Democratic National Committee releases official 2016 app ahead of Philadelphia convention

The Democratic National Committee launched its official 2016 convention app Tuesday, less than a week before party leaders and delegates gather in Philadelphia to pick their presidential nominee.

According to a press release from the DNC, the app is “designed to make this convention the most innovative and forward-looking in history.”

The Democratic app follows the release earlier this month of what the Republican National Committee declared to be the most “technologically advanced” political convention app ever.

At the time, a DNC spokesperson dismissed this claim, assuring Yahoo News that “when our convention app launches, with more inclusive and engaging features than ever before, it will indisputably raise the bar.”

However, compared side by side, it’s hard to ignore that the DNC app bears more than a slight resemblance to its Republican counterpart. This makes sense, considering that both apps were developed by AT&T, the official technology and communications provider for the Democratic and Republican National Conventions.

Like the RNC’s product, the DNC 2016 app includes interactive maps of convention venues and nearby hotels and restaurants, as well as a guide to local transportation options. The two apps also allow users to watch live video of the convention via either a standard camera feed or 360-degree live stream — a feature highlighted in press releases for both products.

Even their aesthetics are similar. Where the red-accented RNC 2016 official app is adorned with an image of a cartoon elephant atop an electric guitar (combining the GOP symbol with a nod to host city Cleveland’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame), the DNC app features an image of Philadelphia’s iconic Liberty Bell against a blue backdrop.

There are, of course, some notable differences between the two products — most of them related to bugs.

While the newly released DNC app already offers a preview of some of the upcoming event’s headliners, the RNC app listed only long-deceased President George Washington as a speaker until shortly before the event kicked off this week. Once the app had finally been updated with the RNC’s real-life lineup, viewers quickly noticed a number of inaccuracies in several speaker profiles.

The errors have since been corrected.

Not only is the Democratic convention schedule already accessible on the app, its display seems infinitely more user-friendly than the 22-page PDF schedule that was uploaded to the RNC app just this week. And where the DNC app provides users with a guide to watch parties, food festivals and other DNC-related events happening throughout Philly during the convention, the RNC app’s “Cleveland” section features a (seemingly random) list of local exhibitions, performances and farmers markets that took place in June.

The DNC 2016 app is hardly perfect, though. Its clustered map of Philadelphia hotels, for example, is far inferior to the RNC’s detailed list of Cleveland-based accommodations. The Republican app also wins in the transportation department, with its regularly updated convention shuttle schedule that provides up-to-date arrival times for each hotel in the area.

Differences aside, both convention apps were designed with the same mission in mind: to reach more voters.

“Our app ensures that whether you’re inside the Wells Fargo Center or thousands of miles away, you can engage with the convention,” Andrew Binns, the DNC’s chief innovation officer, said in a statement Tuesday. “With constantly updated content, social integration and a front-row seat to history, our app is an essential tool both for delegates in Philly and viewers across the country.”

The GOP National Convention kicked off in Cleveland on Monday; the Democratic National Convention will take place in Philadelphia July 25-28.