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App specific issues when using Canvas

Even though Canvas relies on your website for all the design and content often times you will find specific features or elements that do not work exactly as you would expect.

There are two possible reasons for this:

WebView limitations

Canvas makes use of WebViews to display your website within the app.

WebViews have their own limitations, which sometimes are not present on regular mobile browsers like Safari and Chrome.

Here are some examples of things that might work differently on a WebView when compared to a mobile browser:

  • Fixed positioning on CSS
  • Username and password autofill
  • Relative paths
  • Specific extensions in the URL (e.g. aspx)

The list goes on, but in most cases, the issues can be addressed by performing adjustments to the website or looking for alternatives to the app behavior.

You will also find specific platforms that do not offer support for WebViews, and in this case, they will usually throw an error. A good example is SoundCloud, which displays a message instead of the HTML embeds, telling the user that he should go to the SoundCloud website to listen to the embedded audio.

Platform limitations

When developing Canvas we tried to cover as many use cases as possible, making it flexible enough to be used with different websites, platforms, and environments, but there are certain situations where Canvas might not behave like a mobile browser.

Websites that make heavy usage of Javascript, or that are hosted on cheaper shared hosting plans might perform poorly.

How to solve those issues?

If you face any issues with how Canvas is behaving, let us know.

Our team will investigate the problem and let you know whether it is something that can be fixed or not, and if the answer is no, we will be happy to assist with suggestions and alternatives.

Thank you! We'll be in touch within 48 hours :)
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