Experiment on mobile device

Development
1

Hi everyone,

I would like to conduct experiment (very simple), like asking patients to select a response on a touch screen from a mobile device but I have two questions:

  1. Is it possible with Psychopy

  2. Are there some operating system that allow this kind of coding (Windows, OSX, etc.)

Thanks for yours answers!

Mathieu

2

Hi!

At the moment you can run PsychoPy on mobile devices BUT this needs to be done in the browser (i.e. Pavlovia) since PsychoPy does not yet have a native app for mobile use.

But you can create experiments in the PsychoPy builder and rub on mobile devices very easily (mouse responses translate to touch screen responses for tablet and mobile devices).

Becca

1 Like
3

Thank you fore your response!

I do not use the builder but the scripts, I guess this is not very different to put it on a tablet?

and this can be done with Ipad for instance (OSX) ?

Mathieu

4

Are you coding in python or psychoJS?

If you are coding in python, the builder way is the easiest way to translate your experiment online because there is a tool to auto-translate your script to PsychoJS (to support running in the browser), you can use code components in builder though if you are more familiar with coding (but see the JS crib sheet for possible issues in translation).

Yes, experiments running in pavlovia can be run on ipads too - although I would recommend piloting your experiment on several devices first as sometimes bugs may appear with different browser (e.g. safari)

Thanks, :slight_smile:
Becca

1 Like
5

Just trying out some different prolific tasks on ipads and the main problem I get is that the keyboard doesn’t appear (for example in a digit-span task where people need to input the numbers they see, there doesn’t seem to be a way to bring up the key pad because there isn’t really a ‘text field’ which I think the ipad requires). As becca said, the clicks work absolutely fine with the touch pad as presses. Has anyone else had any problems/successes accessing the keyboard on ipads? Thanks!

6

Try my demographics demo which has an embedded form that includes a text box. It worked when I tested it on my iPhone.

1 Like
7

thanks!

8

Hi,
If I manage to get a programming environment for Python on an iPad (e.g. Pyto), would I be able to run a Psychopy script?

Best,
Victor.

9

I doubt it. If nothing else, I would certainly expect many headaches. The problem is that PsychoPy doesn’t only depend on Python but on many other libraries, so all of those would also be needed on the iPad. PsychoPy itself is “pure” python but some of the dependencies require compiling and those are going to be the biggest headaches

See this onthe pyto documentation and note the statement “… includes also some popular libraries with compiled code in them. It’s not possible to install them at runtime because iOS doesn’t allow loading compiled plugins not included by the developer”:
https://pyto.readthedocs.io/en/latest/third_party.html

For running studies on mobile devices we would strongly recommend using PsychoJS, which is well-established with lots of users

10

got it. Thanks for the info!