Articulate Mobile Player (AMP) End Support?

I have to agree with Salvador.  I too am disappointed with the discontinuation of support for offline playback. The availability of AMP for IOS and Android and it's offline playback capability was the primary reason for my company choosing Storyline 2 originally and subsequently acquiring multiple subscriptions of Articulate 360. 

I understand, Adobe's discontinuation of Flash as being your stated reason for discontinuing AMP. On the surface one might read that and say "oh well, unfortunate, but nothing Articulate can do about that".  However it makes me wonder what prevents Articulate from investing in developing an updated version of AMP in which it does not rely on Flash? Is it simply a business decision not to put development resources into offline mobile playback because not enough of your customers will object to losing that capability?

Thanks
Gary

Hello Lauren,

I don't think you understood my comments or those of the original poster. It was not about formatting of the content so it is sized correctly to play on various mobile devices. It was about the ability to play content on a mobile device when access to a server is not possible.  

Does the Modern Player with responsive design allow my Storyline 360 content to play when there is no internet access? If not, then it is way more than just sad to say goodbye to the Articulate Mobile Player. At least to me it is. 

You mention that Articulate has been preparing for the discontinuation of Flash for some time. Does that preparation you speak of include the ability to play content offline? 

Gary

Hi Gary!

I apologize if I was off-base! Thanks for clarifying!

That's right, the Modern Player addresses the design concerns for the removal of the Articulate Mobile Player.

Offline viewing is another part of the Articulate Mobile Player which you brought up. We are preparing for how this is going to affect those who rely on the app to view content when the internet is not available.

I don't have any public details to share right now but if there are any specifics that I can pass along to our Engineers I'm happy to do so. You can either reply here or contact us through a support case. Either way, we'll get your comments in the right hands.

I agree with Gary. This is not a new feature request. This is a feature that has been supported for years. Many of us chose this tool because of this feature and our programs rely on it.

Hi Salvador,

Thanks so much for reaching out and voicing your concern over the Articulate Mobile Player. Since AMP courses rely on Flash output, there won't be an option to view courses offline when Adobe discontinues Flash on December 31, 2020.

I've sent your request for this feature to our product team, and I'll let you know as soon as we have more info to share about offline viewing options.

No worries Lauren! 

Hopefully your engineers will come up with a workable alternative to offline delivery that is easy to use for the end user (like AMP is already) . I've enjoyed authoring content in Storyline the last several years, but unfortunately offline delivery is that important to us. Losing that functionality entirely will reluctantly force us to look for alternatives. 

Greetings Dave:
I have updated my IOS and this doesn't seem to be an issue so far. I also keep my Samsung tablet updated, too. When I publish a course in Storyline, Flash files are definitely included in that published folder (the .swf files are easily seen there). Therefore, I'm not sure if an IOS plays any part in the ability of a course to be viewed offline. If that's the case, then any removal of Storyline's ability to publish courses using the AMP would immediately prevent offline viewing. That's why I haven't updated Storyline to the latest version. Unfortunately, I don't have an acceptable replacement for offline viewing yet. But I am actively working on this.

Best,
Rod Machado

I can confirm that the latest version of SL 360 does still have the AMP publishing option. I have that installed and also have the latest IOS version on my iPad. But I suspect David is likely correct in that at some point an IOS release will break AMP on the iPad. 

It's a shame that a feature that was marketed by Articulate, and what attracted me to purchase, and it seems other users as well, has been completely abandoned. An accompanying justification has always been "but the Modern Player can <fill in the blank>" while ignoring or minimizing the offline playback feature of AMP that is not being replaced. The progression of the communication to users in the forum last year went from "engineers investigating an alternative", to "put in a feature request" to "defer to the community for offline solutions".  Not really an unsolvable software engineering problem I'm sure, but more of a strategic business decision by Articulate in which existing customers to whom that feature is important have been marginalized. Sad as it may be, just not enough of us to matter. 

Greetings Gary:

Excellent summary. I've been working on alternatives for downloads and the best option so far is the BuddyBoss App which is scheduled to be released in a few weeks. This app allows any LMS LearnDash course to be accessed by the App and downloaded to the iPhone/Android phone for offline viewing. The specs on how this is accomplished should show up next week. The iPad version will follow, I suspect, in a few months.

I've had a group working on an IOS/Android tablet App that would download ".zipped" Storyline files and play them offline in a player similar to Articulate's Modern Player. Progress, however, is slow going. There are more than a few hurdles to overcome to make it user friendly for both the customer and the author. When I can assess its ultimate utility/practicality, I'll make a post here about it.

On the other hand, the Wordpress Theme (WPLMS) has an App that allows offline viewing (https://codecanyon.net/item/wplms-learning-management-system-app-for-education-elearning/20632362?_ga=2.192045602.948300804.1613000071-1698927496.1612371528). Last year that app didn't receive good reviews. The App apparently has been improved and seems like a reasonable alternative for anyone using the "Wordpress LMS."

Here's the link to the WPLMS App.
https://codecanyon.net/item/masterstudy-lms-mobile-app-flutter-ios-android/27103832?_ga=2.224929555.880031132.1613000162-1698927496.1612371528 

Another LMS with an App allowing offline viewing of courses is Masterstudy (https://themeforest.net/item/masterstudy-education-center-wordpress-theme/12170274). It, too, has an App that's "apparently" much improved over that past year. Should I ever decide to move to a new theme, I'll give Masterstudy a great deal of thought. It's very well laid out.

Unfortunately, the WPLMS and Masterstudy apps are, to the best of my knowledge, for phones, not tablets. The Apps have to be applied to your LMS by someone who knows App language and is familiar with Apple/Android App Submission (you can find these folks on www.Fiverr.com. I've used this service with success over the years). Buddyboss will be for tables shortly as stated above.

That's all I know, so far.

Best,
Rod

Hi Gary!

Fortunately, we've been preparing for discontinuing Flash for some time to make sure all of those who rely on the Articulate Mobile Player have a better option.

With Articulate 360, there is no need to use the Articulate Mobile Player since the Modern Player is a fully responsive design. This means that you no longer have to take an extra step to publish the course for Articulate Mobile Player. Your mobile devices will configure automatically so the content is displayed perfectly.

Although it is sad to say goodbye to the Articulate Mobile Player, we've perfected Articulate 360 so it's fully responsive without downloading an additional app.

If you have any additional questions about what this means for other programs, please let us know!