iOS app is so broken

Every time I try to use the iOS app to do my lessons I run into more problems. My progress in the lessons doesn't properly update with the servers despite a rock solid connection to the Internet, the app frequently won't recognize the accuracy of a recording no matter how pitch perfectly I pronounce something (with recording set to easy), audio being clipped off after correctly saying a phrase in the "know it" section of lessons almost every time, recording just plain getting stuck on in the "play it" section (and less frequently in other sections.) This app is the only way I can do my lessons because I can bring my iPad to a quiet place unlike my PC which I can't move but I'm constantly frustrated and sometimes stymied by how poorly the app works. Every lesson I have to close and reopen the app numerous times and in some cases, like when the recording gets stuck on in the play it section even closing and reopening the app doesn't fix it. This app is ruining an otherwise great product. I really hope you guys can get these things ironed out because it's making learning Japanese even more difficult than it already is. 

Hi,

Have you tried just using the web on your phone instead of the app. I long ago gave up on the app but I use the web on my iPhone every day. It used to have a lot of probs but they've really nailed it now. I haven't ever tried the voice recording on it though. I always use my mac for that. 

Drew

I haven't. I would like to do the recording though as that seems to be a major part of Rocket Languages. I do know that you can't record on Chrome in IOS, I'm not sure about Safari though.

edit: Just checked Safari, no recording there either. 

Hi Haneybd87 and Drew, 

Thank you for your feedback and tips. I have gone ahead and forwarded the message to our tech support team for their review. Can you please let us know the iOS version you are using? 

Kind Regards!
 

 

I'm using iOS 9.3.5. 

10.2.1 for me but I don't use the app. Just noticed though that on the web, safari, on mobile there are no record buttons at all. 

Hi Drew/Haney - Just confirming that we are looking into this. In the meantime I would recommend upgrading to at least iOS 10 if possible.

Drew - For Safari we don't display the voice recording buttons as that browser prohibits recording within the browser. Please have another go with the iOS app. I would be interested to know if you run into any similar issues.

Here's my issue with upgrading to iOS 10. If I do that and the app is still glitchy then I have reduced speed and battery life on my devices and got nothing out of it and can't return to iOS 9. Is the app coded for iOS 10 in a certain way that it should work better or is that just a troubleshooting guess?

Drew-I'd be interested in seeing how it works for you on iOS 10. 

Edit: I was also wondering if the app needs certain ports to be open, if opening up some ports on my router might help with some of these issues?

Hi haneybd87 (what do I call you? :)),

I'm not a good test case as I really just don't use the app. The web version works perfectly well for me. I was very vocal about the shortcomings of it over the last year and Rocket has done a great job of fixing it. I can't record, but I don't need to as I do that at home on my mac.

I thought iOS10 was generally supposed to be better for all but the oldest devices anyway, but it is one way. When I updated my old iPad to iOS8 I think, it was a killer for it and I didn't use it again.

Drew

I've heard anecdotally from a lot of people that updating to iOS 10 slowed things down and reduced their battery life. I also know from experience on previous Apple devices that this thing tends to happen after a couple of iOS upgrades.

It can do. What device do you have?

@haneybd87 If you are considering upgrading to iOS 10 in hopes it will correct the numerous problems you noted, please be advised - upgrading will not help at all. I am on the latest version of iOS, and I have all of the problems you mention. Frustrating for sure. 

I was informed by email that there should be an update most likely by the end of this week that should fix the audio issues. I'm not sure if this is just referring to the clipped audio issue or if it addresses the recording issues as well. 

Hi ItsCosmo et al - We think the main issue is around the that the way we built the voice recognition system, which relies on 3rd party tools to make it work. So, if these 3rd party tools are inconsistent then it affects the whole system. 

The plan is to use Siri for people using 10.0 and above, which negates the need for any 3rd party tools. Earlier versions of iOS will use the existing system but we hope to iron out a few of the bigger things.

Thanks for your patience on this!

I am new to Rocket Italian and planned to use my iPhone (with 10+ iOS) and the app.  I am using Chrome on my mac and having fun with the voice interaction so I am disappointed that this still doesn't seem to work on my phone in the app. I have latest updates of everything, but I am wondering if any progress has been made in last 2 months?  
 

Yeah ever since they updated to use Siri on ios10 it's been mostly good. Although sometimes it gets stuck at choosing a rating now, which is super annoying. 

Hi there, 

When using the app on iOS, please make sure the following is set: 
 
The speech recognition should be working well with the app; if all is set well and you continue to have problems, please try uninstalling and reinstalling the app. 

Kind Regards!
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