An interview with Hubbl: the new app for all Cambridge events

Hubbl is a free and innovative app for Cambridge students, which provides information about societies, events, comedy, theatre and more. A team of students at the university have worked together to design and launch the app, and hope that it will streamline the way in which students can find out about and organise events.

The Tab spoke to Joe Schwarzmann, second year historian at Queens’ College, who came up with the idea for Hubbl.

What gave you the idea to set up this app?

When I started at Cambridge, I found that societies and other student groups like college JCR's were organising things on Facebook group chats, events pages, through mailing lists etc and it just didn’t work.

As students here, we have so much going on and actually planning our lives when this information is so scattered is difficult.

Hubbl streamlines all this information. You can also personalise it so that it works like a calendar where you can keep all the information for everything that you’re interested in.

Who is the app targeted towards?

Cambridge students who want to either find something new or plan the things they want to go to for the societies they’re already involved in. It’s also for societies or college organisations like JCR's; those that struggle to widely publicise their information.

Even if societies don’t need any extra publicity however, their members can find out exactly when and where all their stuff is happening, so it’s super helpful.

Which societies are currently on board?

We have around 55 at the moment. Some of these are the Cambridge Union, Indiasoc, RAG, Brickhouse Theatre Company, Women in Media, Women in Business, The Whisky Appreciation Society, Liberals, The Tab (woo) and several other sporting and drama societies. We’re hoping to get even more on board in the near future.

What is the best part about the app?

My favourite part is being able to search for the specific things that you are interested in. On the events page you can sort by the type of event you want, the day, or the subject area. So, for example, if you want to know all the science talks that are on this term you can find this information so easily.

Why should Cambridge students be using the app?

There are so many opportunities here that we all miss out on because we aren’t aware of them. For example, there were lots of really good comedy shows that I would have really liked to go to, but I only found out about them when they had finished.

This app can help to stop things like that from happening, so it’s great for students wanting to make the most out of their time here and not miss out on anything that Cambridge has to offer.

Is it student led or is the university involved?

It’s entirely student led. Maybe in future we would like to get the university involved but our main goal for now is just to get the app up and running and focusing on what students need.

Where do you see this app going?

Hopefully we will incorporate a lot more societies and college JCR’s. We want it to get to a stage that whatever you want to look for in Cambridge, you will be able to find it on the app.

What was most fun part about creating the app?

Probably design. We’re a team of students making an app for students at our university, so we had fun thinking about what we would want to see ourselves and how we could bring that to life.

What was the most challenging part about creating the app?

I am not very good with technology. At all. I’m a historian. So helping coordinate all the tech stuff was certainly a challenge.

Where did you get your inspiration for the name?

We’re trying to be the hub for the Cambridge bubble. So we became Hubbl.

How can students at Cambridge get involved with the app?

They can now download it from the app store or the play store, and societies that want to publicise their information on the app can register via our website.

If anyone has any ideas for things they’d like to see on the app we are open to feedback and will try and help. We’re a bunch of students making an app for students at our university so we’d love to know what else people want to see.

Find out more about hubbl here.