The World Youth Day Foundation launched the official mobile application of the event, “Lisboa 2023”, made available by MEO, as a technological partner and founder of the World Youth Day Lisbon 2023, and developed by Bliss Applications.
The App intended to support the orientation and logistics of the participants in the meeting, presenting multi-language content: the Agenda, with the schedule of the week planned for the Central Events, Youth Festival, Alegria City, and Rise UP Meetings in real time; and the Map, which allows to interactively locate the different events and view the venues and support services.
Whether in the Agenda or on the Map, the pilgrim could search events by category, language, time, keyword (for example, speaker), or even according to the current location of the user; the Up2Pray provides all the spiritual contents of the journey, in particular the readings and songs of all the Central Events, as well as the hymn and the official prayer of WYD Lisbon 2023.
The application also included, with the support of Novo Verde/ERP Portugal, a Carbon Footprint Calculator, where the pilgrims enrolled could, through a questionnaire, understand the impact of their participation in WYD Lisbon 2023 at the level of carbon footprint. Also in the functionality of the Map, information was made available on restaurants (including restaurants adhering to the restaurant network) and the location of drinking fountains and bathrooms available throughout the city, health posts, and police stations, among other services.
In addition to assisting in the orientation of pilgrims about everything that was happening throughout the week, the App allowed the activation of notifications, for reminders and last-minute warnings, and access to useful and emergency contacts.
The organization informed that all those registered for WYD Lisbon 2023, such as pilgrims, volunteers, clergy, or media, should register in the “Lisbon 2023” application using the Credential QRcode, to have access to their user profile, with diverse information, such as the chosen food package (including the digital voucher), the sector in which they are allocated in Campo da Graça, in Parque Tejo, the location where the Rise Up Meeting will take place, the carbon footprint calculator, the group leader’s contact (if applicable) or the digital credential.
“With the commitment and dedication of MEO and Bliss Applications, it was possible to develop a tool that focused on freeing the pilgrim to live the Journey 100% and reinforcing the organization’s commitment to promoting a more sustainable international meeting. Therefore, the APP is intended to be an easily accessible tool for all pilgrims to consult in real-time all the content and information useful for their day-to-day journey”, says Madalena Mexia, responsible for the Lisboa 2023 App.
In the same statement, Pedro Varela, Commercial Manager at Bliss Applications, recognizes that this was an ambitious and challenging project to work on: “Developing from scratch the application that accompanied all the pilgrims and those involved in World Youth Day is both a privilege and a huge responsibility, since, through our knowledge in the areas of design and technology, we intend to offer a unique, memorable and, above all, relevant experience to everyone present at this great event”.
Available free of charge on Android and iOS systems, the “Lisbon 2023” application has content in the five official World Youth Day Lisbon 2023 languages (Portuguese, English, French, Spanish, and Italian) and is also accessible offline, allowing access to almost all content even in situations of limited internet access.
The official mobile application of the global meeting with the Pope can be found in the Apple (Apple Store) and Google (Google Play) stores, searching for “Lisbon 2023”. You can also take a sneak peek of the project development here.
