Transact Mobile online meal ordering sees shutdown for a 3rd consecutive day
A line at Epicuria at Ackerman is pictured. Transact Mobile, the app used by students living in university housing to order meals, was unavailable for a second consecutive day Wednesday. (Nicolas Greamo/Daily Bruin senior staff)
By Sam Mulick
March 5, 2025 2:39 p.m.
Transact Mobile was unavailable for a third consecutive day Thursday.
The app, used by students living in university on-campus housing to order meals, was unavailable after 9 a.m. Wednesday, according to an emailed statement from UCLA Dining. The app was also unavailable from Tuesday morning until 3:57 p.m.
[Related: Transact Mobile, online meal ordering becomes temporarily unavailable]
Dining said in the statement it was working with Transact to determine the root of the problem but still does not know the definitive cause of both shutdowns as of Wednesday afternoon.
A global issue affecting the vendor caused the app to be unavailable, Dining said Tuesday, but it added Wednesday that it no longer believes the shutdown to be a global issue. To mitigate the effects of the shutdown, Dining redistributed staff to better accommodate increased in-person ordering.
When selecting dining locations on the app, the listing said each location was “closed today,” despite all dining locations operating at regularly scheduled hours.
On Tuesday, Daniel Nava, food service worker at Epicuria at Ackerman, said the app’s unavailability meant students could no longer order food while in class and pick it up afterward. He also said Tuesday that students who did not receive their orders because of the app’s unavailability were offered a swipe refund.
Dining anticipates the app will resume service for the dinner meal period, it said in the statement.
“We understand that the app being down for two consecutive days is frustrating,” Dining said in the statement. “However, at this time, we do not believe this indicates a larger issue with Transact Mobile.”
As of 6:00 p.m. Thursday, Transact Mobile was still unavailable. A live status page on the company’s website listed mobile ordering under “active incidents” and said that automatic menu updates will resume at 7:00 p.m.
“System performance continues to be positive after applying the potential fix,” the website said. “Automatic hourly menu syncs have been re-enabled and will resume at 4pm EST.”
