By Kayla Perry, Editor in Chief

With five apps created thus far, including the Laurentian Dining App and Laurentian Book Sale App, Logan Pytyl has spent almost three months creating his entrepreneurial company, Laurentian Apps.

A third year Laurentian University Computer Science student, Pytyl is sole designer and owner of all apps, although all are available in the App Store for free.

“It started as kind of a hobby – I take the bus a lot, and its always annoying checking the site when the bus comes so I kind of just made the app for myself, and it took off from there,” said Pytyl. “I was interested in app development, and they don’t teach that in school so I went out of my way to learn it…. I’m trying to expand my more recent apps (including the book sale app) to other schools, but the bus app, for example, is just for Sudbury.”

In total, Pytyl has created the Laurentian Bus app, the Dining App, the LU Navigator, the Sudbury Bus, and Squealz, a social media site. All are compatible with iOS and Android.

Pytyl said the Laurentian Bus app differs from the Sudbury Bus app in that the former focuses on the whole of the city, whereas the Laurentian Bus app takes users directly to busses leaving and approaching the university campus.

The most popular of the apps so far is the Sudbury Bus app, with 1,150 downloads; that app followed by the Laurentian Bus app, with 727 downloads.

Pytyl is presently trying to promote both the Book Sale App, which is currently available to students of Laurentian University, Cambrian College, and College Boreal, and the LU Dining App, where Pytyl uploads the Great Hall dining menu every day.

“Right now for Laurentian students there’s the book sell Facebook page, but I find that a bit disorganized because students can’t really search for books,” said Pytyl.

In the Book Sale App, students can either post that they are selling a book or search for a specific book simply by entering the textbooks ISBN, which is found typically on the inside cover.

Although Laurentian University does not currently recognize Pytyl, he says it is something he would like to try in the future.

“The big plan is to eventually have the apps get popular at multiple schools – then I can start putting my own ads on there, to promote the other aps and eventually start a business.”

For more information, contact Laurentianapps@gmail.com, or find all apps in the App Store.