Canvas app on Apple computers

Are you using the Canvas app on your Macbook and getting errors?

The Canvas vendor, Instructure, recommends accessing Canvas on an Apple macOS computer from a web browser rather than the Canvas app. Although the Canvas app in the Apple App Store can be installed on a Mac, it is actually developed for iOS (iPhone and iPad), not macOS.

You can perform many basic Canvas functions in the app on macOS, but a number of features will work poorly or not at all. St. Thomas users frequently report issues specifically when trying to access or interact with:

• Course materials such as digital textbooks or publisher content

• Connected apps and external tools (Zoom, Panopto, VoiceThread, etc.)

• LTI resources that require authentication or third‑party cookies

On a Mac computer, these tools rely on browser capabilities (especially third‑party cookies and cross‑site authentication) that the Canvas app from the Apple App Store does not support. As a result, clicking these resources often opens a new window inside the app that displays only an error.

The reason these same materials and connected apps work correctly in the Canvas app on iOS devices (iPhones and iPads) is because iOS provides built‑in WebView features that fully support the authentication and cookie handling required by LTI tools. macOS does not provide these capabilities to the Canvas app.

For full functionality, including access to course materials and connected apps, use Canvas in a supported browser (Chrome, Firefox, or Safari) on your Mac.