Companion Native is the official mobile app for EnglishConnect 3 (EC3), PathwayConnect (PC), and Certificates & Degrees (C&D) students. Built for low-bandwidth environments with select offline workflows, it helps learners complete key tasks and get timely support in one place. The app will be available on the App Store and Google Play upon public release; it is currently in beta with limited access for testers. The current build size is 30.8 MB (Android) and 40.8 MB (iOS). Unlike the browser‑based Companion PWA, the Native app delivers the full feature set, including planning, registration, multilingual screens, and push notifications—even when the user is offline.

The main purpose of Companion Native is to provide a centralized, mobile‑first solution that empowers students in EnglishConnect 3, PathwayConnect, and Certificate & Degree programs to manage their academic progress, access institutional services, and receive timely support in a seamless and accessible environment. Designed specifically for low‑bandwidth conditions and featuring offline capabilities, the app seeks to remove technological barriers faced by students in underserved regions. The expected outcomes include increased student autonomy and engagement through planning and registration tools, improved access to scholarships and employment opportunities, and streamlined academic services such as transcript requests and enrollment verifications. By integrating intelligent assistance via the Companion Assistant, enabling multilingual access, and working in concert with the browser‑based Companion PWA, Companion Native aims to enhance the overall student experience and contribute to more equitable educational outcomes on a global scale. 

Companion Native is a fully integrated mobile app built for low-bandwidth use with select offline workflows. After a secure sign-in, students land on a single dashboard to track progress, manage Student Services (e.g., Official Transcript, Enrollment Verification, Academic Exception, Graduation Application), explore Jobs, apply for scholarships, and get real-time help from the Companion Assistant.

To keep information accurate, Companion regularly refreshes data from central university systems (e.g., degree audits, enrollment status, service requests) and presents it in a clear, student-friendly view. Push notifications highlight important events—such as ticket updates, job matches, or registration milestones—and deep-link into the relevant screen.

Where connectivity is limited, students can start and save many forms and tasks offline. Entries are stored locally and auto-submitted when a connection returns, so progress isn’t blocked by intermittent service. Actions that require live validation—for example, final course registration or real-time chat—do require internet. The Companion Assistant also requires connectivity to provide authoritative answers.

This hybrid model keeps students productive in low-reliability environments while giving them the full power of Companion whenever a stable connection is available.

The Companion Assistant provides answers based strictly on official BYU-Pathway Worldwide knowledge articles and the information provided on the BYU-Pathway Worldwide official site, often referred to as Knowledge Articles. These articles contain verified policies, instructions, definitions, and process details for programs, admissions, endorsements, registration, and other student services. Because the Assistant is designed to give policy-accurate information, it will never invent or assume details that are not included in its approved knowledge base.

When students ask a question, the Companion Assistant responds by:

• Clarifying, defining, or paraphrasing the student’s question to ensure understanding before answering.

• Explaining processes in simple, student-friendly language, often summarizing long or complex policies into clear, actionable steps.

• Providing structured guidance when needed, including numbered lists or step-by-step instructions for completing tasks (for example: how to complete an endorsement, how to resolve a hold, or where to find specific information in the Student Portal).

• Including official sources at the end of every response, with direct links to the relevant BYU-Pathway or Church websites so students can verify or read more if needed.

• Offering additional context when students follow up with questions like “I don’t understand”, the Assistant re-explains with new wording, rather than repeating the previous answer verbatim.

• Linking to authoritative policies whenever a response involves admissions, endorsements, the Honor Code, ecclesiastical requirements, or academic regulations, etc.

Because the Assistant relies exclusively on the official knowledge base:

• If a question falls outside the scope of BYU-Pathway topics, the Assistant will state that it is not enabled to answer that type of question.

• If the question is within the correct context (e.g., registration, holds, endorsements, etc.) but the information is not available in the articles, it will indicate that it does not have information on that topic. In these cases, the correct approach is to update the article, rather than expect the Assistant to generate new content.

Overall, the Companion Assistant provides reliable, consistent, and policy-aligned answers. It helps students understand requirements, navigate their next steps, resolve issues, and find accurate information, all within the Companion app, while ensuring that all guidance reflects the official standards and processes of BYU-Pathway Worldwide.

• Companion Assistant
  An AI-powered help center connected to official BYU-Pathway knowledge articles and websites. Students can ask questions, get step-by-step guidance, and navigate to the right place in the app. The assistant provides policy-accurate answers and links to authoritative pages for deeper reading. (Requires internet.)

• Student Services
  Centralized access to critical requests such as official transcripts, enrollment verification, academic exceptions, and graduation applications. Forms are streamlined and show what information is needed, expected processing times, and status updates. Many forms can be started offline and will auto-submit when the device reconnects, provided no real-time validation is required.

• Support Tickets
  Lets students open, track, and update support cases directly from the app. They can describe the issue, attach context, and see live status changes as the case moves through resolution. Push notifications alert them when support replies or closes a ticket. Drafts can be saved offline and sent automatically once online.

• Jobs (Profile & Opportunities)
  Students create a Job Profile (a concise digital résumé) and are shown opportunities that match their background and skills. They can apply from the app, see application status, and receive alerts for new postings that fit their profile. It can also be completed offline and will submit when internet is connected 

• HJG Scholarship Form
  A dedicated flow to complete and submit the Heber J. Grant (HJG) Scholarship application. The app guides students through the required fields, lets them save progress, and confirms submission. Where possible, non-live steps can be completed offline and synced later.

• Network Integration
  Displays gathering information, meeting links, and mentor contact details in one place. Quick actions let students message mentors via WhatsApp or send email without hunting for addresses or links.

• Push Notifications
  Timely alerts about ticket updates, registration milestones, scholarship reminders, job matches, known issues, and other essentials. Notifications can deep-link into the relevant screen to reduce clicks. (Delivery requires connectivity, even if the app is closed.)

• Known Issues & Outages
  A transparent log that flags service interruptions or system problems that could affect students. Each item explains what’s impacted, workarounds when available, and resolution updates, reducing confusion and duplicate support requests.

• Low-Bandwidth & Select Offline
  The app is engineered for constrained connectivity: lightweight, text-first payloads, careful use of background sync, and select offline workflows so students can keep moving when the internet drops. Once connected, the app syncs changes and refreshes records on a regular cadence from university systems. (The Companion Assistant and any action needing real-time validation always require internet.)

• Data Footprint (Current Builds)
  Approx. 30.8 MB on Android and 40.8 MB on iOS, optimized for entry-level devices. This helps students in regions with limited storage and bandwidth.

• Planning & Registration
  A guided experience that interprets each student’s degree audit to make progress clear and actionable. The design surfaces certificate-related courses first to encourage timely certificate completion, while electives and general education options remain available further down the list. Built-in checks help verify prerequisites, course availability, and degree requirements so students register with confidence. (Final registration and any real-time checks require internet.)

• Pay Tuition
  Students view their outstanding balance and complete payments directly in Companion Native. It uses the existing Anthology Student (SIS) payment workflow—the app serves as a secure front end while the current backend and processor handle card/bank details (no credentials are stored in the app). After payment, students see an on-screen confirmation, and the transaction is recorded in the SIS. 

• Former Student Experience
  A tailored entry point for alumni and former students who still need services. They’ll be able to escalate cases, chat with the Companion Assistant, and request Official Transcripts—without access barriers that typically apply to current-student portals.

• EC3/PC Gathering Selection
  Students will be able to select a day and time for gatherings directly through the Academic Center portion of the app. This integrates scheduling with their academic plan to reduce friction and missed sessions.

• Two-Way Messaging
  Secure, in-app messaging between students and mentors to resolve questions quickly, share links, and stay aligned on next steps. Conversations are designed to sync with the mentor ecosystem so support remains coordinated. Currently, we are working on app permissions

• Offline Expansion (Available,  WIP, Planned)
  Extends offline capability to additional forms and tasks that don’t require live verification, so students can complete more steps without stable connectivity. The app handles queueing and safe submission once a connection returns, and it will surface clear error handling if something changes while offline. Although currently, the offline expansion is available to some users, it will continue to be expanded as we move forward.

• Job Interview Preparation Assistant (On Hold)
  Designed to help learners build and refine their interview skills by using AI-powered voice interaction to evaluate the quality of answers, professional presence, and communication skills during simulated job interviews. 

• Multilanguage Support (WIP - Portuguese version is available)
  A staged rollout of localized screens and helper text, beginning with Portuguese, followed by Spanish and French. The goal is a consistent, fully navigable experience in the student’s preferred language, reducing help needs and improving task completion globally.

• New Student Application (WIP)
  A complete end-to-end application inside Companion so applicants can apply, track status, and receive decision notifications without leaving the app. Gathering selection will be included, and auto-registration will be enabled for EC3 and PC applicants upon acceptance, shortening the time from “admitted” to “enrolled.”

• Student Badge

Student Badge is a secure digital student ID available in Companion. It allows students to generate and carry their official BYU-Pathway student identification directly on their phone, making it easier to verify their student status when needed. The feature includes a live photo capture process, a QR code for identity verification, and biometric or device-authentication protection for added security. It is also designed to support access to GEC locations and other student benefits as the feature continues to expand. 

One of Companion Native’s core design principles is to respect student autonomy while ensuring steady progress toward graduation. In the initial Registration view, certificate-related courses surface first to encourage timely certificate completion, while electives and general education options remain available lower in the list. Behind the scenes, Companion applies academic planning rules to verify prerequisites, course availability, and alignment with degree requirements. By presenting the right courses at the right time and letting students choose, the app delivers guided flexibility—preserving choice while quietly steering learners toward on-time completion. 

Marketing to Companion (Planned Direction): Students should be guided to Companion by default across every touchpoint. Social ads and native platform bots (e.g., Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, TikTok, YouTube) handle initial questions and then hand off to Companion for the full experience; the PWA remains a lightweight fallback for edge cases. Email communications, enrollment outreach, and mentor guidance reinforce a single message: “use Companion.” This approach reduces friction relative to the legacy student portal and concentrates the experience in one place.  

Ownership and coordination: Marketing owns the campaign strategy and the use of native social bots (led by the Marketing Director, Darby). Enrollment counselors manage first contact and transition, and Mentoring—under Allison Cundiff—aligns mentor communications to the Companion-first approach. Digital Operations partners by defining the product experience, supplying assets and telemetry, and documenting the flow on this site.

Companion Native follows the institution’s security and privacy standards under sustained oversight from ICS (the Church’s IT organization). Leadership confidence is grounded in many engagements over roughly five years focused on Companion’s security model.

Identity & Access: Students must sign in with Church Account, which is federated through Okta and protected by multi-factor authentication (MFA); biometric factors are being considered as those capabilities mature. Companion cannot be accessed without a valid Church Account, which enforces consistent identity assurance before any data is exposed.

Data Handling & System of Record: Companion serves as the student-facing interface while Anthology increasingly functions as the stable back-end (system of record). As data quality and stability improve in Anthology, Companion invokes those services without depending on Anthology’s student-facing portal, reducing friction for learners while preserving authoritative records.

AI Agents & Emerging Risks: The team actively tracks security considerations introduced by Model Context Protocol (MCP) and agent-to-agent integrations (e.g., calendar, email). While MCP brings strong properties, it also opens vectors such as prompt injection or “jailbreaking.” Leading platforms are already improving detection to track and shut down nefarious agent behavior. Our posture is pragmatic: perfect security does not exist, but monitoring and defenses are continually advancing.

What this means for students: Day-to-day, students use Companion with the same enterprise identity controls applied across the university. Sensitive records remain governed by the SIS back-end, while Companion presents a simpler, faster front end that honors institutional security practices and evolving safeguards against agent-based attacks.

1. How is Companion Native different from the PWA?
   The PWA is a lightweight web version—great for quick tasks and shared/older devices. Native adds richer features, select offline workflows, multilanguage (rolling out), and push notifications. Use PWA for quick access; use Native for the full experience.

2. What can I do offline?
   You can start and save many forms (e.g., scholarship or student services) and they auto-submit when you’re back online. Anything needing live validation (e.g., final course registration) requires internet. The Companion Assistant also requires internet.

3. How does the app keep information accurate?

Data regularly refreshes from central systems (e.g., degree audits, enrollments, service requests). Screens show clear statuses, and we recommend displaying a “Last updated” timestamp for sensitive views. 

4. Will there be in-app chat with my mentor?

5. Yes—planned. A secure Chat with Mentor feature is on the roadmap so students and mentors can resolve questions quickly. 

6. What happens if something changes while I was offline?
   The app syncs when you reconnect and flags any conflicts (e.g., a seat filled or a rule changed), prompting you to review and resubmit if needed.

7. How is privacy and security handled?
   Companion uses secure sign-in and adheres to institutional privacy and data-protection standards. Only authorized users can access their own records.

8. Why is Companion being localized? Which languages—and what’s live now?

Because BYU-Pathway Worldwide is translating and adapting its programs to Spanish and Portuguese, students will no longer need English to enroll and progress. To match that reality, Companion must be usable by non-English speakers from day one. Planned languages: Portuguese, Spanish, and French (staged rollout). Live now: Portuguese for the Beta Access cohort (enabled Aug 4, 2025). Next: Spanish and French (dates TBD). 

9. What will be the future/purpose of Anthology once Companion Native is fully operational? 

Our intended direction is that Anthology remains the authoritative Student Information System (SIS) and transactional backbone, while Companion Native becomes the primary student-facing experience. We expect student reliance on the Anthology web portal to decrease over time—not by a single cutoff date, but as features and communications transition to Companion—though some specialized workflows may remain in Anthology during the interim. In this model, Anthology continues to own core records, compliance, and transactions (e.g., registration and payments), and Companion securely invokes those processes so students interact with a simpler, low-bandwidth interface. The PWA will serve as a lightweight fallback for edge cases. This is a planned trajectory from Digital Operations and is subject to institutional governance and technical dependencies.