Canvas Teacher

Let me start by saying I’m a huge Canvas fan. It’s made my life so much easier and made it so I can deliver consistent curriculum to students and their families. This app however, makes some strange design choices that sometimes make it easier to use the site in a browser. It’s good in a pinch, or in certain use cases, but with a few changes and additions, it could be so much better. The most recent example of this is the removal of the tool tips in the rubric section. You used to be able to press and hold a score to review the scoring criteria in the rubric for that score…not any more. Another longstanding feature that is missing in the app is the ability to read submission comments in the inbox. When dealing with a large amount of students or assignments, not being able to filter new submission comments in the inbox (as you can do on the site), makes this extremely difficult to use to find and respond to specific students. While I’m at it, I’d love to see the it implement support for the new Pencil Pro tools and tool selection, and also love to select a default browser for Canvas to use (that may be a iOS / iPadOS limitation), as I use Chrome for work.

Without the ability to access the full gradebook, this app is completely useless. If I’m on the go without computer access and a student has a question, I need to be able to quickly access their overall grade. Additionally, Canvas messages frequently don’t display properly in the app. If a student sends a long message, only several lines can be viewed in the app, with the rest of the message being cut off with no ability to scroll and view it. This was never an issue in previous app versions. Until the gradebook is added to the app, the ability to view the desktop Canvas site from a mobile device must be added. Currently, if you attempt to login to Canvas on the website via a mobile phone, it instantly redirects to the app, which again, is totally useless.

Right side of speed grader screen is blocked by blank space. Why is it not possible to use the full screen for grading/annotating? What is the purpose of blocking 40% of the screen with blank space??

The recent update has really messed up the messaging and inbox for mobile. I can’t see entire messages anymore and new messages no longer appear at the top of your inbox. They are stored deep in your inbox history so you have to go search for unread messages. It’s been a nightmare to try to respond to messages on mobile. Please get the message feature fixed asap.

The apple pencil is writing jagged lines when I try to write comments on student papers. Sometimes the pencil causes unwanted vertical or horizontal lines 1-2 inches long that also move the position of the document. My handwriting takes many repeated inscribings because the app is glitching so frequently. My Apple Pencil works perfectly in the notes app, so this is 100% a problem with Canvas in the current iPadOS. Very annoying and time consuming to address.

This has been a known problem for at least 6 years now. Having 25% of the screen dedicated to a toolbar that can be hidden (and is hidden in other aspect ratios) is ridiculous. The dev support on these feature requests in the forums are basically “buy a bigger ipad” which is so incredibly dismissive and disrespectful. Please make it possible to annotate students work with 100% of the screen real estate available.

For the most part, I would say that the app functions well. However, quite often when using an iPhone, a students email is cut off and you cannot see it all. Also, when you are typing a response, sometimes words disappear and you have to turn the phone to be able to see them. This is the main reason why I am giving it three stars.

Ever since the last major release, I can’t see a full email from a student, and when I go to type an email response, the text view doesn’t scroll, so the cursor goes down to an invisible place where I can’t see what I type. Furthermore, email should include assignment comments, like the web version has for years.

Updated review: okay, crash-on-launch bug fixed, and quickly, so that’s good. Four stars for a generally useful app with room for growth. ____________ Original review: Since updating a day ago I get a crash on launch, every time. No obvious way to convey a simple bug report about the app. Happy to add stars as soon as this problem is fixed.

Latest version crashes each time I try opening the app on iPad m4 running iPadOS 18.1