Offline Mode {Request}

[derikso...@gmail.com]

Greetings,

I'm a STEM high school educator and there is feature missing that can improve in a significant way the experience and logistics of using the app in my classrooms. Given that the WIFI and broadband service at my facilities is poor, it would be great if I could pre-load my custom projects on my devices to be used with the VR headsets and phones in an offline mode.

Currently If I open a project offline, I can see the template but not the pictures which are necessary for instruction. 

Thank you.

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[Susanne Krause]

Hi Derikson, 

Thanks for your request. We have already heard that school WIFI's can indeed be a tricky thing... 

For that reason, there is an offline mode for the smartphone app. When you open CoSpaces on your phone without internet connection, you will get something like this: 

You see that some projects look kind of grayish and have a little cloud in the corner (marked by a green circle in the image above). This shows that the project is in the cloud but not on your device and you'd need an internet connect to access the project. But you can see that the first project on the image is colorful and doesn't have a cloud icon. This one could be opened even without an internet connection.

That means you can open a project while you still have internet connection and then it will still be accessible without WIFI afterwards. But a project won't load automatically from the cloud if you don't open it. 

This is how it should work. However, please let us know if for you it doesn't. Then we will try to find out why it doesn't work for you. 

Kind regards, 
Susanne

[derikso...@gmail.com]

Greetings Susanne,

Thank you for the reply. I'm currently aware that the app can show the current status of a project linked to a CoSpaces account by reflecting if it is available to be downloaded from the cloud.

If a project is downloaded using the app, and it is opened without an internet connection you can only see the structures, or physical models from the marketplace library used to construct the Project. As I explained given that there is not a dedicated offline mode if an user uploads pictures or sound inside the project and opens a previously downloaded project using the app without an internet connection it will not present any additional multimedia files such as pictures. 

My request is related to this concern, I would love for the developers to consider a way in which the app not only can download the structures, physical models and environment implemented in a project using the marketplace but also any additional custom media content that is the foundation for teachers to create interdisciplinary content in order to have a full immersive and dedicated offline experience when opening a project with all of the resources inside the app in offline mode.

When using a significant number of electronic devices in my school the wireless internet services gets compromised, and I would love to load and have the devices loaded in advance with the projects (including pictures and additional files; sounds etc.) to be use during instruction.

[Susanne Krause]

Thanks for your detailed description. We have been looking closer in the problem you are describing- and are sorry that the offline mode is not working fully as intended. We will fix the bug as soon as possible.