Moodle app FAQ

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Existe documentación diferente para varias versiones de Moodle: Esta documentación es para Moodle 3.7 y más recientes, pero existe una página antigua en 30/Moodle Mobile FAQ

Nuevos Planes para Moodle App Plans (a partir del 2 de Abril del 2020)

Por favor vea el anuncio oficial: Introducing our new Moodle App plans

¿La App sigue siendo gratuita para descargar y usar?

Si; la App misma es gratuita. Students and teachers who use the Moodle app will never pay any fees. Moodle site administrators can choose to sign up for a plan.

¿Pueden explicarme las diferentes limitaciones?

First and most important, the limitations are applied on a site basis.

• Basic custom branding via CSS: Site admins can upload a CSS file with basic styles for the app. The styles will only be applied on Premium sites. See Moodle app guía para administradores for more information about this functionality.
• Number of active devices for mobile push notifications: Calculated monthly, this is the number of user devices actively receiving push notifications from the site. For example, for a site with 100 users enrolled, if half of them are using the app with one device configured to receive notifications, the potential number of active devices per month will be 50. In the Free plan, where the limit is set to 50, only the first 50 devices in a month will receive notifications from the site.
• Offline access to content: Complete courses available offline. Contents downloaded individually will be still available offline, but the user will be able to download complete courses for offline access to a certain limit depending on the plan.
• Customisable app features: These are app features that can be configured via the Moodle site administration tools (Moodle app section). For details, see Moodle app guía para administradores#Características deshabilitadas.

Soy un cliente de un Moodle Partner. ¿Esto me afecta?

If your Moodle site is hosted by a Moodle Partner, the changes will not affect you. However, if your Moodle Partner doesn't host your site, you may need to sign up for a plan, move to MoodleCloud or ask your Moodle Partner to host your site from April 2020 onwards.

Soy un profesor o un estudiante. ¡Tengo que hacer algo respecto a mi Moodle app?

No, you don’t have to do anything. We are notifying site administrators about the upcoming changes so they can take action if necessary.

¿Tendré que instalar una nueva App a pertir del 2 de abril del 2020?

No, the app will remain the same, but depending on the plan your institution has signed up for, you may have limited access to certain functionalities.

¿Cómo se si necesito actualizar a un Plan de Moodle App?

If you are using MoodleCloud or your site is hosted by a Moodle Partner, you won’t be affected by these changes. Otherwise, in the last week of March 2020, site administrators will be provided with a link to the Moodle App Portal, where they will be able to register their site and obtain information such as the number of active devices receiving push notifications during the last month.

Site administrators should also check if they are using any of the “Customisable app features” (via Site administration > Mobile app > Mobile app features) as continued use will require upgrading to a plan.

¿Necesito apuntarme al plan gratuito para poder usar la App?

No, though we encourage all site administrators to sign up in our Moodle Apps portal in order to obtain information about active devices receiving push notifications.

¿Cómo puedo actualizar a uno de los planes?

During the last week of March 2020, site administrators will be provided with a link to the Moodle App Portal, where they will be able to sign up for a plan.

Remember that you can also migrate to a MoodleCloud plan, ask a Moodle Partner to host your site or build your own version of the app using the open source code.

¿Cómo pago un plan?

For activation of any of the paid plans, you will need to make a credit card payment, PayPal will be also supported.

For payments via bank transfer to Moodle Pty Ltd, a minimum of a two years Premium subscription will be required (so we can cover all the administrative work and bank fees). Once you've chosen this method, the Premium plan will be automatically activated (only during March and April this year). Notice that you'll have 4 weeks for processing payment. If after those 4 weeks we haven't received the payment yet, the plan will be canceled and you will get back to the free plan and penalties can be applied in further payments.

Will students lose access to the app if we don’t upgrade straight away on 2 April 2020?

No, students will still be able to use the app. Depending on the size of your installation, your use of push notifications and the use of customised features, your students may stop receiving notifications or no longer be able to use specific features.

Si somos una ONG o una organización no lucrativa, ¿Necesitamos actualizar? ¡Necesitamos pagar?

We will create a process to ensure that NGOs and non-profit organisations do not need to pay and can benefit from our Premium Plan. Upon receipt of the necessary documentation and validation from Moodle HQ, organisations will have full access. Please note though that the verification process may take several weeks. Public universities, colleges and schools are not eligible for this.

Is this affecting only certain Moodle versions?

The changes will affect all the Moodle versions supported by the app (Moodle 3.1 onward)

¿Qué pasa con los sitios que no están registrados con Moodle?

We recommend all site administrators to register their site in order to receive important notifications about the product. Moreover, the validation process to sign up for a plan will be easier.

Con los nuevos planes que vendrán, ¿hay algún acmbio que potencialmente afectará la privacidad de los usuarios?

No.

Estudiantes

¿Cómo puedo obtener la 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.

To ensure that the Moodle app functions properly, please double-check that you have correctly entered the URL address of the Moodle site you are using (please visit I can’t find my Moodle site in the app). If you are experiencing difficulties connecting to your site, please contact the person or team who takes care of Moodle in your school or learning organisation. Please note the app only works with Moodle sites that have been set up to allow it, and that are running on at least Moodle 3.5.

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.

¿Porqué no puedo subir mi Tarea a la app?

Consulte a su administrador de Moodle.

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?

Vea Sincronización de Moodle app.

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.

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).

In recent Moodle versions, the previous value can be configured in Site Administration > Mobile app authentication > Minimum time between auto-login requests

The Moodle app might seem slow (especially on Android devices)

There are several factors that could be causing this issue. It could be due to outdated or underperforming devices, or perhaps there are too many applications open, causing limited memory in your mobile device.

I use LineageOS and I'm having problems using the app

LineageOS uses a different WebView implementation not compatible vith the app. You need to install "Android System WebView" from Google Play (or via a trusted apk) and enabling it via Settings > Developer options > WebView implementation.

Los paquetes H5P y contenidos externos incrustados vía iframes no están funcionando en iOS

This is caused by a new feature of iOS 14 called ITP that blocks cookies for external sites embedded in the app (the H5P content is played embedded in an iframe pointing to the Moodle website) unless the user enables a setting in the app to allow those cookies.

The quick workaround is to enable the setting "Allow Cross-Website Tracking" available via the Settings app (look for the Moodle app, at the bottom) on your iPhone/iPad with iOS 14.

No puedo reproducir audio que fue grabado en el navegador en dispositivos iOS (iPhones e iPads)

Este comportamiento está relacinado con este problema en Moodle LMS : https://tracker.moodle.org/browse/MDL-80114

No recibo notificaciones del calendario (recordatorios) cuando uso Android 12 o superior

In order to receive calendar notifications you need to allow alarms and reminders for the Moodle app. To do this:

• Open Android Settings and go to the Moodle app settings. Another way to reach these settings is by long-clicking the Moodle app icon and pressing "App info".
• Make sure that Notifications are enabled.
• If you see a section called "Alarms & reminders", make sure it is Allowed (this setting is disabled by default in Android 14+).

Profesores

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

See the section 'Media download for offline usage' in Crear cursos amistosos para mobile.

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 Recurso URL.

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). If that still doesn't work, make sure your server allows it by using this rule: X-Frame-Options "ALLOWALL"

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). If that still doesn't work, make sure your server allows it by using this rule: X-Frame-Options "ALLOWALL"

H5P packages don't work on my site

You need to enable this admin setting "Allow frame embedding" (allowframembedding admin setting). If that still doesn't work, make sure your server allows it by using this rule: X-Frame-Options "ALLOWALL"

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

This might be caused because:

• The SCORM was added using an advanced option (remote imsmanifest.xml packages or file system repository unzipped SCORMS)
• The SCORM ZIP file was created using a tool that does not create standardised ZIP files (for example, zip files containing the inverted path separator "\" will not work on Android)

Please refer to Moodle app SCORM player for additional information.

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 Filtro de notación TeX 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

My images, videos or audios stop working after the first time

Please make sure the URL you're using on the media file doesn't have any redirect (e.g. http to https), always try to use the final URL. There's a bug in the library we use to download those files, it doesn't work when downloading files with redirects. We have plans to remove that library from the app, but since then please always try to use URLs without redirects.

Administradores

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

How can I disable features in the app?

Please go to Site administration > Mobile features > Disabled features and select all the features you want to disable.

To select multiple features you will have to use Ctrl (Cmd in Mac) + Click

How can I add custom menu items in the app?

You can add custom additional menu items in the "more" menu of the app, the one represented by three consecutive dots.

Please go to Site administration > Mobile features > Custom menu items and follow the instructions in Moodle app guide for admins for the correct format to use.

As a quick example:

 Academy information|https://yoursite.com/mod/page/view.php?id=X |app|en|home

How can I customise the language strings in the app?

Please go to Site administration > Mobile features > Custom language strings and follow the instructions in Moodle app guide for admins for the format to use.

As a quick example:

core.user.student|Learner|en
core.user.student|Aprendiz|es

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. Depuración 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.
6. If you are using a web application firewall like AWS WAF, StackPath, Barracuda, Cloudflare, Juniper, etc... try to temporary disable it to check if that's the cause. If so, you'll have to whitelist these endpoints: login/token.php, webservice/*, lib/ajax/*, and /tokenpluginfile.php

You can also add WAF rules to allow traffic by detecting the app user agent such as: (http.user_agent contains "MoodleMobile")

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 guía para administradores 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 register your site on the Moodle Apps Portal https://apps.moodle.com once your site is registered there, an Airnotifier access key will be automatically generated for you.

Push notifications are not working

Please check Mobile app notifications#Troubleshooting

The Moodle app does not connect to MoodleBox (or other internal self-hosted systems)

You will need to disable SSL to make the app works, please see this forum discussion for more information: https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=424353#p1739474

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.

See also a post explaining how multi-lang works in the Moodle app: Re: Language selector missing in Moodle app

Changes made to a Moodle site URL can cause logged-in users’ data to fail when synchronising.

We recommend that administrators manually log out all users after a site rename. If your site URL changes and have site users that are using the mobile Moodle App we suggest the following:

• For users that have not yet logged in - we recommend sending them the new URL
• For users already using the mobile Moodle App and potentially logged in request them to:
  • log out of the mobile Moodle App,
  • delete the old site, and
  • log in using the new URL

Logged in Moodle users can continue working with the previous URL (with cached information) but they will not be able to synchronise the new information (therefore not receiving new information from their teachers, and teachers not receiving data or submissions from those students).

• To avoid the risk of data not synchronising, we recommend the site administrator logs out all app users, by manually deleting their tokens:
  • Go to Site administration
  • Click Server
  • Click Web services
  • Click Manage tokens
  • Delete the tokens

Take into account that you still need to request your users to log in using the new URL.

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.

Any further questions?

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