Locking the data on the phone app

Developers
1

Hi all,

Is it possible to lock data on the phone so that it can not be reviewed from the phone? I would like to collect data on a form but then lock it for review so that the mobile user is not able to see it once submitted. Possible?

thanks!
A

2

Hey Aaron,

I'm assuming what you mean by this is that after forms are sent, you don't want users to be able to go to the list of Saved forms and view them. Is that right? If so, that is half-possible. It is possible to hide the large button that appears on the home screen for users to access Saved Forms, by doing the following:

  1. Go to Settings for your app (the gear button next to the app name), and then select the 'Advanced Settings' tab
  2. Using the menu button on the right side of the screen, enable the 'Android Settings' section
  3. Find the 'Saved Forms' settings item and set it to 'Disable'
  4. Save changes and then create a new build of your app and deploy

However, the option in the home screen options menu (3 dots in the upper-right corner) for "Saved Forms" can not be hidden, so users who discover that item will still be able to navigate to this screen. (The reason for keeping this less obvious path to the Saved Forms screen available at all times is that viewing these forms can sometimes be an important component of troubleshooting or support workflows).

Let me know if your question was referring to something different than what I interpreted.

Also, a quick note that the [Developers] forum is intended for questions about setting up your own instance of CommCare HQ. If you have a question about usage of CommCare, the [Users] forum is the correct place for that.

3

Yes, that's what I'm trying to do, and it's helpful to hide the button but it would be useful to either disable the review completely or require a password or some special knowledge to get there. Or maybe there's a way to "trap" a user in the application so they can't get back to the main menu?

In my application, I would like to hand the device to a non-user to do the data entry, and I do not want them to navigate to anyone else's results. Maybe there's another way to accomplish this?

Sorry for posting in the wrong place.

Thanks Aliza!

4

Unfortunately none of the workflows you're proposing are supported in CommCare. The expectation for use of CommCare by mobile users is that once a user logs in on a device, they are entitled to see any data that belongs to that user (which is any data that was created by that user, or that belongs to them via a case-sharing group).

Is there a reason you can't create a mobile user for each individual who will be doing mobile data entry, and allow them to log in and use CommCare as their own user? As long as you don't have case-sharing enabled (which is the default behavior), the only data that will be visible to each user is the data that he/she has created. This is indeed the intended purpose of having the ability to create multiple mobile users for a single CommCare application, and is used by many projects in this way.

5

The idea is for our mobile user to log in, enter a few study-related pieces of information, and then hand the device to the study participant to complete the data entry, which may be done in private. Because the device will be out of sight of the mobile user for a time, I'm trying to hide the previously collected data. To use the path you're suggesting, we'd have to create a mobile user login for every study participant.

Maybe there's a way to refashion our process to avoid this situation - will keep working on it.

thanks
Aaron