Forum Discussion
Storyline 3 Crashes on iPad Safari and Chrome
Storyline Version 3 courses crash when clicking Next or Previous on an iPad on SCORM Cloud and another LMS called Ti LMS.
- Sent case to Articulate support
- Published as HTML5 or HTML5/flash
- SCORM 1.2 (experienced crashes on 2004 3rd Edition as well)
- iPad/IOS 10.3.1
- Does not crash on laptop and desktop browsers such as Safari, Chrome, and FireFox.
- Courses range for 40-70 screens, SCORM file sizes ranges from 17-40MB.
- Using layers for pop ups, quiz questions, narration
- Can't use the Articulate Mobile App, client requires iPad delivery
- Have developed courses of this scope in V2 with no crashing
We have tested four courses dozens of times with the above settings and have crashed on the iPad. The crashing is random and we do get a debug screen (see attached). Crashing can occur at any time but seems to occur well into the course and often when clicking the previous button revisiting screens (most set to reset to initial state). But, it has crashed before finishing the course as well and when clicking Next. There is not one screen (or type of screen) that seems to cause the crash. (Can't share courses here because they are proprietary.)
We reduced the layers and removed animations but the courses still crash. We split courses in half, but they crash.
We created a 50 screen course in V3 then recreated it in V2. The course contains one screen with text, narration, a graphic, and two pop ups. The screen is repeated 25 times. I also created 25 quiz questions.
When I test the V3 50-screen course on SCORM cloud, I crash. Usually after finishing the course and then when I am going back, but it crashes.
When I test the V2 version on SCORM cloud, I don’t crash. I can go through the course multiple course times and do not crash.
Has anyone experienced this issue in either V3 (or 360)? Our thinking is that there may be an issue with V3 and that the crashing may not occur on V2, but were wondering if anyone has crashed in V3 and rebuilt in V2 successfully or has crashed in V3 and found a workaround.
We have published dozens of courses with this scope and level of interactivity in V2 and have had no crashing. This all started with V3 just recently.
Support has been good and here is their take, "Based on the series of testing performed, this occurs on iOS devices but not on Android. The initial diagnosis has something to do with mobile devices limited resource allocation which might be the cause of the issue. However, investigation is still on-going and I'll be sure to let you know for any progress." And, "It doesn't appear to be an issue specific to LMS as it also occurs when I uploaded your content in our web server. The course will crash on random slides and will reload automatically asking whether to resume or not. I've logged the issue as a possible software bug."
Regardless, we have several courses that we need to deliver for the iPad, Safari and Chrome. We have already missed our initial deadline of this past Monday. Please let me know if anyone has come across this issue. If it is a Storyline bug, it needs to be fixed immediately.
Hello,
I'm researching an iPhone crash issue and... I just found this one, which was reported 8 years ago, and I'm sad to declare that... it's still happening, and it makes developing learning modules on iPhone a literal HELL.
Has anything been made about this issue? it's only happening on Safari / iPhone (on iPad it works ok), and we notice that the memory is just getting filled more and more with each slide, and never getting emptied.
Our clients ask us to develop a LOT of "mobile-first" courses, and we are losing a lot of time and money trying to overoptimize every single pixel or animation, while they work smoothly on ALL other devices. iPhone are running super-heavy 3D games filled with FX & sounds & animations, how can we explain to our clients that their 80Mo html5 module cannot be watched on a modern iPhone?
I have to add that the modules I'm talking about right now are modules that were produced a few years ago (3-ish) and that we updated recently (using the last storyline update).
the previous modules, released 3 years ago, were NOT crashing on iPhone, but once they've been updated (few changes, not that much content added) they started crashing quite early in the module. optimizing carefully every little thing (images / sounds / flatting-out a maximum of layers into the base layer...) made it crash further but no way has been found so far to make the module playable in its whole length.
Hi Staff, I´ve been having problems with iPad Freezing/Crashing
It´s all fine and smooth on WIN, OS. But iOS freezes it.
I am working in the latest storyline 360 update (April 2022)This games launches questions, clicking the 3rd or 4th randomly, it get stucked.
https://360.articulate.com/review/content/9c031cf3-eca2-4079-afeb-04a689008963/review
Hello Paul!
I just responded to your post here! We'll continue the conversation there so that we have all of the information in one spot.
Hey Wesley,
Thanks for sending over your files – they're in the right place! Cleo will take a look and be in touch with you soon.
Wonderful thank you!
-Wesley
Awesome thanks! Yes it seems for now all fixed. I've uploaded my file.
I also upload a 4 part version of the test course as this did cause the same freezing issue from slide 7 A to slide 7 B. It wasn't until I split up slide 7 A in this version into 2 more parts that the slide transition would work on the iPad. The fixed version is included in the 5 part SL360 file. This is detailed in the case notes for Cleo.
The interesting take-away from the broken 4 part course was that the original Slide 7 B had less layers (3 layers) compared to the original Slide 7 A which had 5 layers. So going from A to B, if they slide 7 B is being loaded next, it would have less to load potentially. Again this is just speculation.
Also, another interesting note is that the original Slide 7 D (or Slide 7 E in the 5 part version) has 7 layers. When I skip around to that section on the iPad through the Course Map/Menu, I've never had a hard time loading to next slide to Slide 8.
No worries, Wesley - we're still here. :-)
If you're able to share a copy of that file with our team using the case upload form, that would be really helpful. It sounds like splitting the single slide into 5 distinct slides was the remedy for you? It will be good to see how many videos and other items are on that slide.
Let me know if you're able to share it and I'll follow along in the case!
Pardon the delay. Got pulled away to work on other projects past couple of days.
Tried splitting the course into more slides several ways. It wasn't until we split the 1 slide into 5 parts that it finally played through the whole slide on the iPad in Safari and in Chrome. I tested Chrome as well since it did not work there either before. I can send the file over via that "form" if you need it for review.
Wish we knew what the slide layer with videos limitation is. Not sure if per slide if we are preloading/retaining content before or after a slide plays. I assume, maybe this may have an effect on how much memory the iPad is holding when and where. We are converting a lot of older courseware from Flash to MP4 videos in SL360 so this would be good to know during our conversions.
Thanks for your help! Keep us posted if you have any more clarity on this iPad Safari videos in the layer issue.
Hi Wesley!
Thanks for letting us know you already tried splitting the layers into two separate slides. Since you're still seeing issues, you might be correct that you need to break it down even more.
As a next step, upload the latest file to your current case with Cleo. You can send Cleo your file directly using this form.
Let me know if you have any trouble sending your file to us!
Thanks Ashley! We appreciate your reply, testing, and information. We have made a version that would split the issue-slide in two. That was fairly complex as it required jumping around using the next and back buttons and revealing the appropriate layers when navigating the slide before and after the split.
For the sake of this conversation, we'll call the 2 slide split Slide1A (now with 8 layers) and Slide 1B (now with 12 layers). Testing this however, still seemed to cause the same next slide freezing issue on the iPad (12.4.1 (16D57)). This time, the next button froze at SlideA when trying to go to SlideB. This occurred in Safari and Chrome on the iPad. Maybe we need to break it down more?
Any information you may have on where the Safari, Chrome, or iPad hardware limitation is, please let me know. I'm here to help support you all with information you may require. I can provide you with this file but not sure if I should make a new ticket or somehow upload the new SL360 file on the same ticket (which I would need help doing). Thanks!
Hi everyone, just to follow-up on my post on June 7, 2018 where videos are sometimes not auto-playing on iPad iOS 10.3.3 with specific Storyline 3 and Storyline 360 updates.
I tested my sample build on the Storyline 3 update 3.5.16548.0 from August 16, 2018 and the Storyline 3 update 3.6.18134.0 from March 5, 2019 and the issue appears to be FIXED in my testing. I select the Play button that appears on the initial video, and from that point, including on bookmark or if I restart to reset tracking, the videos automatically play in my sample build.
The original issue is a case with Articulate: #01293964, so this can please be closed now if required. Thank you!
Hello! We have similar iPad issues with slides not advancing on SL360 Build 3.25.18088.0 when testing on SCORM Cloud (although this may be an issue on normal web link as well but we have not tested this yet). I've narrowed it down to 2 slides. First slide has about 20 layers, each with videos and orange buttons that advance to the next layer above. At the end of this first slide's last layer, we have a button that is supposed to jump to the next slide.
Instead, on the iPad anyways (not on PC testing), it freezes. The Menu (we call Course Map), does show that the next slide is active but the on screen slide does not update from slide 1 to 2 as it should.
I'd like to request any other options for troubleshooting and upload my file for the support team. I just opened a case report for this: 01733616. Thanks!
Hi Wesley,
Thanks for sharing those details here and reaching out to our Support Team. I talked with Cleo as he was testing your file, and we believe you're running into the memory limitations of mobile Safari.
One slide with 20 layers, each including a video, would match the description for slides or courses that could crash mobile Safari or cause it to freeze. Can you look at breaking that slide with the layers into smaller groupings or separate individual slides? That should help with course playback, and you'll also want to encourage learners to use the latest iOS or iOS device available to them. Each new iOS device has added more memory and improved performance within the Safari browser.
Our team continues to work on performance improvements for our authoring tools and the published output. It's an area we will continue to focus on as browsers and operating system release updates that could impact your experience with Articulate.
