As students of KU Leuven, we've experienced firsthand the frustration of booking seats with the current KURT system. In response, we set out to create a mobile app that would streamline the process and make it more user-friendly. Our journey began in early summer 2024, when we publicly launched Kurtosis, a simple web page that allowed users to see the availability of all seats in any library with just one click.

The response was overwhelming. The post about Kurtosis on Reddit became one of the top-10 upvoted posts of all time on r/KULeuven. Hundreds of students used the app during summer blok, and it continues to serve the student community to this day. We realized that we weren't alone in our frustration with the official KURT interface, and we put out a survey on the Kurtosis page to gather feedback.

Meet The App

Driven by the support from students, we were motivated to build a full mobile app for KURT that would be faster, more efficient, and built around student feedback. Our team of three developers started by researching how students interact with library spaces and designing an interface around it. Over five months since June 2024, we developed a mobile app for iOS and Android from scratch.

Our goal wasn't just to build a tool that allows students to book seats from a list; instead, we aimed to create an experience that would make users feel supported, efficient, and comfortable. We defined "efficiency and empathy" as our guiding principles, considering what we wanted the user to feel and how we could help them during stressful times.

Features

Our mobile app features several innovative tools designed to enhance the study experience:

  • Isometric maps: Pick yourself a seat visually, see where exactly your bookings are on the map, not just the seat numbers. Inspired by The Sims.
  • 4x faster performance: On average, the app is 4 times faster than the KURT web app, including search, booking, and checking in.
  • Smart search (Auto): It works instantly, prioritizes your favorites, and even can automatically find available seat sequences when the library is full.
  • Face ID authentication: Booking and checking in with Face ID or other built-in biometric system. The app uses the same phone hardware security features as banking apps, making it more secure than the browser.

Overview

Our mobile app was specifically engineered to integrate with existing KURT infrastructure, requiring no maintenance from the university while consuming fewer server resources than the current KURT system. We're proud of our creation and believe it would greatly benefit the student community.

Unfortunately, despite an initial demo to the KURT team and numerous emails and presentations, we received an unexpected rejection without actionable feedback. That's why we're sharing this information to provide students with transparency regarding the app's non-launch and to spark a broader discussion about the evaluation process for student initiatives.

The current Kurtosis web app will stop working soon when KURTv2 is disabled. If you believe this app would benefit the student community, here's how you can help.