The GWorld Card Office on Tuesday unveiled technology that lets community members replace their physical GWorld cards with mobile versions, enabling them to tap into buildings and pay for food with their phones.

All students, faculty and staff can opt to replace their physical GWorld cards with a mobile version that permits them to tap their Apple or Android phones at any GW-affiliated reader both on and off campus, according to the GWorld Card Office website. Anyone who transitions to a mobile card will still be able to use their physical card during a “transition period” that ends on April 1, at which point physical cards will be disabled for community members who chose to “go mobile,” the website states.

The mobile cards will display a photo of the user and dining information, including remaining dining dollar balance. The GWorld Card Office said they suggest students and staff still keep their physical card to use for book borrowing and printing, though the cards will no longer work to access buildings or as a payment method.

Prior to the mobile GWorld card rollout, students could use the Mobile ID application on their phones to unlock their residence hall room doors.

The Student Government Association Senate passed the GWorld Digitization Act last year, which called on officials to consider adding a digital option for GWorld cards. SGA Vice President Ethan Lynne, who sponsored the act last April, campaigned on a goal of adding GWorld cards to students’ mobile wallets after hearing complaints from students who said they frequently forgot to bring their physical cards with them when walking around campus.

Lynne said he participated in a test group at the end of the fall semester with other students, including SGA senators from the Physical Facilities and Urban Affairs Committee, to test GWorld readers using a mobile card around campus and identify locations where readers were not working to fix any issues before the change was presented to the whole community.

“It was really just a great way to kind of try out the change and see where it works and where it didn’t work and identify areas for improvement,” Lynne said.

Lynne said students on the Ashburn and Mount Vernon campuses have had access to the mobile cards for the past few months.

Lynne said there is a “long line” of SGA senators who have advocated for the digitization of GWorld cards to GWorld card office officials. He said mobile GWorld access will enhance campus safety because it will decrease the chances of someone stealing a community member’s card and allow people to tap into buildings more quickly, as many people carry their phones with them.

“This is a huge, huge win for the student body and for efficiency and accessibility of our campus,” Lynne said. “It is so great to see GW joining so many other schools and modernizing and taking this step.”