Android app now (truly) ready for testing \o/

Tutor
1

Yesterday I managed to close issue https://github.com/regisb/tutor/issues/89 which prevented anyone from really using the Android app built with Tutor. Now, it would be great if people could start playing with the app-building feature. In particular, I’m interested in the answer to these questions:

  1. Do people really want the Android app or can I just remove this feature from Tutor? Less code means less maintenance and less work for me :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:
  2. Currently, the app icon is the same as the app from edX, which causes a serious branding issue. Should I work on fixing that?
  3. Do people want to release their app to the Android app store? (again: should I work on that?)

Thanks for your feedback!

2 Likes
2

Yes , most people access via phones so definitely makes sense to have the android version as a feature for tutor.

Cheers
Akio

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Hi @akio! Did you try the android app?

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Each context will have a mobile-first or desktop preference. In my context, yes. Most of the students are more comfortable accessing web data on a mobile device. A majority of the first-year students do not have their own laptop or desktops. It is more common for a student to have a desktop at home and then use their mobile device everywhere else.

I really wanted the mobile app to work. In truth, the mobile app does not work well. It crashes frequently, and I see a page with the error to check my internet connection with the AJAX spinner. Additionally, the mobile app does not support some content types. Furthermore, the app does not play youtube videos natively. Instead, it redirects the user to view it on youtube.

From my limited testing, using Chrome or another mobile browser provides a better experience than the mobile app in the current state.

My opinion is for you to focus on the main features of Tutor and add improvements to edX, such as additional plugins. The web-view using a mobile browser is good enough.

If the Android app functions better than the mobile browser, then having a single Tutor-branded app in Google Play is my preference. Branding is not a problem. Honestly, I don’t want to go through the hassle of releasing a custom version. A generic Open edX or Tutor logo will suffice. Perhaps upon opening the app, the user could type in the URL the instance and then login.

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This is very useful feedback, thanks @tony-h.

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Hi !
I have almost this same issue with android app.


Solution is given there but I do not know how should I apply that in tutor.
Any idea ?

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@nadheemabdulla

Yes!

I found the solution on https://openedx.slack.com/archives/C0F0NA2F5/p1542608835007800

Basically we have to register the application with a different grant_type

To do this, access:

    login?next=/_o/applications/register/
    Client secret: android's Client secret
    Client type: Public
    Authorization grant type: Resource owner password-based

And save

I tested this on the latest release of edx-app-android (release / 2.21.1) and it worked perfectly

2 Likes
8

@ejklock It worked !

Thank you soooo much !

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If one of you can create a PR on Tutor to automatically add a grant during initialization, I’ll be happy to merge it. You will probably have to modify the tutor/templates/hooks/lms/init file.

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@regis
We have to create a dot_application. It is mandatory to inform the user.
Is there a problem using login_service_user?

./manage.py lms create_dot_application public --client-id androidapp --client-secret {{ ANDROID_OAUTH2_SECRET }} --grant-type password login_service_user