The Citizen App 2025 – from social media to the municipality’s own channel

Different needs – one solution

Even though the starting points vary, the examples show how the app can be tailored to very different priorities:

• Västerås (Sweden) launched Mitt Västerås in 2024, with a clear goal of making the app both a preparedness channel and a platform for communication directly from the city’s various departments.
  
  After one year, the app had 24,000 downloads, and around 50% of users had activated personalised push notifications – giving the city a unique opportunity to quickly reach citizens in times of crisis, while also ensuring everyday information from schools, culture and technical services reaches the right target groups.

• Farsund (Norway) launched Innbygger iSør in 2024 together with five neighbouring municipalities. In just three months they went from idea to launch, with a clear priority on easy access to relevant information. Citizens can choose municipality and interests themselves. More than 31% of the population have downloaded the app, and over 60% have enabled push notifications. Visits to the service desk have decreased by 34%, and the number of calls to the municipal switchboard has gone down by at least 30% in just one year.

• Södertälje (Sweden) uses the app to simplify everyday life with smart real-time data: is the Södertälje bridge open or closed? How many parking spaces are available for disabled drivers? At the same time, the local community life is made visible through a rich event calendar and opportunities for local associations to publish activities directly in the app.

• Frogner district in Oslo has given local departments the ability to communicate directly with citizens, ensuring that information quickly reaches specific target groups such as parents in kindergartens or seniors with service needs.

• Although most municipalities today choose a whitelabel version, we are seeing more and more following the path of Svenljunga (Sweden) and Hasvik (Norway) – joining the national Invånarappen (Sweden) or Innbyggerappen (Norway).
  
  This is a cost-effective way to get started quickly with an app, while at the same time gaining access to a shared community of functions: local calendars, news, and opportunities for associations and organisations to promote their activities.

A channel that can adapt quickly

What is most exciting is how flexible the app proves to be: from cultural calendars to crisis communication, from youth dialogue to real-time data. The solution can be adjusted quickly – and used across many different municipal needs. And while all municipalities share similar challenges, each also has its own identity and unique character.

For us, it is inspiring to see how every municipality takes the app into use – and makes it their own.