"Additional Apps" is missing on iOS/iPadOS version 3.4.1?

[mfunk270]

When I used version 3.4 on my iPad (18.1.1), there was still the “Additional Apps” function to simply allow access to apps while using the SEB. Unfortunately, I updated to 3.4.1 and now this function has disappeared. According to the release notes, however, it should still be there. Is it missing for you too? What am I missing?

[danschlet]

The option is still there in SEB's in-app Settings.

Note that for this to work you need to make sure to enter an existing bundle ID in the Identifier field and make sure the app is installed on the device, otherwise starting AAC multi-app mode will fail and an error will be displayed after quite a long time. We requested Apple to improve the API to deal with this issue.

Also don't forget to set a quit password for the exam session config.

[mfunk270]

Thank you, I just forgot to click on the + to create exam settings...

I was aware of the bundleID, I have also entered it. I have set the Assessment mode under Security. However, I still can't manage to use the SEB in multi-app mode. Are there any instructions on how to do this? I haven't been able to find anything so far.
For example, I have tried to download an Excel file from a Moodle course in SEB (and yes, I have allowed downloads). I also allowed the associated app to be opened. Unfortunately, it doesn't work. So I'm wondering: How exactly do you open the permitted app?
I know that it works on Windows because Excel then appears in the toolbar. That's all great. But I'm currently struggling with the configuration of the SEB for the iPad.

[danschlet]

There is no documentation yet, we will ad it after finalizing the SEB 3.5 release.

We considered the additional apps feature currently as an experimental feature. The API in iPadOS is quite basic, that's why some improvements will have to come from Apple in future iPadOS versions.

SEB cannot start the additional apps itself. In the AAC Multi-App mode, you can return to the home screen, which has a neutral background and only displays icons for SEB and the permitted additional apps. Depending on iPad model, use the home button, gesture or the home indicator bar on the bottom of the screen, which is visible in AAC Multi-App mode, not like in the regular AAC mode.

"Open App for Downloaded File" currently doesn't work on the iPad, only Mac. To work same as on the Mac, Apple would need to provide some new API method. Some iOS apps can be opened using their custom URL scheme (similar to sebs:// for SEB), but there doesn't seem to be a method to find out if an app supports a custom scheme or how it is called. Also I wasn't able to open the downloaded file directly with such a custom scheme, I'm still experimenting with this.

So currently you would need to manually open the downloaded file in the additional app. Another problem though is, that it doesn't seem possible for SEB to save downloaded apps in the iOS/iCloud Downloads folder (at least I didn't find out how that would be possible if it actually is). So probably I will need to add a downloads popup menu with a Share button.

Anyways all additional apps have access to the full file system and iCloud/other cloud storages. Therefore you cannot perform fully secure closed book exams, similar to SEB for Windows. Only in SEB for macOS I was able to prevent additional apps to freely access the file system, at least for most apps.

[danschlet]

PS: On this page, at the bottom there are two demo Moodle exams with permitted additional apps. They should work if you have Calculator (only available in iPadOS 18) and Numbers installed or the second one on any iPad with Notes.

[danschlet]

I have to apologize, it turned out that using additional applications doesn't work in SEB 3.4.1 on iPadOS > 18.x (only on iPadOS 17.7.1). There was a bug regarding when SEB would activate AAC Multi-App mode.

I fixed in in SEB 3.5, can be tested in the latest TestFlight beta.

[mfunk270]

I had been wondering why the demo exams didn't work and then just gave up in frustration. So thanks for the update! I will continue to keep an eye on the feature and keep testing it.