Anyone using Iswifter?

[Leanne Robertson]

Has anyone tried using Iswifter to view and use flash on iPads with their students? If so, how did/do you find it?

[Jonathan Nalder]

Hi Leanne - I've tried it with not much success I'm afraid - seemed only a very limited set of sites would (slowly) work?

[Leanne Robertson]

Thanks Jonathan, that is about the experience I have had too. Sigh ... ah well, I'll keep hoping!

[Jonathan Nalder]

You could also try the Puffin browser - again a bit slow but I've found it better than iSwifter.

[Leanne Robertson]

Thanks, will do.

 

[Marita Thomson]

Haven't used with classes but find iSwifter invaluable for my own use on the iPad. Mostly can view flash based items although the page load is less smooth than ideal. Saves bookmarking for later. Occasionally not available and is wifi only which is rarely an issue. It is an app which has had repeated updates so perhaps worth trying again? Have not used the games aspect of it and the warning of adult material would be of concern when using with kids. This comes up with updates, but presumably refers to ability to access internet.

[Richard Lawler]

I've found the speed tolerable but it fails in a couple of areas - which I would assume any other flash browser would too.  Firstly, because it effectively acts as the device was in the US, access to Scootle was not possible as it will only allow IP addresses from Australia.  Secondly, I have part of my intranet which uses Flash and, of course, that can't be rendered using iSwifter.

 

An alternative, if you need to use Flash for a smallish class, might be to use some sort of remote desktop software to access a standard computer?

[Leanne Robertson]

Please note that the Geoblocking has been removed from Scootle and you are now able to access it using Iswifter and Puffin. I can't log in using Iswifter but can using Puffin. In the few learning objects we have tried results using the learning object's functionality is variable. For example, functionality such as dragging and dropping is not working on the LOs we tried. If anyone finds LOs that do perform well using these browsers I would love to hear about them.

[Kel Hathaway]

I tried it with ietherpad to access the editing options. It did work but was very clunky, not something I'd use with a class. We may just have to wait for html 5 to take over these web functions before they work for us on the iPad.

[Jonathan Nalder]

Hi Kel - have you seen that titanpad (a version of ether pad) now works directly on the iPad?

[Kel Hathaway]

Thanks Jonathan, that's great news, checked it out and it works really well except for selecting text to bold, italic etc.  However indenting, and bullet pointing worked really well.

iEtherpad had stated they were working towards getting it to work on the iPad but TitanPad has delivered so it has now jumped to the top of my favourite etherpad type sites.

Noticed that wikispaces now has an edit box that works on the iPad, so things are getting better.

Cheers

[Deon Scanlon]

Rover browser is a good one. It comes with its own homepage with popular flash-based sites linked already. It can also be used to access any other sites you choose.

The adult material reference for these types of apps is due to their ability to access the Internet. They are given a 17+ rating.

What I find interesting about this is that there is no "adult content" warning when you first activate your iDevice, given that it comes with a built in web browser!

I'm not sure if apps with this warning are blocked by iOS restrictions, but Safari certainly isn't.

[Leanne Robertson]

Thanks Deon, I'll have a look. Yes - the warning is an interesting one given the lack of warning elsewhere!