Slow, dated and desperately in need of a serious update.
Frankly, considering the cost of a university education in this day and age, you’d assume you’d at least get a functional app to aid your studies. This is the slowest to load, clunkiest and most anti-user app I have ever attempted to use for education. Things take a solid minute to load on a strong internet connection. Lots of the time, videos just won’t play, meaning I either spend 5 minutes of my very limited study time trying to dig out the relevant page on the website or I just skip over it and hope it wasn’t imperative. In the world we live in, a government backed organisation like the OU could surely have a decent, reliable app made for its students. Unfortunately a pock on the otherwise magnificent work of the Open University.
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Response from developer
Hi there, We're sorry to hear you've been having problems with the app. We have had a few issues recently with videos on iOS devices - if you get in touch at ou-scdhd@open.ac.uk or comment in our user forum https://learn1.open.ac.uk/mod/forumng/view.php?id=22532, we'll get these fixed. Thank you Chris - the study app team
Not good
It doesn’t work properly … some things don’t link to the OU website such as video and some audio resources.
And also the forum part doesn’t seem to work properly either.
And also the forum part doesn’t seem to work properly either.
Needs improvement
I keep trying to use the app it either doesn’t load or when it does get to My modules it is incredibly slow
really wish i had a good word to say
i really wish this app worked, i think it could be so helpful for many things, but the home screen doesn’t even load and i have sat in the app for over an hour with nothing more than a white screen and blue ‘OU study’ banner. really disappointed.
It’s okay.
It’s user friendly. An easy place to view certain areas quicker than you would online. Like navigating from the planner to assessments. But my goodness it’s painfully slow. I have to restart numerous times to get it to work.
Do not recommend
Has zero benefit over using safari on the phone, it’s very slow and you cannot access tutorials on it.
Dissappointed
The app does not work and its not reliable in any type a shape or form. Complete disaster. Please update the app we need it as students.
Poor
Interactive activities don’t work and videos don’t always load. As students are forced to use online resources as their main means of study this is extremely poor. I’m especially irritated given that the OU has had years to sort out these issues and charges students thousands of pounds for substandard resources.
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Not functional, poor interface
Not functional and poor interface. Modules are a mess to navigate. Quizzes don’t work half the time. Pathetic overall. Btw, this is the second time I’ve reviewed this app, seems my first review was deleted. Makes me wonder why… this time I will take a screenshot!
Why is this app even exists?
The app just directs you to the OU webpage making you login twice. No point to have it.
Would give no stars is possible
App doesn’t even work, like at all. Says I’m enrolled in no modules which, I am enrolled in more than one.
Doesn’t work at all
Every time I log in and select a module, the app just crashes and restarts. Unfortunate that we can’t have access to a useful app, especially considering students pay a lot of money to study. Even just basic functionality would be extremely helpful, but the app simply doesn’t work. Using the website is fine but not always accessible, so having the app maybe having the ability to listen to recordings or view resources like exam papers etc would be good. Hopefully the OU can work on implementing these adjustments to help their students.
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Need improves
It almost always fails
For the love of god update it
I can’t do my work properly because every time I go on the app the pages refuse to load. I even deleted the app and re-downloaded it but it is still the same. It was working fine before the last update, why on earth has it not been updated since?
How is it still so bad?
This app has the potential to be so much better than it is. I’m a bit perplexed as to why it’s so bad (for all the reasons already outlined by so many other reviews) when the OU has been operating online for so long. Sort it out please, it’s well within the Open University’s capabilities.
Unusable
Unusable app, useless in this state.
Great but it’s not working atm
I really like this app and have been using it for my four modules so far, however the latest update is not working properly. The screen doesn’t load at all sometimes so that is the main issue for me. I have to write a review to raise this issue because the app hasn’t been updated since. Otherwise it is great when it’s working.
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Unreliable and non inclusive
Might work for people with newer phones / operating systems but for the rest of us it’s a waste of time. Planned to catch up on my work over 2 long journeys but the app kept crashing. Now really behind in an already busy and stressful month.
Fine when it works
The app itself is decent when it works - easy to navigate and use. However, ever since the last update at the end of last month, I’ve found that more often than not the app simply doesn’t work properly. You’ll open it up for the home page (where it comes up with the module page etc) to not load properly, if at all. If you tap the module you’re presented with a spinning wheel for all eternity until you give up, refresh the app and start the process over again. If you manage to get to your module page that doesn’t always load properly, and when it does load you could tap assessment for example and it’ll load but then if you tap forum after the assessment tab stays up..but under the forum one.
Basically, when it loads properly and behaves it’s fine, but when it doesn’t behave it’s terrible.
Basically, when it loads properly and behaves it’s fine, but when it doesn’t behave it’s terrible.
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Not fit for purpose
I agree with the other comments. The website is not good and this app is really quite a terrible extension of that.
It often doesn’t load pages after clicking on a button or, better yet, crashes completely. It resets itself almost every time you open it so you lose your place and start navigating all over again. Anything useful just pushes you back to their website which requires another login and is barely usable on a phone.
It’s quite annoying that the Open University digital experience is so poor considering this is their whole selling point.
It often doesn’t load pages after clicking on a button or, better yet, crashes completely. It resets itself almost every time you open it so you lose your place and start navigating all over again. Anything useful just pushes you back to their website which requires another login and is barely usable on a phone.
It’s quite annoying that the Open University digital experience is so poor considering this is their whole selling point.
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Response from developer
Hi there, sorry to hear the app's causing you difficulties. It certainly shouldn't be doing what you're describing. When you open the app, does the 'Last viewed' banner not display at the top of the screen to navigate you back to your last activity? Could you please get in touch with the helpdesk on ou-scdhd@open.ac.uk to help us investigate this for you.
