Android app of the week: Great Clips Online Check-in

This week’s app puts GPS to good use and saves you time when handling a personal care task like getting a haircut. The Great Clips Online Check-in tool lets you get in line for a cut before you get to one of the many shops by the national chain of hair salons.

The app gets cool points for being simple to use. The first screen is a map showing the closest Great Clips salons near you or you can enter an address to refine your search. Each location has a custom nav point that displays the current wait time as long as the salon is open. When it’s closed there is a different nav icon with a red banner. So green is good and red is a bad sign unless you’re already checked in! Tapping on a location brings up the section to enter your personal info to get checked in. Enter your name, phone number (which ties you into their internal system), and the number of guests getting a haircut (up to five guests). From this same window you can get salon info like the address, hours it’s open, and the phone number.

The Great Clips Online Check-in app is good at checking people in and finding the nearest hair salon, but the app could add some features to personalize the experience for users. It would be nice if users could see the notes used by the stylist when they cut your hair or even have the ability to add extra notes if the user’s preference in the cut changes. Great Clips does have a loyalty program, but it isn’t integrated into the check-in app and there are no one-time use coupons. Also, Great Clips could partner with a popular hair style magazine and build that into a part of the app for users to find inspirational hair styles.

The Great Clips Online Check-in app is useful when it’s time to get a haircut and it saves you time allowing you to check-in to your preferred salon before you get there. Let your phone do some time-saving work for you for a change and you can waste time on it when you get to the Great Clips.