Expat Connect is the local Facebook for expats living in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. It is the spot to go to to network with people and make new friends. You can also participate in meet-ups and improve your social life and also create a big social circle. For expats who feel lonely in Dubai or Abu Dhabi, Expat Connect connects you to like-minded individuals from your country and from all over the world. With Expat Connect, you are exposed to so many people from around the world in Dubai. By meeting people from different countries and getting to know them, you can broaden your thinking and horizon. So, the next time you plan a holiday somewhere, you have a friend of that nationality in Dubai who can probably help you out by explaining the things to do in their country. This can happen only through Expat Connect and its meetups and networking events.
Expat Connect and its mobile app
I joined Expat Connect only recently and was wondering if they had a mobile app. Believe it or not, just a few days after I had joined, I learnt that they had indeed launched an app. And I’m pretty excited to review it here.
The app has a typical log in or sign up screen and is obviously made in the traditional Expat Connect colour scheme. Once you sign in, you are taken to the home screen where you can see the Expat Connect icons for Micro Communities, Calendar, Contact Requests, Messages, and Notifications. It would have been better if they had small descriptions below it because for new users, it may take a while to understand it. Also, when people recommend that you join Expat Connect through their app, it is tough to understand for first-time users.
The home screen of the app follows the home screen of the website, with a major event, a post from the Expat Connect blog, and of course, posts on Expat Connect Central. The app does a good job of making the Expat Connect site as user-friendly as possible and its pretty easy to navigate. But when I click on the chat, it opens to the most recent conversation I had rather than opening to all the conversations. I’d rather have it the traditional way where I can choose to read or ignore a message than being forced to open the most-recent conversation.
Apart from these small quirks, which is my personal opinion, the app does function quite well and it gives you easy access to all the options that you need in an app. You can browse through the website and its various options by clicking on the menu icon on the right side. And you can accept and reject requests, meetings, and the calendar shows you what’s on your social-list next. Overall, I am happy with the app because it gives me the option to browse my ‘Dubai Facebook’ in an app rather than forcing me to open the browser every time I feel like catching up with friends and make connections. Keep up the good work, EC.
*Expat Connect is currently only available in iOS. Download it here.
