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What's new

The What's New component gives the VA Health & Benefits app a consistent, lightweight way to surface meaningful updates to Veterans. This page covers when to use it, how to structure content, and what you need to do to get your update shipped.

Purpose​

Use the What's New component to inform Veterans of new or meaningfully improved functionality in the app. Content must be short and scannable — it should inform, not instruct. What's New is intentionally brief so Veterans can quickly understand what changed without being pulled away from the task they came to complete.

Do not use What's New to explain how a feature works, and do not use it for minor bug fixes or backend changes.

When to Use​

Use What's New when:

  • A feature is brand new and has not previously existed in the app
  • An existing feature has been meaningfully improved or expanded

Content Structure​

What's New is made up of three pieces. Each has a character limit to keep content concise and display-safe across device sizes.

A plain-language summary of the new or updated feature.

  • Character limit: 35

Description​

Additional context explaining what changed and why it matters to the Veteran. Use up to 3 bullets if needed. Do not include instructions for how to use the feature.

  • Character limit: 200

Call to Action (CTA)​

A direct, specific action that takes the Veteran to the new feature. Avoid vague text like "Learn more." A primary button is used to take the user to the feature page.

  • Character limit: 35

Tone & Language​

All What's New content should be:

  • Clear and neutral — write for Veterans, not internal audiences
  • Plain language — target an 8th–9th grade reading level
  • Familiar but not condescending — assume baseline familiarity with mobile apps

Avoid marketing language, technical or internal terminology, and unexplained acronyms.

Accessibility​

  • Write descriptive CTAs that make sense out of context
  • Use plain language throughout
  • Structure bullets properly — do not rely on formatting alone to convey meaning

Display Rules​

What's New shows when:

  • There are updates that the user hasn't dismissed yet
    • Up to 10 cards are shown
    • Only the most recent cards are shown
  • There is a new version of the app available (encouraged update nudge)

Veterans may dismiss What's New cards individually, the encouraged update card self-dismisses if the app is up to date. If all What's New content has been dismissed the component self-dismisses and doesn't show until new content is available.

Release Notes​

When a new version of the app is released to the Apple App Store or Google Play, a summary of changes for that version is published as release notes. What's New content serves as the foundation for these notes, with the call to action omitted. Release notes may expand slightly on the description for clarity, but should stay consistent in tone and language with What's New.

Examples​

See examples of What's New content here.

See the following screenshots of the UI of the What's New feature in the app:

A screenshot showing the updated What's New experience.

Workflow​

Follow these steps whenever your feature requires a What's New entry:

  1. Draft content within the character limits for header, description, and CTA
  2. Write for the full UX — language should reflect the end-to-end Veteran experience of the new or improved feature
  3. Review with stakeholders — content must be approved by Core Mobile and all relevant VA stakeholders to ensure accuracy and appropriate language
  4. Validate accessibility — confirm CTAs are descriptive, bullets are structured correctly, and plain language standards are met
  5. Include in the release candidate — finalized What's New content must be part of the release candidate before the version ships. This content will also be used in the app store release notes.

How to display What's New​

What's new is displayed based on the WhatsNewConfig, which contains an array of feature names and optional flags and authorized services.

featureName will be mapped to the translation file by convention to display body content, bullet points, and links
featureFlag will prevent this feature from being displayed unless that flag is on for the user
authorizedService will prevent this feature from being displayed the user has that authorized service
bullets optional value for the number of bullets to show with this entry. Maps to <featureName>.bullet.<number> translation keys for content
hasLink Whether there is a link to display at the bottom of the entry. Maps to <featureName>.link.url and <featureName>.link.text

If the user dismisses the What's New alert and a flag or service later enables that feature, it will appear again with that feature's content.