Problems with iphone app

xiao_liang

January 09, 2012, 11:05 AM posted in ChinesePod Mobile Apps

Hi - not sure if anyone is still monitoring this group?

I'm having a problem with the iphone app - it's bringing up the list of most recent lessons, but if I try to scroll down it loads the next 10 or so lessons, but then they disappear before you can select them. So you're basically just stuck with the top 10-15 or however many it is. You used to be able to fix it by switching off wireless, but the same thing is now happening on 3g.

Anyone else experiencing this? I'm using an iphone 4s. I'm a bit worried, as I'm supposed to be going to China again on Friday, and my last-minute study plans are being seriously crimped!

johnb

January 10, 2012, 08:14 AM

Hey xiao_liang,

Are you sure that you're using the latest version of the app? This problem existed previously, but we fixed it in 2.0.6, and AFAIK this is the first report we've had of the problem cropping up since.

xiao_liang

I don't know how to check the version - there's no update showing in the app store. I just checked, and it's letting me do it now on 3g. I don't know about wireless because I'm at work...

podster

I think there may still be some bugs even in the current version because I have noticed that sometimes if I have no connectivity at all the lesson list will go completely blank when I try to update it. It acts as if the most recent version of the list does not exist on the phone, but has to refreshed every time one uses the app. I don't know if this is how it actually works, but I have the same worry about being stranded on a long trip without beloved CPod lessons. They symptoms of the bug described here do sound like what happened to me all the time in the older version.

johnb

It should try to connect and get a new version, and then failing that use the cached version. I think what might be happening is that it's connecting, or at least thinks it's connecting, but then fails to download the data it was looking for, and instead of recognizing that the download failed just going ahead and using the bad data.

I'll take a look and see if I can figure out what's going on.

dengel29

January 12, 2012, 04:06 AM

EDIT: Sorry, my problem is EXACTLY what Xiao Liang is complaining about. However, I also don't know how to check version, and it's not showing an available updates in the iTouch or the iTunes store. Any fixes?

I've got a problem that it seems has not been brought up by others. Whenever I access my app's "Self-Study" section (using an iTouch), I'm taken to the most-recent lessons, as I should. However, as I scroll down looking for older lessons and after pressing the "more lessons" button at the bottom (or whatever that button is called), I'm shown the older lessons for only a moment, then I'm taken back to the top of the list again.

As far as I know I've got the most updated version and I'm doing everything I should be (connected to wifi, etc.) Anyways, is downloading lessons in the app the most efficient way to do it? Is there a way I can get the full lessons (including grammar, expansion, dialogue, etc.) downloaded from the chinesepod.com webpage? If so, how? If not, that would be a convenient update.

Ummm.... oh yeah, I'd love to see a feature that collects the lessons that you already started or finished into a folder for a streamlined way to return to prior lessons. Or, if that's not possible, just an indicator showing which ones have been started/finished.

Any feedback is much appreciated. Thanks

jcheinbockel

Hi,

What version of iOS are you using? Can you try uninstalling the app and trying to download again?

The only thing unavailable through the app is the exercises. Otherwise, the features are the same as the website, and in some ways they're even more accessible. I'm a big fan.

For now, no lesson management tools are available on the app, but the feature you've mentioned sounds like an interesting idea. We're always looking to add new features to the site, so we'll keep that in mind for the future.

Best,

podster

I agree the app could benefit from some tools to let you organize the content, and also to do searches.

dengel29

I'll try that and look into which version I have ASAP. Should I be able to access older (yet unstudied) lessons when not connected to wifi, or are only the most recent ones available without wifi (I'm an iTouch user, so 3g isn't available).

jcheinbockel

Lessons should only be available if you have already synced them with a connection. To get more lessons, you'll need a connection to search further back in your lesson feed. Does that help?

podster

The fact that you have to have an Internet connection to get access to your own content already stored locally on your own device is a huge design flaw in the mobile app, in my opinion. I would be really upset if I were on an airplane and about to take off on a long trip and instead of refreshing my content the app wiped out all my access to my content (as it often does) because of no Internet connection, and I had to to go stranded without my Cpod content. I really hope this gets corrected in the next version.

johnb

Podster,

The app doesn't need an internet connection to load cached content. We've tried everything we can think of to make the caching mechanism break in airplane mode, and we have yet to see it happen. Is this something that happens to you frequently? If so, is it when there is absolutely no signal (or the phone is airplane mode) or when the signal is spotty?

Thanks, and apologies again for the issues you've been seeing.

xiao_liang

January 21, 2012, 01:48 AM

Also, the app keeps crashing when I'm trying to view lines of dialogue from a lesson. Going in and out of a few lines of dialogue in the lunar birthday lesson and it chucks me out every time. iPhone 4s, latest iOS.

jcheinbockel

January 21, 2012, 06:44 AM

Hi Xiaoliang,

We've been trying to duplicate this error here in the office and as of yet cannot.

Is this problem one that's started recently?

Have you tried reinstalling the app?

Best,
JC

xiao_liang

Just replicated it. Went into lesson, stsrted to download the lesson. Then while the lesson is downloading go into dialogue. Download a few dialogue snippets whilst goong in and out of different sentences and after a while it crashes.

It's not a big deal unless you're on a really slow connection and have to wait forever for a lesson download i guess!

paxmondial

January 30, 2012, 06:59 PM

I am having the same very annoying problem as Xiao Liang (iphone 4, latest ios) when I try to view the full list of lessons. The first screen with about 12 lessons is there; I click on "more" and additional lessons display briefly...and then disappear.

I uninstalled and re-downloaded the app. The problem persists.

Furthermore, along with everyone else, I wish there were a feature to see the lessons I have already downloaded; and it would be awfully convenient to be able to sort the courses/search by level.

goulnik

February 10, 2012, 10:20 AM

I am having another persistent problem with the iPhone app, which is updating the list of available lessons in the subscribed categories.

The only way for it to work is first go to the website and mark one of the lessons as studied. It seems this one change allows the iPhone content to be updated. Otherwise the new lessons don't show up ?!

podster

I had similar problems with the iPhone app. I could not get it to serve up the new "cash stash" lesson. It should have shown up anyway but did not. I removed it and then bookmarked it, which usuall works, but that did not work either. I kept trying it a few times and finally it worked.