Android App and Uploading etc

Android App and Uploading etc

by Andrew Steele -
Number of replies: 4

I was recently doing some work with a group of trainers who wanted to get to grips with using Moodle with mobile devices. Their group of learners are using mobile devices - often as their first point of contact with the Internet.

So I recommended that we try out the Moodle App.

This was largely unsuccessful since quite often the app dropped the user back to the browser to carry out particular interactions eg: uploading a video created on the phone could not uploaded without going to a thr bowser, logging into the website (rather than the app) and then uploading in the browser.

This was quite counter intuitive.  The group suggested that, at the very least, the app should pass the user credentials onto the browser to avoid having to log in a second time.

Also, the sudden change in theme from the app to the website was misleading and confusing. Perhaps a mobile theme is needed which matches the app interface...

Hope the feedback is helpful.

Andrew


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In reply to Andrew Steele

Re: Android App and Uploading etc

by Juan Leyva -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Moodle HQ Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers

Hello Andrew,

thanks a lot for your feedback, we really appreciate it. We are aware of this problem.

The main problem with passing user credentials onto the browser (that we usually call SSO - Single Sign On) is that Moodle doesn't support a SSO mechanism.

Any new feature in the Mobile app usually requires changes or new development in Moodle (like new web services, new settings, etc...) in this case Moodle is willing to change the SSO mechanism from Mnet to SAML, once is supported in Moodle we will add support to it in the app.

We are also working in a new version of the app, that will come with User Interface and improvements so the user experience will be improved and the mobile app will match the Moodle interface, see http://prototype.moodle.net/mobile/moodlemobile2/ for a demo

Regards, Juan

In reply to Juan Leyva

Re: Android App and Uploading etc

by Dave Perry -
Picture of Testers

I like the look of that v2 app muchos. We are doing a moodle upgrade over summer (minimum 2.7, hopefully 2.8 as autosave in the editor is very attractive) - I assume we'll need to add the local_mobile plugin to get the full features out of the app still?

In reply to Dave Perry

Re: Android App and Uploading etc

by Juan Leyva -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Moodle HQ Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers

Hi David,

yep, you will need the local_mobile plugin for the latest features. We are working hard for adding lots of new Web Services in Moodle 3.0 but local_mobile will be always necessary if you want the latest features available (without having to upgrade your complete Moodle instance)

Regards, Juan