Need to figure out how to get to that bar? There's an app for that.
Want to update your status about your caffeine-fueled study session? There's one for that, too.
There's even an app for the UF service that can take you around campus at night, but most students aren't using it.
About 13 percent of students who called the Student Nighttime Auxiliary Patrol for nighttime rides on campus used the service's web-based system.
SNAP is staffed by students and supervised by the University Police Department.
The system, which was established during the summer, lets students request rides from smartphones and computers.
Students can also download an Android application that links them to the website. The Android app store showed that the app had been downloaded between 100 and 500 times.
In July, UPD also started using an automated call-in system to handle requests, said SNAP Coordinator and UPD Officer Gregory Castronover. Students can choose to speak to a person after an initial automated greeting.
Eighteen-year-old history freshman Sarah Parker said she uses SNAP a few times a week. One of her friends has the mobile app, she said, so she asks her friend to use the app to request a ride because it's easier than calling.
Requesting SNAP by phone can take about a minute, Castronover said, but an online request can be placed in five to ten seconds.
The app is only available for Android phones, but he said an Apple app is in the works.
In the fall, SNAP processed about 29,000 requests for 47,500 rides. About 3,500 requests were made through the web-based system.
SNAP users can log in with their GatorLink information and track the SNAP van as they wait for it to arrive.
If a van has to wait for a person or group, the driver calls dispatchers and then the online system calls the person who made the request, he said.
Passengers then have two minutes to come out to the van, he said, which should cut down on delays.
Parker experienced this when she and her friends were unable to make it to the van in two minutes. The group ended up walking home.
"It's one of those things that you have to time right," she said.
To download the app, those with Android phones can scan the QR code at police.ufl.edu or search for "UFL SNAP" at market.android.com.
Students can also request SNAP by calling 352-392-SNAP or visiting snap.ufl.edu. The service is available every night during the fall and spring semesters from 6:30 p.m. to 3 a.m.
