizen requests — "for each request, you get 10 points" — and said the city plans incentives once users accumulate points.
On usage, Mojica told commissioners that the new app has fewer than 100 downloads to date but that the combined total across the old and new apps is more than 5,000 downloads and roughly 350 registered users on the new platform. He said the older app (launched in 2018) remains available and staff plans publicity campaigns, QR codes at town halls and City TV messaging to encourage migration to the new version.
Commissioners praised the app’s functionality and urged more outreach. Commissioner Perez said the app would solve many phone‑based service calls if more residents used it. The commission asked staff to coordinate QR codes for town‑hall events and to work with the media department to publish periodic notices and tutorials to increase adoption.
City staff also noted the online building‑permit system launched in August of the prior year: since that launch, staff reported 164 registered accounts and more than 2,156 logins through May of the current year. Mojica said staff will add more quick links over time, including reservations for city building rentals.
