Moodle app FAQ

Students

How can I get the Moodle app?

The Moodle app is available for free from Google Play and the Apple Store. See Moodle app downloads for links. You can also install the app directly from your mobile device by searching for 'Moodle app' with author/owner 'Moodle Pty Ltd'.

I can't get the app to work. What do I do?

The Moodle app will ONLY work with Moodle sites that have been set up to allow it. Please talk to your Moodle administrator if you have any problems connecting.

What permissions does the app require?

The app requires the following permissions:

• Record audio - for uploading to your Moodle site
• Read and modify the contents of your SD card - for content to be downloaded to your SD Card for offline access.
• Network access - to be able to connect with your Moodle site and check if you are connected, and if not to switch to offline mode.
• Run at startup - to receive local notifications even when the app is running in the background.
• Prevent phone from sleeping - to receive push notifications anytime.

I can't see my course on the app. What do I do?

Check with your course tutor that you are correctly enrolled.

Why can't I upload my assignment on the app?

Check with your Moodle site administrator.

Why can't I sometimes access the app or submit anything to it?

This could be because of interruptions in your internet connection. Wait a while and try again. If you continue to have problems, contact your Moodle site administrator.

Is there a space limit on my files?

Assignments will have a size limit which you can see. For other space limit questions, check with your Moodle site administrator.

Who should I contact for help with the app?

Your Moodle site administrator can assist you in getting the app to work correctly.

When are activities completed offline synchronized?

See Moodle app synchronization.

Why the site is asking for my username and password when an activity is opened in the browser?

Auto-login from the app is only supported in sites using Moodle 3.2 onwards. Also, for security reasons, between auto-logins you must wait 6 minutes (this should not be a problem because most of the browsers will keep your Moodle session open).

Teachers

How can I enable videos in my course to be downloaded?

See the section 'Media download for offline usage' in Creating Moodle-app-friendly courses.

Video subtitles are not working

This may happen in old Android versions (Android < 4.4), in modern Android and iOS versions they should work fine.

Which course format is it best to use?

Topics or weekly course format is best suited to mobile devices.

How do I make YouTube links open automatically in the app?

Add YouTube links as a URL resource.

Why can't my students see their courses?

If you or an administrator have correctly enrolled them in a course, they can see it in their mobile app. If they are correctly enrolled but can still not see their course, ask them to check with your Moodle site administrator.

I can't mark assignments in the app

If you are experiencing problems when grading, please review that you are using the correct decimal separators (if the app interface is in English, you must use a period).

What communications tools can I use in the app to engage with my learners?

See Mobile app notifications. Chat, forums and messaging are all supported by the app.

My protected Vimeo videos are not playing in the app

Vimeo protected videos should work on Moodle 3.3.4 onwards, please note that you need to enable this admin setting "Allow frame embedding" (allowframembedding admin setting).

You may also use Bootstrap responsive classes: https://getbootstrap.com/docs/4.0/utilities/embed/, for example,

For older versions, see this forum discussion with a workaround: https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=327342

ReCaptcha doesn't work on my site

You need to enable this admin setting "Allow frame embedding" (allowframembedding admin setting).

I use a Moodle plugin but the app says it is not supported

You should contact the plugin developer and point him to this documentation: https://docs.moodle.org/dev/Moodle_Mobile_Remote_addons where it is explained how to add support to plugins in the Mobile app.

There is a list of Moodle plugins supported by the app here: https://moodle.org/plugins/browse.php?list=award&id=6

I have problems playing SCORM packages

Please refer to Moodle app SCORM player.

My quizzes or lessons are not working offline

You need to edit the quiz or lesson activity settings and enable the "Allow lesson/quiz to be attempted offline using the mobile app" configuration option.

Maths notation is not displaying correctly in the app

The app doesn't yet support MathJax (see MOBILE-1611). Instead, the TeX notation filter should be enabled.

How can I disable text selection / copy in the app?

You can create a remote theme and add some custom CSS rules to disable it, see https://docs.moodle.org/dev/Moodle_Mobile_Themes

Administrators

How can I debug errors in the app?

Go to the More tab and then to Settings > General. Enable "Display debug messages". This will show an explanatory message when an error occurs, alternatively, you can do a full debugging via: https://docs.moodle.org/dev/Moodle_Mobile_debugging_WS_requests

I can connect with my iPhone but not with my Android phone

This usually happens when the site is using https and the certificate is not correctly configured or it is using an old protocol, please use these pages to check this certificate: https://www.geocerts.com/ssl_checker and https://www.ssllabs.com/ssltest/analyze.html

I can't get the app to work. What can I do?

Assuming you have enabled mobile services on your site, please check:

1. If your site uses an SSL certificate, it must be a trusted certificate, not self-signed. Please use these tools or a similar one to check that your certificate is fine: SSL Checker and SSL Server Test. All the checks must be ok, including the "Certificate Chain Complete". Otherwise the app might work on iOS but not on Android.
2. Debugging is disabled (in Site administration > Development > Debugging)
3. The ADOdb debug option is disabled if you are using the external database auth or enrolment plugin (in Plugins > Authentication > External database and in Plugins > Enrolment > External database).
4. SHA-1 https certificates are not supported anymore in Chrome, this means that the Android version of the app won't work for your site. If your site doesn't work in desktop Chrome or Chromium it won't work in the Android app. See https://blog.chromium.org/2014/09/gradually-sunsetting-sha-1.html for more information
5. If you are using IIS check that Anonymous access is not disabled for the /webservice directory.

If you still have a problem, please post in the Moodle for mobile forum.

I cannot access with old users, but I can with recently created ones!

Please, do a "Purge all caches" via the Moodle administration settings, this will solve the problem.

I can't view the courses tab as an administrator

The Moodle app only displays courses you are enrolled in. If you want to view a course as an admin, you need to enrol in it.

My Moodle site uses a SSO auth method (Shibboleth, CAS, Google OAuth, etc) and the app is not working

See the section 'Mobile authentication' in the Moodle app guide for admins for details of how to configure it.

If configured the app is still not connecting: If your site uses an SSL certificate, it must be a trusted certificate, not self-signed. Please use this tool or a similar one to check that your certificate is fine: SSL Checker. All the checks must be OK, including the "Certificate Chain Complete".

If your SSO method is unable to authenticate when using an "embedded browser" (it gives an authentication error), please check if it works with a "browser window". If it does work with the browser window then it means your SSO is performing an HTTP redirect, and these kind of redirects aren't supported by the app (the request is redirected by the browser not passing the POST parameters). Unfortunately, this is something we cannot control in the Mobile app (it can't be handled via JavaScript). For further information, see http://stackoverflow.com/questions/228225/prevent-redirection-of-xmlhttprequest and http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4168784/ajax-redirection-handling

There are only 2 possible solutions: set the authentication via a "browser window" instead of an embedded one (please notice this won't work in the Linux desktop app), or remove the redirect from the SSO auth method.

SSO is not working with my custom auth plugin

SSO should work in any plugin if the plugin handles correctly the $SESSION->wantsurl, this is the way SSO works when it is launched via the app:

• It launchs this URL https://yourmoodle/local/mobile/launch.php?service=local_mobile&passport=abc in the device browser (Moodle 3.2 onwards the URL is /tool/mobile instead local/mobile)
• If the user is not logged in, the browser will redirect the user to the login page
• If the auth plugin used implements correctly the handling of the wantsurl session var, once the user has logged in, the browser should redirect back to the https://yourmoodle/local/mobile/launch.php?service=local_mobile&passport=abc URL that will launch the mobile app via the custom URL protocol

Custom auth plugins may be failing in the last step,not redirecting back to local/mobile, this will happen only if the plugin does not support correctly the $SESSION->wantsurl.

The SAML plugin works correctly but some modifications of that plugin may not work if important lines are changed.

I am having problems requesting an airnotifier access key

If you have registered your site but are still unable to request an access key, please fill in the Airnotifier access key manual request form. (If your site is hosted so you can't obtain your siteidentifier, enter "cannot obtain" in the field.) Your site registration will be checked and you will be sent an access key in a few days if everything is correct.

Push notifications are not working

Please check Mobile app notifications#Troubleshooting

Error messages

'Can not find data record in database table external_functions'

This error usually happens due to a bad configuration or setting value in your Moodle site, please check:

1. The user quota global setting should be an integer. For more details, see the discussion How to enable Moodle Mobile App for all accounts.
2. The usermaxuploadfilesize should be an integer, please try to decrease the size. It can be configured in Site Administration > Security > Site Policies > Maximum uploaded file size. The default value (Site upload limit) depends on the PHP configuration, you might have to change the value of upload_max_filesize and post_max_size in your php.ini file.
3. The user "lang" field in the database is set to a correct value and existing language installed in the site. Some times the lang field is set via external systems to incorrect values or pointing to a language pack that was uninstalled. Please, note that to fix this you need direct access to the database and your 'user' and 'course' table.

'Cannot connect: Verify that you have typed correctly the URL and that your site uses Moodle 2.4 or later'

Please check:

1. Mobile services are enabled for the site.
2. The user is entering the correct URL for the site (see FAQ above)
3. For https sites, the certificate is valid (see FAQ above)

'We lost connection; you need to reconnect. Your token is now invalid.' on my custom version of the Moodle app

Please check:

1. You have followed all the steps listed in Moodle Mobile Developing a plugin tutorial
2. You have enabled the moodle/webservice:createtoken for the authenticated user

'No permission to create web service token for the service local_mobile' when attempting to log in as an admin

You need to create a token for the admin account (only) as follows:

1. Go to Site administration > Plugins > Web services > Manage tokens
2. Click Add
3. Enter the admin username and select 'Moodle app additional features service' (i.e. do NOT leave it as 'Moodle app web service')
4. Click the 'Save changes' button.

'Invalid response value detected' when accessing the site

The user quota global setting should be an integer. For more details, see the discussion How to enable Moodle Mobile App for all accounts.

' Invalid response value detected: Invalid external api response: the value is "", the server was expecting "raw" type"

This usually happens when there is a field with value NULL in a table in the database that should not be there. This may happen if your Moodle has been upgraded over many years and the database schema is broken.

To fix it, you can do the following:

• Detect the field that is causing the problem (it should be indicated before the error message)
• Fix the field, for example, for the password field in the lesson table: UPDATE mdl_lesson SET password = WHERE password IS NULL (remember that your table prefix can be different than mdl_)

'Invalid response value detected' when accessing My Courses or Course Overview

This usually happens when a course uses a language that isn't installed in the site. Please make sure that all courses use valid languages. This can be easily checked in the database, table "course", there is a column named "lang".

'A required parameter (username) was missing'

This may happen if your site implements HTTP redirects; the request is redirected by the browser not passing the POST parameters.

Unfortunately, this is something we cannot control in the Mobile app (it can't be handled via JavaScript). For further information, see http://stackoverflow.com/questions/228225/prevent-redirection-of-xmlhttprequest and http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4168784/ajax-redirection-handling

The solution is to change the HTTP redirect and use an HTML page with a meta tag or JavaScript redirect.

'Invalid json in request: No error'

There is a bug in Moodle 3.3 that can cause this error. Please update to Moodle 3.3.2.

'Cannot get course contents'

This usually happens when the course is using a course format plugin that was uninstalled from the server or that was not properly installed.

Please, reinstall again the course format plugin.

'Access control exception' or 'Your authentication token is invalid or has expired'

If this error appears as soon as you enter the username and password for a new site, then it probably means that the token expiration time is badly configured. This is how to fix it:

1. Go to Site administration > Security > Site security settings.
2. Find the setting named User created token duration.
3. If the value is set to 0 or it's too low, please set it back to a valid value (the default value is 12 weeks).
4. Click the 'Save changes' button.

I think I found a bug with the app. Where can I report it?

1. Log in to the Moodle Mobile tracker (you'll need to create a tracker account if you've not done so previously)
2. Check whether the issue has already been reported by doing a search
3. If not, report the bug by clicking the 'Create Issue' link at the top right of the page, selecting 'Moodle app' as the project
4. Add a detailed description providing as much information as possible (Moodle version, app version, device model and operating system, etc...), then click the Create button

How can I get the app in my language?

Setting your language

The Moodle app automatically detects your mobile's language and displays in the same language (if the translation exists). Otherwise, you can set the app language in App settings > General.

If the Moodle app is not yet available in your language, please contribute a translation! See Translating Moodle Mobile for details of what to do.

Any further questions?

Please post in the Moodle for mobile forum on moodle.org.