Frequently asked questions about the ArcGIS Android and iOS apps

What is the future of the ArcGIS App on iOS and Android?

For data collection activities Esri strongly encourages the use of Collector as it has more data collection capabilities that are tailored to the field (for example, continuous collect, data streaming and offline data collection).

Explorer is the premier app for data discovery, exploration and map use. Once released, we encourage people to use it in place of the ArcGIS app because of its modern and intuitive user interface. Not only does it have all of the additional capabilities mentioned above, but future releases will have new capabilities that include support for offline maps, editing features, support for time-aware layers, the ability to author maps, 3D, directions and analysis.

Why should I use the Explorer app if I'm already using the ArcGIS for iOS?

The ArcGIS for iOS and Android applications are very popular and many users are happy with them. Not only can you display maps, but you can also collect data. Explorer provides users with a much more modern UI that is tightly integrated in the latest version of iOS (7.x). Esri encourages all users of the ArcGIS iOS app to use the new Explorer app as it has bug fixes (discovered in the ArcGIS app) and additional capabilities:

• Support for oAuth
• Support for more data types
• Additional ways to share maps
• Search features
• Enhanced support for WMTS layers
• Bing key support for Portal & Orgs
• Presentation playback
• Quickly switch between multiple accounts
• Sketch on the map
• Support for viewing doc, docx, xls, xlsx, ppt, pptx attachments

Will the Mobile Content Server and anonymous access capabilities in the ArcGIS app for iOS and Android be available in the Explorer app?

Users who currently host their web maps on-premises using the Mobile Content Server are encouraged to use either a hybrid model with ArcGIS Online where their maps are hosted and their data is on-premises, or a fully on-premises solution with Portal for ArcGIS. Both of these options have a much better user experience, especially with respect to map authoring and sharing.

Explorer requires an organizational account in order access maps and data in an organization. Users who need to have their maps accessible by their customers anonymously are encouraged to share their maps via the web map templates in ArcGIS Online and Portal.