App Overview

The free Bloomberg Connects mobile app delivers your digital guide to your visitors. It also houses all 500+ guides that are part of our community, so app users can easily discover new organizations nearby and around the world.

This article provides a high-level overview of the app so you can see how the changes you make in the CMS impact your guide.

For an introduction to the CMS, see CMS Overview.

Tour of the App

The Bloomberg Connects app is the gateway to your organization's guide and to the comprehensive portfolio of guides to all partnering organizations. This section briefly describes how to find your way around the app.

Explore Screen

The Explore screen is the first screen that appears when someone opens the app. There are several ways to find a guide to an organization that interests you.

1. Search: Search by name or location to pull up relevant organizations. Talk to your relationship manager if there are any other names or keywords that your audience will use to look for your organization.
2. Filter: During your onboarding process, your relationship manager will discuss which categories apply to your organization (e.g., Historic Homes & Sites, Botanic Gardens, Visual Arts). App users can select a filter to see organizations with content that interests them.
3. Map: Switch from the list of organizations to a world map. App users can use the map to visualize the location of organizations nearby or in a city they plan to visit. Though an organization needs to have a physical address to appear on the map, all organizations, even those with digital-only experiences, appear in the list.
4. Organization Card: Tap the card to read more about an organization and launch the guide. For more, see Start Guide Screen.

Settings Menu

The Settings menu, accessible via the cog wheel icon at the top of the Explore screen, is available for all app users. This is where people can set their preferences for things like notifications and mobile data usage.

There are two important features that you, as a cultural partner, should be aware of while building and maintaining your guide.

1. Legal and More > Internal Mode: This hidden pathway is only applicable to cultural partners. Logging into the app via internal mode lets you preview your draft content before it's live, so you can make sure that your changes always look how you expect. For more, see Reviewing Draft Content in the App.
2. App Version: You can see which version of the app you have at the bottom of the Settings page. If you ever encounter a bug or unexpected behavior in the app, make sure to include the version number in your communications with the Bloomberg Connects team. We recommend that you enable auto-updates so you always have the latest version of the app on your device. Read more about managing updates for iOS here and Android here.

Start Guide Screen

When a visitor taps your organization's name from the Explore screen, they see your Start Guide screen, which provides introductory info to help someone learn about your organization and plan a visit. Once your guide is open, the same descriptive content is available via the Info tab.

1. Organization Image: The organization image is your first opportunity to make an impression on your guide’s users. It appears in several places, including in the list of guides on the Explore screen and your Start Guide screen. For more, see Asset Guidelines > Organization Image.
2. Name: Your organization's official, formal name. For more, see Organization Information.
3. Language Switcher: By default, app users see guides in the default language set by their device, but they can choose to see content in another language. For more, see Multilingual Content > Choosing a Language in the App.
4. Description: Your organization's brief "elevator pitch." For more, see Adding Your Organization's Description.
5. Location and Hours: Your physical address and visiting hours, if applicable. For more, see Updating Your Location and Hours.
6. Start Guide Button: Tap to launch the guide.

Guide Navigation

All guides have the same intuitive, tab-based navigation structure.

1. Home: Your guide's scrollable landing page or table of contents. Your home page is where you'll want to feature your most important or must-see information. For more on customizing your home page, see Home Screen.
2. Lookup: A way to connect your physical space with your digital guide, the Lookup tab lets visitors enter a lookup number or scan a lookup QR code to jump directly to guide content that supports what they see on site. For more, see Lookup Numbers and QR Codes.
3. Map: A high-level view of your entire physical space, with pins that represent key objects and points of interest. Take care not to crowd the main map with too many pins and remember that visitors can always tap the Show on Map button to find a specific piece of content. For more, see Introduction to Maps.
4. Info: A persistent place for visitors to find information about your organization, like your brief description, location, and hours. For more, see Updating Your Location and Hours.

App Accessibility

The Bloomberg Connects app has been designed to support access to arts and culture for as many people as possible.

For complete details on accessibility features and support for assistive technologies, see An App for All Abilities.

Multilingual App Experience

Multilingual content helps you reach a wider audience. From the Start Guide screen, visitors can access your guide in their preferred language.

For more on supporting multilingual content in your guide via human translations, automated Google Translations, or a combination of the two, see Multilingual Content.

App Size and Compatibility

Bloomberg Connects is compatible with most newer devices.

Devices must be running iOS 13.6 and above (iPhones) or Android 6 and above (Android 13 and above is recommended). If you have a question about compatibility with a specific device, contact your relationship manager to discuss.

While the Bloomberg Connects app itself is quite small (around 15-25 MB), download size of individual guides can vary based on the amount of content and the size of the media files. Guides are only downloaded onto a visitor’s phone if they are on Wi-Fi. All downloaded guides are deleted from the visitor’s phone after one week to preserve space.