Illinois App, Frequently Asked Questions
General Questions
How do I sign in with my NetID?
Under the avatar at the upper right, go to Profile > Sign In/Sign Out.
If you don’t see this option, update your privacy settings. Under the gear icon at the upper right, go to Settings > My App Privacy Settings > Manage and Understand Your Privacy. Set your privacy level to 4 or 5.
How do I sign out?
Under the avatar at the upper right, go to Profile > Sign In/Sign Out.
How do I change the language used in the app?
Under the gear icon at the upper right, go to Settings > My Language.
Where can I see which version of the app I am running?
Under the avatar at the upper right, go to Profile > Sign In/Sign Out. Scroll to the bottom of the screen to locate the app version.
Why do I see a “web content blocked” message on my iPhone?
This message appears when you follow a link to an external web page that uses cookies and your iPhone is blocking cookies. You must enable tracking in apps. On your iPhone, go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Tracking. Set the switch Allow Apps to Request to Track to the on position.
Why can’t I see the Laundry feature?
Only students living in University Housing have access to the Laundry feature. You must be signed in with your NetID and have your privacy level set to 4 or 5. To check your privacy settings, under the gear icon at the upper right, go to Settings > My App Privacy Settings > Manage and Understand Your Privacy.
How can I find an ADA-accessible entrance?
Use the Campus Buildings layer of the Map feature. When you tap on a location, the Map feature will show ADA-accessible entrances plus floor plans for most buildings.
For static maps that show all ADA-accessible entrances and restrooms on campus, go to Home > Sections > Campus Guide > Complete Campus Guide > Maps and Building Plans > Campus Maps > ADA Accessibility Information for Campus Buildings.
How do Favorites work?
The Favorites screen is like a customizable home page. You can put the features you access most there and organize them however you like. Tap a star next to any item to add it to your Favorites screen. To rearrange the order, tap the Customize link at the right near your name.
What happens to the demographic information that I enter into the Research Interest Form?
The information is stored in a confidential location. Each investigator identifies demographic characteristics for the people they are interested in recruiting for a research project. If your characteristics match, you will be given an opportunity to contact the investigator to express interest in participating. The investigator and the research team do not have access to your survey responses.
How do I list my research project in the Illinois app?
The Illinois app system for recruiting participants for research projects is under development. We invite researchers to partner with us to implement their ideas.
Why is my UIN shown on the Illini ID screen? Isn’t the UIN confidential information?
The UIN is not confidential. Just as it can be printed on a physical i-card, it can be displayed in the Illini ID feature in the Illinois app. The UIN is considered “directory information” that can be used “as a useful and unique number for business processes internal to the University.” Students may show an Illini ID wherever they would display an i-card.
This web page from the Office of the Registrar provides more information about university policy concerning the UIN.
What personal information is collected?
The app may collect, store, and use some personal information that you provide according to the privacy level that you set. See more information on how to control your data or the Illinois Application and UIS Mobile Application Privacy Policy.
How do I delete my account?
Under the gear icon at the upper right, go to Settings > My App Privacy Settings. Tap the Delete My Account button. Learn more about deleting your account.
Wallet Questions
Why can’t I see my Wallet?
You must be signed in with your NetID and have your privacy level set to 4 or 5. To check your privacy settings, under the gear icon at the upper right, go to Settings > My App Privacy Settings > Manage and Understand Your Privacy.
Why can’t I see my Meal Plan?
Only students with dining contracts have access to their meal plans. You must be signed in with your NetID and have your privacy level set to 4 or 5. To check your privacy settings, under the gear icon at the upper right, go to Settings > My App Privacy Settings > Manage and Understand Your Privacy.
What should I do if my Dining Dollars or Meal Plan is charged incorrectly?
Return to where you made the purchase. The vendor can look up the transaction and adjust it so that the meal is charged to the correct account.
How do I get the balance corrected on my Meal Plan or Dining Dollars?
Get in touch with University Housing through the contact form, call 217-333-7111, or email housing@illinois.edu.
Why can’t I see my Bus Pass?
You must be signed in with your NetID and have your privacy level set to 4 or 5. To check your privacy settings, under the gear icon at the upper right, go to Settings > My App Privacy Settings > Manage and Understand Your Privacy. Unless you have a valid i-card, you will not have access to the Bus Pass feature.
Can I change my Illini ID photo?
You can change your Illini ID photo only if you have received a replacement i-card. You must meet specific requirements to receive a replacement. If you have a new i-card with an updated photo, delete the Illinois app from your device and install it again. The new photo may take up to 15 minutes to update in the app.
Illinois Assistant Questions
What is it?
An AI-powered search tool that responds to your questions about academic and social life at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. While the feature aims to provide useful information, responses may occasionally be incomplete or inaccurate. Users are responsible for confirming information before taking action based on it. The Illinois Assistant is a supplemental tool and not a substitute for official university sources.
What is the goal?
The Illinois Assistant is designed to help users find information about university services, campus events, academic resources, and other aspects of the campus quickly and easily. The goal is to enhance the user experience by providing instant, accurate information tailored to the needs of students, faculty, staff, alumni, and visitors.
How do I use it?
Simply ask a question to get started.
- Using correct spelling and grammar will help generate more relevant responses, but capitalization doesn’t matter.
- You can ask up to 20 questions per day about university services, campus events, academic resources, and other aspects of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
- Once you have received a response, provide feedback on its quality. This will help improve the accuracy of the tool.
Can I ask the Illinois Assistant to clarify an answer?
The Illinois Assistant is not designed for conversation. Each question submitted is answered without reference to previous questions and answers in a session. The context for each answer is only the question just asked.
If the answer is unclear, try asking your question in a different way.
How do I provide feedback about a response?
If the response is accurate and helpful, tap the thumbs up symbol. Positive feedback provides valuable information on how the Illinois Assistant is doing.
If the response is wrong or not helpful, tap the thumbs down symbol.
- Add your feedback in the prompt box.
- Be as specific as possible.
- If you receive a link as part of the response, click on it to make sure it works and is informative.
- Report any dead link or incorrect link.
- Provide comments about the link’s usefulness.
Faculty and staff can provide general feedback through the feedback form. Select the “Provide feedback” radio button, put “Illinois Assistant” in the Summary field, and be as specific as possible with your comments.
What large language model does it use?
The Illinois Assistant is designed to be model agnostic, which means the feature is not locked into any AI provider. This flexibility allows us to continually evaluate and integrate the best-performing models based on response accuracy, citation quality, and the evolving practices of major tech companies.
How is personal information used to train the model?
Personal information is not used to train the model. The Illinois Assistant has been fine-tuned using public information from web pages on the illinois.edu domain, other trusted sites, and data in the Illinois app from events, maps, menus, athletics schedules, and other publicly available information. The tool does not extract data from websites requiring direct user sign-in, such as Banner and myIllini.
Does it use any personal data?
The Illinois Assistant is available only to users who sign in to the Illinois app with a NetID and consent to a privacy level of 4 or 5. For users with a privacy level set to 5, answers may be personalized by taking into account information from i-card data such as college, department, and year in school. The Illinois Assistant will not use any personally identifiable information such as a user’s name, phone number, address, or UIN.
How are data from questions and answers stored?
Questions, answers, and feedback are saved and evaluated by university technical staff to enhance the tool’s performance. These records are stored within the Rokwire ecosystem on Amazon Web Services servers and may be retained indefinitely. Information typed into the Illinois Assistant is not deleted when a user selects “Delete My Account,” but questions and feedback are not linked to personally identifiable information.
What safeguards for privacy and appropriate use are in place?
To address potential vulnerabilities, the design of the Illinois Assistant includes several protective measures:
- Restricting access to consenting users with appropriate privacy settings
- Accessing only limited types of user information to generate personalized responses
- Constraining responses to information collected from official University of Illinois sites, trusted partner sites, and information already contained in the Illinois app
- Adding attribution for each response by providing links to campus websites for verification
- Fine-tuning the model to prevent responses to questions with inappropriate or harmful content
- Preventing ongoing conversation
The Illinois Assistant is offered for use with public information only, as defined in our data classification chart. Additional information on protecting privacy with generative artificial intelligence tools is available from the University Privacy and Cybersecurity Group.
What types of questions will the Illinois Assistant not answer?
The Illinois Assistant does not provide answers to questions with inappropriate or harmful content. Here is an incomplete list:
- Racist or discriminatory content: questions that promote racism, discrimination, or bias against any individual or group
- Sexist or offensive content: questions that contain sexist or offensive language targeting any gender or gender identity
- Political or partisan content: questions that seek to promote specific political agendas or target political groups
- Violent or harmful content: questions that encourage violence, harm, or illegal activities
- Sensitive personal information: questions that ask for confidential or personally identifiable information, such as social security numbers, passwords, phone numbers, and so on
- Malicious or harmful instructions: questions seeking guidance on hacking, harmful pranks, or any form of cyberbullying
- Medical or legal advice: questions seeking medical or legal advice—the Illinois Assistant is not a substitute for professional consultation
- Infringing content: questions asking for copyrighted materials, pirated software, or any other form of intellectual property infringement
- Financial or investment advice: questions seeking financial or investment advice—the Illinois Assistant is not a certified financial advisor
- Inappropriate or sexually explicit content: questions containing sexually explicit language, adult content, or any content not suitable for a university environment
By restricting the Illinois Assistant from answering questions within these categories, the University of Illinois ensures that the tool adheres to ethical guidelines and provides a safe and positive experience for all users. We continuously monitor and update the Illinois Assistant’s responses to maintain and enhance appropriateness and accuracy over time.
Health and Wellness Questions
Can I make an appointment at McKinley Health Center through the app?
No. Appointments can be viewed in the Illinois app, but they cannot be made, modified, or canceled through the app. For quick access to appointment information, go to Home > Sections > Appointments.
I canceled an appointment through MyMcKinley but the app still says I have an appointment. How do I remove the appointment from the app?
Appointment cancellations or modifications made on the MyMcKinley portal make take up to 20 minutes to appear in the app. Wait 20–30 minutes and then close and reopen the Illinois app to check on your update.
Note that changes made to an appointment through the MyMcKinley portal are not automatically reflected in the calendar app on your personal device. You will need to manually remove or modify the appointment on your calendar app.
Who can see the symptoms I enter into the Illinois Health Screener?
Only you. The symptoms—and the suggestions from the tool—are completely confidential. They are not shared with anyone through the Illinois app or through the MyMcKinley portal. You can decide whether to share your results with your health-care provider.
Are Illinois Health Screener results sent to McKinley Health Center?
No. The information you enter and the suggestions from the tool are completely confidential. They are not shared with McKinley Health Center or anyone else. If you would like to share your results with your health-care provider, you can show your phone or a screenshot. Learn more about the Illinois Health Screener.
Groups Questions
Who can create a group?
New groups can be created by faculty, staff, or students. You must be signed in with your NetID and have your privacy level set to 4 or 5. Go to Home > Sections > Groups > My Groups and tap the ⊕ symbol at the upper right.
Who can join or participate in a group?
Faculty, staff, and students can join or participate in a group. You must be signed in with your NetID and have your privacy level set to 4 or 5. To check your privacy settings, under the gear icon at the upper right, go to Settings > My App Privacy Settings > Manage and Understand Your Privacy.