While our free apps available for download from the App/Play store will get you up and running without any initial setup, they are designed to be a "one-size-fits-all" solution that should cover most needs of most users.

This can mean that some of the fields aren't needed for your particular requirements, which can lead to inconsistencies and overhead with surveyors having to remember which bits to fill in and which can be left out.

If you wish, SurvAid can create a bespoke app tailored to your current workflow so the only fields available are the ones relevant to your current processes.

Anything that's in one of the current free apps basically, arranged in an order to suit your workflow. Text fields, sketch components, photographs - simply choose what you'd like in which order and we'll build it for you.

A common approach is to send us an example of the deliverable you want to produce and we'll put the required fields into an app.

If you can imagine it, we can build it. Get in touch and we'll talk 🙂

All our apps have a "+" button on the first page to create a new data record. If you only need to have one form that's the same every time, then tapping on this plus button will take you straight in to the data entry part of the app and information can be input straight away.

However it's possible to have a number of different screens in the app to cover multiple scenarios. In some cases different levels of detail might be required depending on the type of work, so an app might have options alongs the lines of "simple", "intermediate" and "full" when the user taps on the "+" button. "Manhole" and "Inspection Chamber" sections are a common example of this.

Some customers have had a particularly large job come in and decided it was worthwhile getting an additional bespoke section added to their app just for that, to ensure surveyors collected the correct data in the most straightforward way possible.

Most of our users are on Android devices. For distribution on this platform, there are two options:

Both approaches have pros and cons:

Pros of the Play Store is that it's easy for your team members to find and download the app, and any updates can get pushed out and installed automatically if users have that feature turned on.

Cons are that anybody else can see you have your own version of an app out there and download it to see what it’s like. They can’t access any of your data though without a login to your company.

The pros of the sending the link method are that it keeps you off the public store, but the cons are you have to change the security settings on the device to be able to download the app via a link so makes it a bit harder for surveyors to install initially.

It’s also harder to make sure everybody upgrades to the latest version if there are updates which also adds bit of overhead on the admin side.

Currently for iOS the only distribution method would be to put the app on the public App Store but we're working an alternative along the lines of the link method described above.

If a custom app is something you'd like to explore, see this article to learn about the customisation process and next steps or feel free to get in touch.