Remember when having a mobile app for campus events felt like a nice-to-have? Not anymore.
With Gen Z expecting digital-first everything, and universities juggling more touchpoints than ever, it’s time for higher ed teams to rethink what’s possible with campus apps.

That’s where Guidebook Unlimited comes in.

Instead of paying per event or worrying about download limits, you get one branded app your whole department (and other departments, if you choose) can use.

No more renegotiating contracts, forecasting headaches, or surprise overages.

“With Guidebook, it’s not like we have to quote for 10,000 users… Unlimited removes that fear of scale.” - Christopher Mackey, Mississippi State University

Here are 10 ways higher ed teams can create unforgettable experiences for students and families with Guidebook (plus real-world examples to get inspired).

1. Orientation & Welcome Week

Orientation is one of the most complex, high-touch events that campus teams have to run. And managing schedules, resources, staff, and last-minute changes is hard enough, but doing so with PDFs or printed schedules? Even harder.

That’s why Guidebook customers — like Purdue University — have embraced mobile apps for the convenience they offer, as well as for their ability to elevate the entire orientation experience.

At Purdue, their flagship program, Boiler Gold Rush (BGR), draws over 8,000 incoming students and it’s a strategic, high-impact event that sets expectations for what students can expect.

Held the week before classes begin, BGR spans four days and 50+ themed events per day, all coordinated by more than 700 student leaders. With a program this complex, printed packets were no longer cutting it.

Enter Purdue Guide, their custom-branded app built with Guidebook.

Students select their orientation team in the app and receive a personalized schedule, complete with live updates. The app becomes the single source of truth, from move-in day to the closing day.

With over 600,000 app sessions logged in just one week, Purdue’s results speak for themselves, and the full story is even more impressive!

Read Purdue’s orientation case study.

2. Admitted Student Days

For today’s prospective students, that first impression needs to be seamless, branded, and most importantly, digital-first.

A mobile app checks all of those boxes, while also serving as a convenient hub where guests can check schedules, find their way, and engage with the experience (no more digging through emails or juggling paper flyers).

That’s why schools like Indiana Tech have turned to Guidebook to support admitted student events. They built a mobile app for Admitted Student Day that helped them double yield, reduce costs, and saved staff 375 hours (now, that’s icing on the cake!).

Dive into Indiana Tech’s story to learn more about how they did it.

"When we started we yielded 40%. After implementing Guidebook our yield grew to 82%. We believe Guidebook had a strong impact on that growth.” - Andrea Crilly, Assistant Director of Admissions for Campus Experience, Indiana Tech University

And remember we mentioned branding earlier? Well, one of our higher ed experts — and former admissions professional — Danielle, knows how powerful early touchpoints can be:

“It’s seeing the colors of blue and white and envisioning yourself in that shirt... It’s looking through the schedule and starting to visualize yourself there.”

A mobile app that’s customized down to the exact shade of school colors helps students picture themselves as part of the community, long before classes even begin.

Get more of Danielle’s expert tips and insight on mobile app branding for higher education.

3. Open Houses

Open Houses often welcome hundreds, or thousands, of prospective students and their families at any given time. Coordinating sessions, navigating campus, and managing crowds can quickly become a logistical challenge.

This is where a campus app can make a real difference for both students and staff, as demonstrated by the University of Manchester.

Faced with the challenge of printing 40,000 paper programs for each event — and dealing with the waste and rigidity that comes with them — the university decided to adopt a mobile-first strategy. 

With a custom app, guests had access to real-time updates, interactive campus maps, and the ability to customize their schedules. In addition, school staff was able to manage last minute changes without having the usual reprint panic.

The end result? Over 38,000 app downloads and zero printed programs required.

Explore University of Manchester’s case study.

Real Example: University of Manchester used their app for Open Days to help visitors explore independently and gather key info.
Read the case study

4. Parent & Family Weekends

Parent and family weekends are key opportunities to showcase the spirit of your campus and make families/students feel like locals, not tourists).

A branded mobile app helps you roll out the red carpet with access to:

• curated schedules.
• interactive maps.
• tips on where to eat, park, or take great photos.

Plus, going digital reduces the need for printed programs, which not only saves time and money, but also supports sustainability goals that incoming students increasingly care about.

Whether you're hosting one big weekend or several regional family events throughout the year, our Unlimited plan makes it easy to build and manage guides for all your events, without worrying about added costs.

5. Alumni Events & Reunions

Your alumni expect an experience that feels as polished and personal as the one they had as students. — and they don’t want to hunt across webpages or outdated emails to get it.

Whether you're organizing a milestone reunion, regional meetup, career networking mixer, or a homecoming tailgate, a mobile app serves as a centralized, branded hub, where you can share:

• Schedules.
• venue details.
• Donor spotlights.
• Last-minute updates and more.

Using an app for alumni events is also a great way to segment content by class year or event type, send push notifications, and create a more modern, connected experience that reflects the community you’ve built.

6. Campus Tours

Prospective students expect to engage with your campus on their own terms, whether they’re attending an official visit or just swinging by on a quiet weekend.

A self-guided mobile tour makes that possible.

With a branded app, you can give families a personalized, on-demand experience that goes far beyond static paper maps. Add in rich visuals, student-recorded audio, or themed stops, and you’ve got a memorable, scalable way to showcase campus life.

Just ask the University of Oregon. Their admissions team replaced printed materials with a mobile tour that visitors could access anytime. By layering in real student voices and customizing the look and feel, they created an experience that felt authentic, personal and aligned with their brand.

Watch our webinar with the University of Oregon for insights on reaching more students with mobile campus tours.

Bonus tip: You don’t have to stop at just one campus tour. As shared in this episode of Guidebook Greenroom, some schools create multiple guided tours to highlight different facets of campus life (academic programs, athletics, arts, favorite student hangouts and more). You’re really only limited by your creativity!

“With Guidebook, we use an audio tour guide to help prospective students navigate campus, learn more about university offerings, and feel part of the campus community - even if they’re unable to visit in person.” - Steven Kelly, The University of Calgary

7. Student Leader Training

Before the big events happen, someone has to lead them. And getting student leaders (such as RAs, OLs, or orientation mentors) ready to step into those roles takes thoughtful preparation.

At Iowa State, for example, the New Student Programs team uses a mobile app to onboard hundreds of student leaders ahead of the prospective student event, Destination Iowa State.

Rather than handing out printed packets or relying on static slide decks, they deliver dynamic schedules, contact info, resources, and reminders all in one place.

They’ve even reimagined traditional training sessions by embedding interactive elements—like a scavenger-hunt-style resource fair—to reinforce key concepts in a more engaging way. This mobile-first approach gives them the flexibility to evolve content over time, support a variety of learning styles, and even layer in what they call “sneaky teacher goals” (the unspoken takeaways they hope students absorb on their leadership journey).

Learn more about student leadership training from Iowa State’s team.

“We rely on Guidebook to ensure our Residential Life student staff are fully prepared for their roles. The app includes comprehensive training schedules, contact information for the entire team, departmental procedures, and quick reference details for campus resources and programming tools.” - Breyan Tornifolio, Director of Residential Life, The University of Notre Dame

8. Late-Night & Campus Life Programming

Movie nights, trivia contests, student org fairs. These smaller, but frequent, events are where campus life really comes alive and they deserve to shine as much as larger events.

That’s why schools like King’s College London have created always-on, mobile-first hubs for campus engagement. During Welcome Week alone, King’s saw over half a million sessions as students used their Guidebook-powered app to browse events, build personalized schedules, and receive live updates.

Not only did having a centralized hub improve communication, it also:

• reduced administrative strain.
• helped staff support students more effectively.
• gave students a more connected,and less overwhelming, introduction to campus life.

Read more about how King’s College campus app strategy

9. Crisis or Weather Communications

Let’s be real: sometimes things don’t go as planned. Whether it’s a sudden winter blizzard, a tech failure, or an unexpected venue change, you need a way to communicate instantly.

Push notifications via a mobile app give you a direct line to attendees, no matter where they are. You can notify them if a keynote is delayed, parking lots are full, or sessions have moved indoors. No more scrambling to print signs or hoping they check their email in time.

It’s fast, flexible, and exactly what your team needs when things go sideways.

10. Internal Staff Guides

The guest experience runs on a well-oiled machine behind the scenes, and that machine needs direction, too.

Internal staff guides give your team one place to access everything: schedules, room assignments, contact details, contingency plans, and more. You can even restrict access, so only staff and volunteers see what they need.

It’s especially useful when you're coordinating across departments, or campuses. A shared source of truth means fewer walkie-talkie misfires and more confident, prepared teams.

Make the Most of Your App Investment

The truth is, your department is already doing the hard work of planning, promoting, and executing impactful events. But without the right tools, you’re likely doing it the hard way i.e. juggling PDFs, scrambling with last-minute updates,  and possibly paying too much for single-use tools.

With Guidebook Unlimited, you can:

• Build as many guides as you need
• Customize branding to match your department or school
• Avoid surprise fees or download caps
• Streamline your event workflows all year long
• Engage students at every stage, from their first campus visit to their 10th reunion

“We’re an R1 university and growth is always the goal. Unlimited lets us keep growing without worrying about hitting a ceiling.” - Christopher Mackey, Mississippi State University

Learn more about Unlimited for Higher Ed institutions.

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