JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. -- A new mobile app launched by the Air Force aims to provide Airmen necessary information for their lives and careers. The hope is that one day this technology will also allow Airmen to use Common Access Card-secured sites on their phones.
The app, called Air Force Connect, will allow all types of Air Force organizations to deliver information to their airmen, their families and the local community. The app now can be downloaded from Google Play and Apple’s app store.
This full-featured app improves workforce engagement and efficiency by providing an array of robust features that enhance access to resources Team McChord members need to help manage their Air Force life and career. Top features include:
* Base Directory
* Interactive Map
* Base Events
* Physical Fitness Test Calculator
* In-processing Checklists
* Things to Do
USAF Connect is an Air Force-wide mobile app designed to enable, engage and empower Airmen by centralizing and increasing access to the information they need for their careers. In addition to providing headquarters-level information, local units can maintain their own pages, accessible through the USAF Connect Favorites Portal.
The team working on the app is now beta-testing a feature that would allow them to use their CAC with the phone. Airmen would pair their device with a mobile CAC reader, plug in their card, and log on to sites such as the Defense Travel System, the Air Force Portal and Webmail to access encrypted emails.
Other CAC sites that might become available on a mobile phone with this feature include eFinance, Air Force Reserve Command Network, the Volunteer Reserve System, the Reserve Management Vacancy System and the Virtual Personnel Center.
The team intends to study information from the beta test and, later this year, make recommendations to Air Force technology leaders about whether the CAC reader idea should continue in the long term.
Other Air Force organizations, such as Air Force recruiting, the Key Spouse Program and Air Force Services, are looking for ways they can use Air Force Connect. Those programs will also have some features throughout the app.