iphone app question

david.cottrell

October 31, 2011, 01:27 AM posted in General Discussion

I'm not sure if this is the where q/a goes ...

what's the best way to use the iphone app? I will likely be mostly interacting with CP through my iphone since I'm not always by my computer. The lessons download one by one ... I would rather grab many all at once, when I'm on my wifi at home, rather than click and wait for things to download over 3G.

Is there an obvious feature or iphone usage scenario I'm missing?

Thanks.

robertslattery

November 01, 2011, 03:28 AM

I agree. I downloaded a bunch of lessons using wifi thinking that I could access them later. Unless I misunderstand though, it seems that I then need to go on line in order to access the lessons I already downloaded. Off line, I can only access the lessons on the first page of the self study section.

This first page is also cluttered up with the lessons I chose not to download so the off line access is limited to only a few lessons that I am interested in.

I know that the lessons are on my phone still because, next time I log on, I can access them without downloading again. It would be great if there was a section for downloaded lessons that I could access off line.

The other problem I have is that, if I follow the instructions and bookmark or subscribe to lessons I am interested in, using the Self Study tab in the dashboard on this site, the content in the iphone app is not filtered as claimed in the help section.

The app is handy when you are on-line but it would be really great if you could access the files already down loaded. Can some one let me know if I am missing something?

jcheinbockel

November 01, 2011, 06:44 AM

Hey guys,

Syncing the lesson list seems to be pretty buggy in our app, and the app team is working on it for future releases.

I think what we're seeing in this case is two separate issues.

First, syncing the lesson feed is not the same as downloading a lesson. Syncing just gives you the updated lesson list, and you'll still have to open the individual lessons to download the content.

Second, we've seen a lot of cases of the lesson list syncing correctly, but with incorrect labels. For example, one user complained she was not receiving QingWen podcasts, but they were actually just labelled as "Intermediate" in her feed. This is, of course, still wrong, but it's possible something similar is happening with you guys getting incorrect lessons in your feed.

robertslattery

Hi jcheinbockel, your reply doesn't seem to address the issues raised above which is about off-line access...

It seems like you are responding to a different issue about synching...

jcheinbockel

Hi Robert,

I'm sorry. I might have misunderstood the question. I've received several emails from users who have confused syncing and downloading, which I thought might be the culprit here.

Once a lesson is downloaded, it should be accessible offline. I just tested this out and had no trouble.

However, it's important to be sure that not just the lesson, but the lesson files, have been downloaded. When you've opened the lesson, you should then open the "Listen" tab to download the lesson audio file.

If you log out of the app, the audio files are supposed to automatically delete. However, simply leaving a Wifi area should not change anything.

Best,

robertslattery

Hi thanks for replying but I think I we are still not clear.

I can only see one page of lessons when off line.

The lessons on this page are the ones pushed by your system.

Some of the lessons I downloaded are among these lessons on the first page.

I don't know how to control which lessons are on the first page.

The "More" button at the bottom of the page does not work when off-line so I can not see more than one page.

Most of the lessons I downloaded are not accessible to me because they are not on the first page which is visible off line.

Am I missing something or is this the way it works?

jcheinbockel

That's pretty much how it works.

The lessons that appear on the first page should correspond exactly with the lessons on your Dashboard. The most recently published lessons and bookmarked lessons will be at the top, always. The only way to control which lessons appear on the first page is to use the "Bookmark" and "Mark as Studied" tools, which you need to do on the website.

Syncing only collects data from the top of the feed. The "more" button requires you to be online because it's searching for more data.

robertslattery

Yes, that is how I described it in my original post.

I also wrote exactly why I have a problem with the way it currently works and suggested some improvements.

Please read my original post and consider it as a suggestion for improving the app.

Are there any plans to improve the app?

jcheinbockel

We are working on updating the apps generally, but right now the big focus is on a dedicated tablet app. No word yet on a release date, though.

he2xu4

November 05, 2011, 05:00 PM

I noticed I sometimes can't access flashcards offline, but if I access them while online, either via wifi or 3g and then go offline and leave the app alone (eg not close it) I can access them.

jcheinbockel

Hi Hexu,

This is normal. Your flashcard list needs to sync every time you log out, since logging out should clear the data.

miskat

Does closing the application mean that I log out and the data is cleared?

(In situation where I do not have internet access) Turn on iPad -> open ChinesePod app -> Flashcards -> "No Internet Connection", "Sorry, there was an error."

Why does the app not keep a local copy of the flashcard data for offline use?

jcheinbockel

I believe you're only logged out if you go into "Options" and choose "Logout" or if you turn off your device. Simply returning to your iPhone's menu shouldn't log you out.

miskat

Ok. So basically it is impossible to use the Flashcards in offline mode unless one keeps the iPad always on.

I have to admit that this does not make any sense to me. Why is it designed this way?

jcheinbockel

I tested this out just now on the office iPod, and I wasn't logged out by turning the app off, and my flash cards were still there (even with a Wifi-less reboot).

miskat

In my case unfortunately it does not work like that. Actually right now it is impossible to even log into the app.

I am using iPad2 with iOS4.

miskat

Clearing the cache of the Safari browser solved the authentication problem. Thanks for the person who recommended that in another discussion :-)

miskat

Actually the cache clearing seemed to also solve the Flash cards not available while offline problem too! 我很高兴。

miskat

@#$%@#^@

This morning again... "Turn on iPad -> open ChinesePod app -> Flashcards -> "No Internet Connection", "Sorry, there was an error."

Same thing with the lessons or anything I choose: "No Internet Connection", "Sorry, there was an error."

jcheinbockel

I wrote this in a different feed earlier, but I'll share it here, too.

I think it's possibly a comparability issue, since the app is really designed for the iPhone. Hopefully the dedicated app for tablets should fix this.