[App & Site Feedback] Differences between the WEB version and an APP version

#1

Please use this thread to post observations and comments about the differences between the web version we know and the App version.

All my experience has been with the Web version on MemRise and I’d like comments about the way the App behaves.

Please can you help by using NUMBERS for features MISSING on the App (as started below)

and using the ALPHABET for features PRESENT on both the Web and the App (as started below).

Please also post any questions about the App here as well, for others to clarify.

Many thanks

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#2

I have just had a friend install the Android MemRise App on their phone and we have had a ‘play’.

It seems to me that these features are MISSING:

1) There is no intro Description to any of my courses.

2) There seems to be no Multimedia levels visible (only the learning levels).

3) There seems to be no “Forum” button to link back to this area (either for the course or for a level).

These are all things I’m used to on the web, which help to enhance the leaner’s experience.

Can anyone confirm this, please?

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#3

These features seem to be PRESENT on the App (which we are used to one the Web version):

A) Levels

B) Pictures & Audio

C) Mems

D) I do like the clear format and selection from a choice of 4

#4

4) The app does not have a timer.

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#5

I find that having multiple choice or a keyboard of limited characters, which the apps do all the time, is far too much of a clue. It reminds me of answers I might not have known, and I can’t reliably tell whether I just got reminded by the app or actually knew it. So I avoid doing any serious use of memrise on the apps for that reason - I think it would really hurt my learning by making memrise think I know things I don’t actually know. But I do try the apps from time to time just to see how they’re coming along. IMO they’re still awful, both iOS and Android, and you’re far far better off sticking to web.

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#6

Yes, you’re right, and this is a huge hole in the apps. Not only can’t you see the multimedia content, but it’s hidden such that you don’t even realize you’re missing anything. Lots of courses have been set up such that those levels are very important, and the course doesn’t work without them or gets very confusing or teaches you things that don’t seem to make sense. The course creators didn’t think of the fact that someone might not even know those levels are in the course, and skip them all without realizing it.

Even if you choose to overlook the other serious flaws of the apps, make sure to review each course you’re about to take on the web first, to see if it has multimedia levels. Even if you use the app, you can still come back and look at that material on the web when you get to the right place in the course. But you’ll only do that if you know it’s there, so remember to check your courses on the web even if you’re using the apps!

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#7

On the flip side, here’s one thing that’s much better about the apps than the web site. Fortunately, there’s a widely shared userscript to disable the timer on the web. Search for memrise disable timer. I’ve been using it for years, it makes for a much better and more effective memrise experience.

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#8

5) I think the app does not show who the Creator is

QUESTION

Can one see details of the Creator - eg their description and also all the courses they have created or support as a contributor?

#9

Thanks for your comments @cos and @widle.

So 6) the app has a strange typing feature, with only all the letters present.

#10

It seems to me that App users ought to be made aware that they are using a “trimmed-down” (aka limited) version of MemRise and courses, and your advice @cos to check out the web version first, should be given on the App, somewhere.

PS EDIT MemRise eg @Joshua , if this is correct, could this tip be advertised somehow, eg when signing in each time or on your home screen or when looking for other courses on the App please?

#11

I haven’t found the creator nor the full description. If you open the course details (by tapping on the top bar with the course title), there’s a short description, just a sentence or so.

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#12

Thanks for that.

That must be the short description we are now encouraged to submit on courses.

So 7) There is no full course description.

8) The Creator is not mentioned.

#13

without being able to offer statistics I get the impression that the androidapp

9) offers answers in form of tapping instead of typing a lot more often than the web interface (I use mainly typing tests and still get to tapping a lot using the app)

10) you can`t access groups
Foorgol

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#14

11) On the app, you can’t create your own mem.

I’m working on several Turkish courses that have few, if any, mems. When planting, I have to create my own. Because of this, I use the web version almost exclusively. When I have to use the app, I write down mems in a documents app on my iPod while doing Memrise on my iPhone…

Re: #6, the limited keyboard: In the iOS app, just to the right of the text box, is a little rectangular keyboard icon. Click it, and you get a normal keyboard. If you need a foreign-language keyboard with special letters (such as Turkish, for example), you’ll want to install that keyboard on your phone first. (Settings > General > Keyboards > Keyboards > Add New Keyboard) The little globe icon near the spacebar lets you change input languages. Tap quickly to switch to the next language on the list; press and hold to see the list of languages you have installed and choose one.

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#15

12) I’ve noticed as a course creator that the app does not display attributes correctly when testing you. For example, if I’ve told it to show the column “case” for tests, it will usually show my “pronunciation” column, which is not supposed to be shown on tests. It’s also inconsistent about which attributes it shows. I do not have this problem on the computer.

3 Likes
#16

App limitations mentioned generally above

Some advantages:

E) The App is clearly more portable -

F) It is available even when you are places that don’t have wifi (such as an elderly parents home) -

G) because it does have less choices and in typed out answers more clues- it encourages the learner - used in tandem with a web computer - ie. back and forth - it is a tremendous reinforcement.

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#17

I can’t provide much by way of feedback as I only use the web version. “Way back” I considered trying the App version but I was frightened off by comments in the old forum about people losing their streak. That could well be sorted by now and as my streaks are much shorter than previously, I may give it a go. It’s interesting reading the different comments. Thanks for starting this thread DW7.

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#18

13) using the androidapp I need two sessions instead of one of “learn new words” until a word is considered as learned by the plant symbol and the corresponding statistics.

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#19

13b)
You are still shown the same word 6 times with each application. The difference between the 2 platforms is that on the web version all 6 times are in the same “session”, whereas on the app version you are only shown the same word 3 times in a session, then have to go to the second session to see the word for the next 3 times. Not sure why Memrise chose to do it this way on the app.

Sometimes I forget to go to the second session on the app, and you if you don’t actually go through it, you are not credited with having learned any of the words from the first session until you do. The app does however remember your progress from the first session, so even if you forget, once you return you just have to go through the second session to fully learn the word(s). Again, not sure why it has to be this way.

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#20

I will expand on this. In the web version, Memrise takes a batch of new (or not completely planted) words and attempts to teach you all of them fully, at the same pace. If you don’t make many mistakes, you will have learned them all at the end of the session.

The app seems to prefer to mix words at various levels of planting: at the end of a session, you will usually have planted two or three words fully and others follow at various levels, some with only a leaf or two. For the next session, a few more leaves are added to every word (including some new ones) so that, again, two or so are planted and the rest moves forward a bit.

@pdao I think I need three sessions for a word sometimes, on the app.

Edit: I only have experience with the Android version.

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