It was the app that captured a news cycle, stepping out of the sports realm and into the political fringe.

Tide Loyalty Points was Alabama’s answer to sagging student attendance late in football games -- one that tested the bounds of technology while sparking privacy concerns.

Six months after its launch, usage data offers a look at the effectiveness of the smartphone solution to Bryant-Denny Stadium’s emptying bleachers.

In the five home games the app functioned properly, and temperatures didn’t cause safety concerns, 49.7 percent of the students who scanned into games participated in the program. The data for the Tide Loyalty Points program was provided to AL.com through a public records request.

Just showing up, however, isn’t the main idea. It was staying in the stadium for the fourth quarters of games that haven’t always been competitive.

The percentage of students who participated in the program and stayed four quarters stood at 67.2 percent. The data does not include the season opener against New Mexico State or the Sept. 28 visit from Ole Miss when the app failed and weather didn’t cooperate, respectively.

So, was the program a success?

“We thought it was a good step this year, yes,” Alabama athletics director Greg Byrne said in an interview with AL.com. “I think we have to try to find solutions and we appreciate our student leadership being proactive with it.”

Of the five games measured, the Nov. 9 showdown with LSU had the highest retention rate. Of the 6,325 app users who attended, 77 percent remained in the fourth quarter. Alabama trailed 33-20 and was knocking on the door for another touchdown when the third quarter ended. The Tide lost, 46-41 to the eventual national champions.

The next-best fourth-quarter attendance was for the Oct. 19 Tennessee game when the new lighting system debuted. The 35-13 Alabama win that saw quarterback Tua Tagovailoa sprain his ankle kept 72.6 of the app users still in the stadium for the final 15 minutes.

Game Total students Loyalty scans Stayed 4 quarters % who stayed 4 So. Miss. 8,884 6,087 3,512 57.7% Tennessee 14,714 6,403 4,646 72.6% Arkansas 12,716 5,701 3,433 60.2% LSU 14,229 6,325 4,917 77.7% W. Carolina 6,253 3,701 2,458 66.4% Totals 56,796 28,217 18,966 67.2%

The app malfunctioned Week 1 due to overloaded servers incapable of handling the demand. All students who swiped in got credit for four quarters of attendance along with those at the Ole Miss game. With a 2:30 p.m. kickoff temperature of 91 degrees, the school agreed to give all attendees full credit instead of forcing overheated students to stay after dozens of fans were treated for heat-related issues at the New Mexico State game.

The idea was to accumulate points as a reward that students could use to access postseason tickets. Attending a game was worth 100 points while staying four quarters added another 250.

There was no reason to doubt the accuracy of the beacon technology used to assure the students remained four quarters, said Alabama’s associate AD for ticketing, Chris Besanceney. Proof of attendance could come in the form of a time stampe receipt or photo from inside the stadium with the scoreboard visible and/or a game-specific Snapchat filter.

Besanceney said appeals went down as the season progressed and students became familiar with the app.

The points-based rewards program was one of a few steps Alabama took to help boost attendance following a downward national trend. Bringing back Dixieland Delight in 2018 was aimed at keeping students in the stadium since it’s played during a timeout in the fourth quarter. The new lighting last year added to the party-feel of night games while enhanced student offerings are part of the Bryant-Denny Stadium renovation scheduled for completion before the 2020 season.

Bryant-Denny Stadium at the beginning of the second half of Alabama's game with Ole Miss in 2019.Photo by Michael Casagrande | mcasagrande@al.com

Each of these steps followed Nick Saban’s now famous scolding of students after a 2018 win over Louisiana-Lafayette.

"I don't think they're entitled to anything either," Saban said in 2018. "Me personally, I think it ought to be first come, first served. And if they don't want to come to the game, they don't have to come but I'm sure there's enough people out here who would like to come to the games

Only 6,848 total tickets were scanned for the 17,000-seat student section for that 11 a.m. kickoff. A week later, a season-high 14,854 student tickets were scanned for the Missouri night game that included the highly anticipated return of Dixieland Delight.

The Tide Loyalty Points program arrived a year later. Its launch came with a few hiccups and amplified attention on the privacy aspect of the app. Its creator, FanMaker, had to increase its server capacity to handle the usage that crashed the system in the New Mexico State game.

“We knew it would evolve as we understood how that worked because you can test it all you want,” Byrne said, “but until you test it at capacity, then you understand where the things aren’t working and where the challenges are.”

RELATED: Changes coming after Alabama app to increase student attendance crashed

On hand for the NMSU game to cover the new world of beacon-based attendance tracking was a reporter from the New York Times. Its story published Sept. 12 came with the headline “Orwellabama? Crimson Tide Track Locations to Keep Students at Games.” That lead to spin-off stories outside of the sports sphere from outlets including The Hill and Yahoo Finance. A piece in Forbes, however, tamped down some of the privacy concerns presented in other coverage.

“We had zero interest in where they were going outside of the stadium,” Byrne said last week. “All we want to know is if they’re in the stadium and they’re there for the entire game.”

Efforts were made to educate students on how to turn off the location tracking elements of the app when it was not in use on game day.

Overall, Byrne said they were “very pleased” with Year 1 of the Tide Loyalty Points app. They learned about the need for adequate servers and the flexibility needed September day games create health concerns.

“You don’t create a trend overnight and you don’t reverse a trend overnight,” Byrne said. “And I think we’re making some good steps on educating and encouraging. But we’re going to have to continue to focus on that.”

Read more:

-- Alabama set to release app to encourage commitment from student fans

-- Changes coming after Alabama app to increase student attendance crashed

-- Alabama players react to Dixieland Delight, LB bummed some did it ‘wrong way’