Accessing Canvas for students

Canvas is a learning management system (LMS) for faculty and students. Through Canvas, you can find your courses, class grades and other resources from your instructor. Go to https://umsystem.instructure.com/ to access Canvas.

• Ensure you are getting instructor notifications and announcements by checking your notification preferences in Canvas.
• Communicate with your instructor promptly if you need accommodations in terms of due dates, quiz times or accessibility concerns. 
• Be relatable—if you haven’t already, consider adding a picture to your Canvas profile so other students can recognize you. How do I add a profile picture in my Canvas user account as a student?
• What are the basic computer specifications for Canvas?
• If you have trouble accessing a link in Canvas, confirm you have allowed your browser to open pop-ups: How do I allow pop-ups for Canvas on my browser? 
• If you have an issue or concern with Canvas, consider the following resources:     
  • Canvas Student Guide—detailed help pages
  • Canvas Student Videos—detailed help videos

Accessing Canvas through mobile browsers

You can access Canvas from the native browsers on your Android/iOS device; however, not all mobile browsers are supported, and features may not function as expected compared to viewing Canvas in a fully supported desktop browser. We recommend that you use the Canvas Student app for most purposes on mobile devices. 

On mobile devices, Canvas is designed to be used within Canvas mobile applications. Canvas pages within a mobile browser are only supported when an action in the app links directly to the browser, such as when a student takes certain types of quizzes. Support is not extended to pages that cannot currently be used in the app, such as Conferences or Collaborations.

Many of the third-party tools we use with Canvas, such as Zoom and VitalSource among others, have their own mobile apps that will launch when those links are accessed in the Canvas Student App. Please see: Laptop Apps and Software to Keep Updated.

We do not recommend taking high-stakes tests on phones, through a mobile browser or through the Canvas Student app.

Additionally, Canvas offers limited support for native mobile browsers on tablet devices. For details, please reference the limited-support mobile browser guidelines.

• How do I access Canvas using a mobile browser on my Android device?
• How do I access Canvas using a mobile browser on my iOS device?

Canvas campus and vendor resources