LeaveWeb Mobile was launched by the Air Force last month so airmen and guardians can request and approve leave on the go. (Jonathan Snyder/Stars and Stripes)
Airmen and guardians can now submit and approve leave requests on their smartphones — if they’re able to log in to an app the Air Force released last month.
LeaveWeb Mobile, available free in the Apple Store and Google Play, came to be after an overwhelming number of service members asked to access LeaveWeb away from their computers, according to Air Force spokeswoman Maj. Kaitlin Holmes.
“The intended goal is to provide the Department of the Air Force a user-friendly and secure way to submit, review, and approve military leave requests without having to carry around a laptop or work from a desktop,” she told Stars and Stripes by email Wednesday.
LeaveWeb Mobile was built by the Air Force Financial Systems Office in collaboration with Octo, an IBM company, over 10 months, Holmes said.
“It did not cost anything additional to make the app; instead, resources were shifted to prioritize this effort,” she wrote. “The only additional cost is $30K annually for the web toolkit.”
The app had been downloaded more than 1,000 times as of Friday with a rating of 2.2 stars out of 5 on the Apple Store and 3.2 out of 5 on Google Play.
The app had 10 written reviews, mostly negative, on the Apple Store and 13 on Google Play that included some positive comments.
Many reviewers complained of difficulties logging into the app without using a common access card via Okta, a San Francisco-based firm specializing in identity and access management.
“Great concept, but so far … terrible execution,” a reviewer named AirmanLinendoll wrote on the Apple Store. “The verification process is horrendous. In the time it takes to even get the verification to work, you could have logged on to your computer, submitted leave … taken leave, and returned from leave.”
Holmes acknowledged LeaveWeb Mobile’s technical challenges and said solutions are in the works.
“Our team is working with Okta Authentication support teams to find ways to work on the disconnects of the authentication, while safeguarding the users’ security information,” she wrote.
Not all reviews were negative. One of the Google Play reviewers, Michael McClelland, called the app “pretty fast and straightforward.”
“I had used Okta for something previously so I didn’t need much time to set that up,” he wrote. “I’d love to see this implemented for other typically CAC enabled sites.”
The Air Force plans further improvements, Holmes said, including easy leave address input, the ability to add a backup approver and a calendar where supervisors can view all their subordinates.
“As we continue to improve the authentication, Airmen and Guardians will find an application that runs smoothly and was built to fit their needs,” Holmes wrote. “It is accessible anytime, anyplace, from home or work, in the palm of their hands, while maintaining a high level of security.”
