New CommCare Mobile Look Now Live

Our engineering team is excited to announce today the official release of the new CommCare look, which was released in beta in September. CommCare apps now have a more modern, colorful, and engaging look that is more consistent with other Android applications.

Will my app automatically update to the new style?

All new downloads of CommCare on the Google Play Store will use the new style. For existing installations of CommCare, the styling will not update automatically; users will need to to navigate to CommCare on the play store on each device and manually accept the update from 2.23 to 2.24.

If you want to continue using the old styling on CommCare 2.23, you will have to manually install the old version of CommCare onto your device – directions can be found here. However, you will not be able to take advantage of bug fixes and new features until you accept the upgrade to 2.24, which is why we recommend making the switch.

Has the User Interface changed functionally other than look and feel?

For ease of adoption, the new style is largely consistent with the old style’s workflows and UI interactions. There are a few changes in the new styling that represent differences in how the user will interact with the mobile app.

• Updated Landing Screen: The new home screen uses a new layout that works more reliably on different screen sizes. All of the content is the same, but the page now scrolls if needed.
• Case List Search: On newer Android devices (3.0+) the search functionality has been moved to the top of the screen to be more consistent with other Android workflows. On Android 2.X devices, the search functionality should remain the same.
• Form Navigation:
  • During form entry, CommCare now displays a Navigation Bar at the top of the screen. The bar provides a back and a next button that can be used to navigate between pages, in addition to swiping.
  • The user’s progress through the form is included on this bar, which also provides an indication of when the form is complete.
  • With the new styling update the user will not see the previously included “start” and “end” screens. Instead, the back and next buttons change to indicate that they are in that position.
• Some New Translations may be Needed: CommCare 2.24 has rolled out a list of new keys that will be in need of translation – a detailed list can be found here.

We know that some users are already used to seeing an end-of-form screen and may be confused by the lack of an indication the form will end. We encourage projects to include a required question that the user must check off to indicate form completion if that is essential to your users flow.

If you have questions about this, please email commcare-support@dimagi.com.

– The CommCare team