[472 Campus] Everytime, the App That Became the Hub of Campus Culture

   When entering university, students are offered a wide range of services and welfare benefits. Scholarships, exchange programs, dormitories, club activities, and various events provide many options, but in most cases, students must apply directly to take advantage of them. Since information is scattered across school websites, departmental bulletin boards, and text message announcements, it is easy to miss essential information. This situation happens especially during the early days of enrollment or exam periods, when students lack the time and energy to stay updated. A student-exclusive app called Everytime addresses these inconveniences, and has thus established itself as a constant companion for Korean university students.

Everytime’s growth into a key platform for universities nationwide

   Everytime was created in the early 2010s by Kim Han-yi, a graduate of Yonsei University’s Department of Computer Science. In 2010, while attending Yonsei University, he developed a timetable program for personal use to alleviate the inconvenience of course registration. At the time, securing a desired course often meant rushing to register at a fast internet cafe. Kim’s program allowed students to select their preferred courses and have a timetable generated automatically. It was much faster and more accurate than using spreadsheet programs like Excel, and it quickly spread among Yonsei students. The program soon gained popularity beyond Yonsei University, as students from other universities requested access. In 2015, Kim founded the company “Vinu Labs” and began expanding the service in earnest. At that time, it supported only about 20 universities, but today it has grown into a nationwide platform serving approximately 398 universities. With the explosive rise of smartphones in the mid-2010s, the service was commercialized as a mobile app and spread rapidly across campuses. Compared to real-name-based university communities like Facebook groups or Daum cafes, Everytime’s intuitive user interface and anonymity were key strengths. As a result, the app has now surpassed 7 million cumulative users and has become a must-have for most university students in Korea.

A platform supporting all aspects of student life beyond timetables 

   Everytime has evolved into a comprehensive platform encompassing all aspects of university life. Students can browse syllabi and read authentic course reviews, share exam tips, and evaluate professors’ teaching styles. The grade calculator helps track credits earned and estimate GPAs, while timetable images can be saved and shared. The “Everytime Friend” feature allows students to compare schedules with one another. In addition, students can prepare for exams through test information registered by peers who have already taken the courses, and they can check lecture reviews to determine whether a class suits their learning style and goals.

   Within the Everytime application, each university has its own dedicated section with multiple bulletin boards where students can share and access information specific to their campus. On each school’s bulletin boards, ranging from general boards to information boards and promotional boards, students exchange real-time information on tuition payment deadlines, scholarship applications, campus events, club recruitment, lost- and-found items, and local part-time job listings. On general boards, students often seek advice on personal matters such as dating, offering a channel for conversations that may be difficult to initiate in person. Those interested in specific departments or clubs can access targeted information and stay informed about important announcements and deadlines. The anonymity of the boards also enables students to ask and answer questions based on shared experiences and concerns, creating a form of “collective intelligence.” At Everytime of Dongguk University, for example, a personal account called “YellowPaeng” shares administrative updates, event schedules, and academic guidelines, helping both new and current students.

The dual nature of an online community revealing campus opinion and anonymity

   Beyond information sharing, Everytime serves as a central hub for shaping campus opinion. Students discuss election pledges for student council candidates, tuition fee increases, demands for facility improvements, and changes in teaching methods. Anonymity enables open and unreserved conversations about sensitive topics, leading to active exchanges about improving lecture quality, enhancing welfare facilities, and sharing experiences of discrimination. As a result, students benefit from timely advice on courses and professors, and constructive suggestions can circulate more rapidly than through formal channels. Some of these discussions even result in offline protests or formal petitions. For this reason, Everytime is often called the “online campus square.”

   However, anonymity is a double-edged sword. While it encourages free expression, it also facilitates the rapid spread of unverified rumors and the frequent posting of abusive comments targeting individuals or groups. Because of its anonymous nature, evaluations sometimes become more subjective than objective. Instead of constructive criticism of a course, excessive criticism or even hate speech often appears simply because a class or professor does not match a student’s personal preferences. Complaints about religious or commercial spam and privacy violations persist, and instances of hate speech or discriminatory remarks are regularly reported. As conflicts and divisive remarks continued to increase, many students became tired of the hostile atmosphere and migrated to alternative platforms such as Instagram, KakaoTalk open chatrooms, and Naver Band. The service operator has introduced measures such as removing inappropriate posts, strengthening filtering, and enhancing reporting functions, but many believe fundamental solutions will still take time.

   In recent years, alternative and supplementary services have emerged, including Instagram, Facebook, and university-specific apps like Everytime. Visual media-based social networks excel at promotion and documentation, but detailed campus information and anonymous Q&A still primarily take place on Everytime. The shift to online classes during the COVID-19 pandemic further highlighted the importance of digital communities. Today, Everytime functions not just as a timetable app but as a network linking current students, alumni, and incoming freshmen, and a central hub for real-time communication and information sharing. The operating company continues to improve the user interface and maintain stable server performance. Nevertheless, as the platform grows, so too do the challenges of managing community quality, controlling harmful posts, and establishing ethical standards for advertising and promotion.