Quality, not quantity – students using mobiles with university services

17 Oct 2013

The official iManchester app has been created specifically for The University of Manchester by Blackboard, the international company which provides our eLearning system.

The app contains campus maps, PC cluster checkers, news, opening times, links to coursework, timetables and more.

Blackboard Mobile Learn also works alongside iManchester to provide access to the Blackboard system.

However, there are some third-party, unofficial apps available on the Apple App Store and Google Play, such as “AppGrad”, which claim to allow students to access some of our services (e.g. Blackboard, Email, Library, Directory, Timetable), along with the services of approximately 1,500 more universities and colleges around the world.

AppGrad is a completely unofficial app which we cannot recommend, as we can’t verify how securely they treat usernames and passwords. It is extremely important to ensure IT account details are kept as secure as possible.

Reports from some people claim that many of the functions in AppGrad don’t appear to work anyway, and standard mobile web browsers such as Safari, Chrome, Android Browser, Opera and so on actually work better.

iManchester is official, tested and exclusively designed for the systems of one organisation: The University of Manchester. Blackboard Mobile Learn is also an authorised app. AppGrad and any other unofficial mobile apps are not.