June 2026: A smarter search experience, a sharper AI assistant & a stronger Admin Portal
Across June we made search across the student apps faster, cleaner and fully rolled out, gave the AI assistant a broader knowledge base and steadier performance, added automatic context in the Chat Centre, and upgraded the Admin Portal with new tools, security improvements and a round of fixes.
A round-up of everything we shipped across June 2026 — a better search experience for students, a sharper AI assistant, a more helpful Chat Centre, and a stronger, more secure Admin Portal.
Smarter Search
More relevant suggestions as you type. When students search for a city or university on the Mini Program, suggestions are now ranked by relevance, so the place they’re looking for appears at the top of the list instead of buried further down.
Cleaner, more accurate university listings. Duplicate university records have been removed and property-to-university links corrected behind the scenes, so students see consistent, accurate university information in their results.
Cleaner empty searches. When a student clears the search box, results now reset cleanly instead of lingering on leftover or unrelated entries — making it easier to start fresh.
Sold-out rooms stay out of the way. Search suggestions now skip rooms that are already sold out, so students only see options they can actually book.
Rolling out across the student apps. These search improvements are being rolled out gradually to different student Mini Programs, so more students get a faster, more consistent way to find the right property as each app comes on board.
Chat Centre
Customer details fill in automatically. Conversations in the Chat Centre now pull in the relevant customer details on their own, so the team has the context they need from the very first message instead of looking it up manually.
Admin Portal
VIVA AI
A broader knowledge base. VIVA AI now draws on an expanded set of reference documents, giving students more accurate and complete answers — including questions about transfers and payments.
More dependable during busy periods. Behind-the-scenes improvements mean VIVA AI stays responsive and reliable even when lots of students are using it at the same time, so answers keep coming through smoothly.
Portal updates
A faster, more modern foundation. The Admin Portal has been upgraded to the latest version of its underlying framework, improving performance and paving the way for upcoming enhancements.
What’s New, right from the header. A new “What’s New?” item in the help menu lets you open the latest Vivacity product updates from any page without leaving what you’re working on.
Your dashboard date range is remembered. The date range you select on the dashboard is now saved and restored automatically next time you visit, so you don’t have to set it again each session.
Strengthened account security. Several rounds of security improvements were rolled out across the portal — including read-only sign-in connection settings to prevent accidental changes, and automatic sign-out and redirect to the login screen when a session expires — keeping your account and data better protected.
Clearer tracking setup. When setting up tracking, the dialog now shows the correct Mini Program name, making it easier to confirm you’re configuring the right app.
Several fixes were also shipped across the Admin Portal this month. Campaign tracking links and duplicated form fields on tracking pages were corrected; time totals and a form-field overlap in Managed Services were fixed; a stray clear button on read-only university fields was removed; selecting a location from the map now saves the address correctly; publishing an article no longer triggers an incorrect sync; and navigation across property, room and related-property pages — breadcrumbs and the parent property tab bar — has been restored, alongside a set of stability fixes to prevent occasional crashes. No action needed.