In the past few years, environmentalism is not showing signs of slowing down. The number of individuals, corporations, and governments that are jumping on a “green train” grows at the fast pace. Cutting emissions, saving energy, buying and investing in clean and renewable energy resources while saving money is becoming an integral part of strategic mindset for everyone.
Governments are offering various incentives to companies for going green in different forms: UK government offers a variety of environmental taxes, reliefs and schemes for businesses, while US government offers incentives the form of tax incentives, such as tax credits and rebates with many others.
Companies don’t only have governmental incentives, but they realized that going green has the potential to save millions of dollars in long-term, reducing the operational cost. Apple claims that in 2015, 93% of their energy came from renewable sources, while GM says it has saved more than $80 million from green-energy purchases and investments since 1993.
Apps for environmentally aware and app loving millennials
However, huge role in the going green has been played by us, customers. By becoming eco-minded, and increasing the demand for environmentally friendly products, companies can postpone going green, but they cannot ignore it. The Nielsen Company study, from 2015, states that millennials are willing to spend more for products that are environmentally friendly.
To make a positive impact on our planet and engage the millennial audience in the ecology movements, organizations started making apps. While the environmental apps cannot be an instant solution, but in a few clicks on our smartphone, everyone can take small steps towards a cleaner environment on a daily basis. Environmental apps can help us to start creating a habit of making more eco-friendly choices and switching to a “green mindset”.
We picked and reviewed 7 environmental apps that say it will help you go green.
How we tested?
We graded three aspects of each application: its design, information quality, and usability. The overall score is a combination of the average of the three scores, and the general look and feel of the app. All environmental apps were tested on both iOS and Android devices (#climate and GoodGuide apps are available only on App Store) with an iPhone 6 and Samsung S5. So let’s roll out the first contender.
#climate
#climate helps you discover and share climate change action with the greatest environmental impact. You can subscribe to different climate interest and receive only those actions from selected organizations and topics.
The app has a solid welcome wizard for users to learn how to use the app, filter topics, organization and set when to receive push notifications (as updated, daily and weekly basis). However, the app’s design is outdated, but even that wouldn’t be a problem if the app wasn’t cluttered with the content, pushing the readability to a very low level.
Using the #climate, we desired to redesign its clumsy navigation app, but also to help them improve the user engagement. At the moment #climate is redirecting users to the smartphone browsers, so they land outside of the app each time they click on a link Instead, app’s child browser would increase time spent in the app and the user engagement. The app can be downloaded from the App Store.
Dropcountr
Dropcountr’s main goal is to help water utilities and people to save the water. The app connects the user directly to his water utility company which can then send messages about water budget, alert you of leaks or send customized drought. The app allows you not just to track water consumption, but also helps to set better water budget and to compare your use with others.
The app is designed to show you the date, charts and comparison tables in a beautiful, easy-to-understand and intuitive way. Navigation through the data is so easy and simple that makes a difficult task, as reducing water consumption, a fun game. The app can be downloaded from the App Store and Google Play.
Ecoviate
Ecoviate is trying to build a community around environmental sustainability and promises to plant one tree for every app download. The app includes environmental friendly tips to help you conserve water and save energy. It also includes elements of gamification with “Eco-Points” and rewards.
The app has some major bugs; after login, the app crashed and we needed to open it again. No matter how much time we tried and waited, both Home tab and Eco-tips cannot be loaded – this is probably due to the fact that the app hasn’t been updated for over a year.
Also, design and UX feel outdated and in combination with poor performance, the app won’t last long on users’ devices – poor UX and technical issues are among top 3 reasons why users delete mobile app. Maybe it’s the right time to rethink app’s UX and design a great digital product. The app can be downloaded from the App Store and Google Play.
GoodGuide
GoodGuide allows you to find safe, healthy, green and socially responsible products based on scientific ratings. Ratings are done by GoodGuide’s scientist who rates both companies and products for their environmental, social and help impact on the scale from 0 – 10.
The app has a nice, simple wizard on the first opening to understand how the app works and how to use it which makes users’ onboarding as simple as it gets. From the design standpoint, the app is very user-friendly; super easy to use and navigate with straightforward and clean navigation,we loved it.
Filtering and sorting products works perfectly, while a number of information you can get for a specific product is huge; from the lists of stores where you can buy product, ingredients, alternative products and much more. The app can be downloaded from the App Store.
Oroeco
Oroeco offers fun and rewarding path for everyone to help solve the climate change and reduce their impact on the planet. You can choose to track your life activities – what you eat, how you live, transportation you use – and see how much climate impact do you have. With friendly competitions, you can compete with other users in a fun way to reduce your impact; you’ll even get a badge!
Oroeco app mastered the onboarding process with step by step tutorial on how to use the app. After you choose your country, you are automatically rewarded with ORO points and introduced to gamification part of the app. To fully use the app, you should complete the general survey (you have the option to fill it later) and from there, magic starts.
Data of your progress and impact is beautifully displayed, app’s navigation is intuitive and users can clearly see how strong was their impact on the environment. If more developers followed the Oroeco and build apps in the same way, app stores would be a better place. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/2/72x72/1f642.png" alt="