The 9 Best Mobile Event & Conference Apps for 2024

Without a doubt, conference apps are a must-have tool for any event organizer. In fact, an overwhelming 91% of event organizers claim event apps are crucial to their success. This type of tool can help you streamline registration, check-in, networking, and communication, all while making your event more interactive for attendees.

Even attendees themselves enjoy using event apps and consider this technology an integral part of their event experience. However, with so many different event apps for conferences on the market, it can be tough to know which one is right for you!

In this guide, we’ll walk you through everything you need to know about choosing the best conference app for your event—from locating the best event apps to key features to look for. We’ll even give you a list of top apps to consider!

No matter the scale or type of conference you’re planning, we’ll help you find the best conference app solution for your event and organization’s specific needs.

What Is a Conference App?

Before we dive into providers, you need to know what a conference app is. A conference app is a mobile application used to simplify event, conference, or meeting management. It allows event organizers to keep all event-related details and data in one place and provides attendees with a guide to your event’s activities and opportunities.

No matter your event format—whether in-person, virtual, or hybrid—conference apps allow attendees to take charge of their event experience and navigate the event with ease. As a result, 78% of organizations that use event apps claim the technology contributes to a positive event return on investment (ROI).

What Are the Benefits of Using a Conference App?

As an event organizer, you likely already use a variety of different tools and technologies to ensure your events are successful. However, when you adopt a conference app, you’ll see several distinctive benefits for your attendees and your team, including:

• Easy access to event information. There’s nothing more efficient than having all event-related information in the palm of your hand. From venue maps to speaker session schedules, your attendees can access everything they need instantaneously, without the clutter of physical event materials.
• Smoother communication. The best conference apps allow event planners to easily communicate with different stakeholders, including attendees, speakers, and sponsors. Using the app’s communication tools, event organizers can distribute important information, answer questions, and follow up post-event.
• Increased engagement. With features like live polls, surveys, Q&A sessions, and gamification, you can bring your event to life and enthrall attendees.
• Reduced waste. Using an event mobile app eliminates the need for paper schedules, maps, and pamphlets. As a result, your event will be more eco-friendly, and your organization will save on printing costs.
• Enhanced post-event analysis. Successful event organizers know that the best way to improve an event is to gather data and feedback from previous events. Conference apps make this process easy, offering insights into event attendance, session popularity, sponsor lead generation, and more.

A conference app allows you to create a seamless attendee experience by offering a home for all of your event content, facilitating communication with different groups, driving engagement in and out of sessions, and making networking easy.

What Key Features Should You Look for in a Conference App?

Conference apps can offer value through features like quick event check-in via QR codes and personalized agendas. Make sure you know what you want from your conference event app by considering these features:

Custom branding & design

The best conference apps are white-label products—that is, easily rebranded to your organization. Include your event branding and design to provide a good first impression on your attendees. Also, add your logo and color scheme so attendees can easily recognize your event app and content as yours.

Customizing your conference app allows you to build brand recognition and a cohesive event experience. When your app matches the rest of your in-person materials, your attendees will take notice of how your brand runs seamlessly throughout your event.

Digital badges

Your conference app should provide a seamless, low-wait-time check-in experience for your attendees. Offering QR check-in functionality is a great solution!

With digital badges, all attendees have to do is pull up their unique QR code in their event app. Then, you can scan each code using a mobile device. You can even let attendees check in on their own by turning a phone or tablet into a self-service kiosk.

Attendees may also use their digital badges to check in to specific conference sessions. This feature helps you track attendance and identify popular sessions so you can improve your future events.

Agendas

Use an app that allows attendees to create a personalized agenda or favorite the sessions they want to attend. That way, they can plan their event experience ahead of time and stay organized throughout the conference.

With an interactive agenda, attendees can even sort sessions by date and time or different tracks. For example, if a session is part of a certain speaker series, attendees can mark it as such in their agendas.

Networking

Networking is another activity your conference app can support! Look for features like attendee, speaker, and sponsor profiles, public and private messaging, appointment booking, and more.

The best conference apps allow attendees, speakers, and sponsors to create robust personal profiles with photos and personal information. Then, they can click on each others’ profiles to send a message or request a meeting.

Live Session chat

Your conference app should offer live chat capabilities for attendees and other stakeholders, whether they’re onsite or attending remotely. This feature allows attendees to communicate during sessions and is typically visible as a long stream within a session in the app.

Anonymous Q&A

To optimize audience engagement, look for a conference app design that supports anonymous Q&A! This feature makes it easier for attendees to ask speakers tough questions. Other attendees can even upvote which questions they think are most important for the speakers to address.

Live polls

Live polls are another great way to engage attendees during conference sessions! With a conference management app that includes this function, you can integrate polls into all your sessions.

Polls not only allow you to engage attendees and encourage participation, but they also provide you with valuable feedback throughout your event.

Gamification

With a good conference event app, you can create gamification challenges, to award points for attending sessions, completing surveys, networking with each other, visiting exhibitor booths, and so on!

Besides making your event more fun for attendees, gamification features can also help you drive engagement with sponsor companies so you can ensure sponsor return on investment (ROI).

Event maps

If held in person, your conference app should offer interactive event maps or an event map app to help attendees navigate the venue. These maps can help attendees find their way, allowing them to pinpoint relevant locations such as sponsor booths, upcoming session areas, and check-in points.

Surveys

Surveys are important for attendee engagement and for feedback collection to improve future events. See if your event app options allow you to conduct surveys before, during, and after the conference.

For instance, you might ask attendees what their favorite sessions were and how they would rate the event overall. Then, you can store this feedback and incorporate it into future event planning.

Video libraries

Video libraries allow you to generate excitement by showcasing the best of last year’s event content, create buzz around specific speaker sessions, drive engagement with sponsors with dedicated sponsored content libraries, and offer extended post-event access to session recordings so that attendees don’t miss out.

Analytics

Audience attendance, engagement, favorite sessions, and other metrics can provide valuable insights into your conference’s performance. Make sure your event conference app offers analytics functionality to help you track your ROI and improve future events.

How Do You Choose a Conference App?

When choosing new event technology, a systemized process helps you make the right decision. Consider following these steps when selecting your conference app:

1. Identify your needs.

Think about why you want to adopt a conference app in the first place. Do you need features for event or session check-ins, event maps, in-app discussions, or features for hybrid conferences? Make a list of your must-haves so you can narrow down your options.

2. Research your options.

There are quite a few conference apps available, so make sure you research them well before making a decision. Take some time to read user reviews, as these will give you valuable insights into the pros and cons of each app. You can find conference app reviews on sites like G2, Capterra, Google Business Reviews, and more.

3. Double-check integrations and compatibility.

Make sure the app you choose integrates well with your other tools, like your constituent relationship management (CRM) system or email marketing platform. Also, check if the mobile conference app is compatible with different devices your attendees will be using.

4. Book demos.

Once you’ve narrowed down your options, don’t hesitate to book demos with the app providers! This step gives you a chance to see the conference app in action and ask questions about your specific use cases. You’ll also want to ensure the app is scalable to accommodate your future growth and includes adequate customer support so that event day runs smoothly.

5. Take a test drive.

Some event conference app providers may offer a trial version, so make good use of it! You can check to see how it works in real-world circumstances and whether it suits the type of conferences you hold.

6. Get stakeholder investment.

Make sure you get buy-in from your board, president, team, and other stakeholders on all aspects of the conference app of your choice—from the features you need to the conference app cost.

7. Make a decision.

With so much research done, you should be ready to make an informed decision as to what conference app to get! Once you’ve chosen a platform, make sure the contract clearly outlines the terms and expectations of your partnership with the app vendor so everyone is on the same page.

8. Implement and onboard.

Next comes the implementation and onboarding process! Typically, you and your team would schedule a meeting with the app provider to go through training on all the features and functions you can use for your conference.

9. Set up your software.

Set up the software so it aligns with your event’s requirements. This process includes adding your event information, creating a schedule, and uploading relevant materials.

Once your event is up and running, don’t let the app evaluation process stop there! Survey attendees about their experience with the app to ensure you’ve chosen the right solution for your audience.

The 9 Best Conference Apps to Consider in 2024

So, based on these recommended features, what are our top picks? After researching different apps’ features and reviews, we recommend the following platforms.

Best all-in-one conference management apps

These include comprehensive event management apps that help you cut down administrative work, host all of your conference content, and access the data you need to prove event ROI.

EventMobi

EventMobi is an all-in-one conference app platform that helps event organizers create engaging and interactive experiences for their attendees. Over the last 13+ years, EventMobi has supported 30,000+ event planners in creating thousands of events for hundreds of thousands of attendees.

Some key benefits of using EventMobi’s conference app include:

• Customizability with the ability to showcase your organization’s unique branding on every page
• Easy onsite event navigation for attendees
• Up-to-the-second information with push notifications, emails, and alerts
• Instant access to important documents and recordings
• Personalized event experiences for different groups using conditional visibility
• Engagement features encourage attendee participation
• Effortless networking
• Opportunity to highlight event sponsors
• Award-winning 24/7 support you can count on

And so much more!

EventMobi integrates well with CRM tools, association management systems (AMS), marketing automation, registration tools, onsite event solutions, and others.

Still not sure why EventMobi is the best conference app on the market? Hear it from our customers themselves!

• “The EventMobi Event App really enhances the experience of the attendees.” -Melissa Arnott, Show Manager, Canadian Meetings + Events Expo Director of Events, Newcom Media Inc
• “I would say the biggest benefit of using EventMobi is the support.” -Rachel Lyon, Manager, Conference & Events, CSAE
• “It very quickly became obvious to us that EventMobi was the superior platform.” -Lindsay Artkin, NHL Coaches’ Association

Best for: Comprehensive conference management, audience engagement, robust analytics

Package options: EventMobi offers a range of packages and a la carte selection of event tech and production services. You can fill out our pricing form here, and we will walk you through our recommendations.

Whova

Whova is an award-winning app for conferences and community events. Whova’s features include personal agendas, free and paid registration, document sharing, note-taking, attendee smart profiles, business card management, and more.

Best for: Paid events, in-person networking

Package options: Whova doesn’t include specific package options on their site—you can send them information about your conference (e.g. whether it’s in-person, virtual, or hybrid; the number of expected attendees; how often you run events a year, etc.), and you’ll get a price quote.

Cvent

Cvent is a conference management platform with features like personal agenda building, push notifications, networking, messaging, exhibitor profiles, chat, Q&A, polls & surveys.

Best for: Event attendance, event engagement app

Package options:

• Products: Best for 1-5 events or an event type, such as a roadshow or trade show program.
• Solutions: Best for end-to-end management of an event type, large event, or a high volume of events.
• Total Program: Best for strategic management of your total event program, in any format, and for any event type.

Prices are available upon request.

vFairs

vFairs is an all-in-one event management platform for virtual, hybrid, and in-person events. It offers easy event check-in, branding & sponsorships, badge scanning, attendee networking & engagement, 3D virtual venues, webinars, digital resources, and more.

Best for: Immersive virtual conferences

Package options: You can choose between three types of annual plans:

• Basic Annual License: Best for organizations hosting less than 5 events a year with basic registration & planning needs
• Premium Annual License: Best for organizations that need advanced end-to-end event management with the ability to handle high attendee volumes
• Enterprise Annual License: Best for enterprises that need an event management platform with white-glove service to drive complex event programs.

Or, you can purchase vFairs’ different event products, including:

• Registration and Ticketing Package
• Event Check-In & Badging Solution
• vFairs Mobile Event App
• vFairs Virtual Event Platform License
• vFairs Hybrid Event Platform License

Prices are available upon request.

Best conference apps with specific functionalities

If you don’t need an all-in-one app, there are event apps for conferences with specific functionalities! Just keep your must-have features in mind as you consider the following platforms.

Attendium

Attendium is a conference check-in app used by leading brands and over 17,000 event professionals. You can search for and check in your guests by name, guest list, or custom fields on smartphones, tablets, and computers.

Best for: Event check-in

Package options: Attendium offers monthly or yearly pricing for three tiers:

• Starter: Guest lists & check-ins for smaller teams (1-5 users) – $199/month or $2,028/year
• Professional: All essential and time-saving features for larger teams – $399/month or $3,900/year
• Enterprise: All unlimited features plus API access and priority support – $699/month or $8,028/year

iCapture

iCapture is a lead capture app that enables exhibitors to segment and score leads or add conversation details to leads to help sales teams re-engage.

Best for: Lead capture

Package options: iCapture’s solution is available with an annual service agreement, and pricing starts at $8,000. You can fill out a form on their website to speak with an iCapture team member.

Best complementary platforms for conference management

Here are some apps you can use to complement your main app for event or conference management. These apps work alongside your conference management system to make conference planning easier.

ClickUp

ClickUp is a comprehensive project management app that provides features for task management, real-time chat, goal setting, time tracking, and workflow automation.

Best for: Conference planning and task management

Package options: ClickUp offers a Free Forever plan for personal use and three tiers of paid plans, payable every month or every year:

• Unlimited: Best for small teams – $10/member/month if paid monthly, or $7/member/month if paid annually
• Business: Best for mid-sized teams – $19/member/month if paid monthly, or $12/member/month if paid annually
• Enterprise: Best for many large teams – contact sales for price quote

Typeform

Typeform‘s versatile form-building capabilities are beneficial for creating custom registration forms and collecting event data.

Best for: Form creation & data collection

Package options: Typeform offers a free trial where you can get a taste of how their different features work. You can upgrade to one of their paid plans later:

• Basic: 1 user, 100 responses/month – $29/month if billed monthly, or $25/month if billed yearly
• Plus: 3 users, 1,000 responses/month – $59/month if billed monthly, or $50/month if billed yearly
• Business: 5 users, 10,000 responses/month – $99/month if billed monthly, or $83/month if billed yearly
• Enterprise: Tailored response limits and seats – contact sales for pricing

Zapier

Zapier serves as the perfect bridge between your conference app and your other software solutions, allowing you to automate tasks and integrate different conference management tools seamlessly.

Best for: Software automation & automated workflows

Package options: Zapier offers a Free plan for individuals who need the basics of automation (100 tasks/month). Its paid plans include:

• Starter: For individuals with simple, multi-step automation needs (750 tasks/month) – $29.99/month, billed monthly or $19.99/month, billed yearly
• Professional: For individuals that need the full power of Zapier’s automation platform; starting at 2,000 tasks/month – $73.50/month, billed monthly or $49/month, billed yearly
• Team: For teams building and collaborating on automation across the organization; starting at 2,000 tasks/month – $103.50/month, billed monthly or $69/month, billed yearly
• Company: For organizations who want automation with robust security features and oversight capabilities – contact sales for specific pricing

Pick the Right App to Ensure Your Conference’s Success

Choosing the right conference app makes a big difference in the success of your event. By considering the features and options listed above, you can find the perfect app to achieve your conference goals!

If you’re ready to support your event with an all-in-one conference management platform, schedule a chat with the team about what EventMobi can do for your next event!