Scholastic Reading Counts App

[bderuiter]

I pushed out the Reading Counts app through Self Service last spring to iPads in each of our elementary classrooms. After the app was installed I had to manually add our school site ID under the settings for that app. Now this fall many if not all of the iPads are unable to connect to our site ID. If I enter the site ID again and go the to the app I get an error message that the app is not configured. When I go back to settings, the site ID that I typed in disappears. (FYI, I have NOT updated to iOS 8)

[ipadsmanager]

I have updated ipads to iOS 8 and 8.0.2 and I still have the same issue. And we are using JSS 9.51

[bderuiter]

So far, this is my work-around. I have re-enrolled three of my iPads using the DEP program. I did not push out Reading Counts through self-service but rather downloaded it directly. I then entered our school code in settings and it is working on all three iPads. I am now working with my JAMF account manager to try to find out why pushing it out through the JSS is different than a direct download. One factor I am considering is that I have now bypassed Configurator altogether.

[krusej23]

We are also having this issue. I have gone round and round with Scholastic but they won't believe me that it is their app that is causing this issue. Does installing it with the DEP program work?

[bderuiter]

No, The only way that it will work for me is to install it manually. I'm not sure it is Scholastic's problem but if we could convince them to talk with JAMF they could probably come up with a solution such as being able to automate the school code feature.

[krusej23]

Ok, that's what I am finding too. They are saying they are able to add it to the iPad successfully using Configurator but I have not had success with it remembering the ID after installing with Configurator. I have tried to push them into talking with MDMs because this is a big pain for schools. The lady I am talking to just keeps saying it's Caspers problem and they don't support any MDMs.

[GregoryBurrell]

I am very late to this discussion but I may have found a workaround to this issue. I spoke to Scholastic and got the same response as everyone else. The Site ID will not stick if the Apps are pushed through MDM.

We wanted to be able to manage the apps so installing through the Appstore was not an option. I notice within JAMF that the apps have an App Configuration. I did a google search and found a script that is use to add a <dict> configuration to each app.

I entered the code below:

<dict>
<key>SiteID</key>
<string>oursiteid</string>
</dict>

I'm not sure why this worked but once I entered that code, after installing the app through Self Service then entered our site ID in settings, the apps worked correctly.

I had also entered "Site ID" for the <key> and it didn't work. I was hoping that code would automatically insert the SiteID once the app was installed but I'll take this solution for now.

It has been 3 weeks and we haven't had any issues with Site ID not sticking.

[bderuiter]

So you entered it exactly as written without substituting your site ID in the code?

[GregoryBurrell]

Substitute correct site ID. Sorry I should have been more clear.

[jcline]

I'm having this same issue with the SMI app from scholastic and the fix listed above does not work for it. That or i'm doing it wrong.

[Dlorenzo]

We are currently experiencing the issue of the site id being removed when the app is closed at our schools as well. Scholastic is also claiming that the issue is on our end even though no other app has that issue. Has anyone been able to get anywhere with this?

I am attempting the site ID code but I would love to have some other options.

[chrischichester]

This worked perfectly, inserted the url and app properly configured:

<dict> <key>SiteID</key> <string>https://mysiteid.education.scholastic.com</string> </dict>

Thanks!

[laplanted]

Hi,

I noticed a number of you are reporting the Site ID being cleared after setting it, as well as others reporting the solution being to set it in JAMF using App Configuration. For those of you experiencing this problem, what is your current App Configuration? If you are using a different MDM, what (if any) SRC settings are you passing through it, and how?

Thanks!

[bderuiter]

Followed the information in the post found at https://jamfnation.jamfsoftware.com/discussion.html?id=17444 and it worked. I did not have to manually enter the site ID any longer. This worked for me on the newest version which is now called HMH Reading Counts (1.2.2.0).