A city app for everything and everyone

‘Istanbul belongs to you’ is how the ‘Istanbul Senin SuperApp’ can be translated – and the name is really apt. Five years ago, the Turkish metropolis decided to combine all its municipal services and offerings in one app so that citizens would no longer be left to fend for themselves with information scattered across multiple websites. The result is a real success story, said Abdullah Uygun, CTO of the app, at SCCON 2025. According to Uygun, around 95,000 people work in Istanbul's city administration, around 40 subsidiaries are part of the municipal services, and until the app was introduced, the services were scattered across thousands of websites and countless apps.

Inform, organise, book and pay

Now, people in Istanbul can use the app to organise pretty much everything their city has to offer: check public transport timetables and activate tickets, apply for grants, book sporting events or make doctor's appointments, use free Wi-Fi in the city or notify emergency services by taking a photo if a cat is stuck up a tree. Since its launch four years ago, almost a quarter of the city's approximately 16 million residents have already registered with the app. It is used by around one million people every month.

The app was developed by the German software company KOBIL from Worms, whose solutions are trusted by Deutsche Bank, ING, Siemens, Mastercard and DATEV, among others. The Istanbul Senin app is designed so that users must first register with their ID card and real data. This data is protected in the SuperApp shell. At the same time, a payment function, an e-signature and chat functions are offered there securely. The administration has connected to this structure, and external companies can also dock with ‘mini’ apps. Ninety companies are already on board.

Next, Istanbul Senin should also be made available to tourists who can identify themselves with a passport, said Uyagun. And after that, it will probably be rolled out in other Turkish cities.