Google Launches Classroom App for Android and iOS

Google's Web-based education tool, Classroom, has now been launched for Android and iOS devices as an app. The Classroom app is compatible with devices running Android 4.0 and higher, or devices running iOS 7.0 and higher.

"Today [Wednesday] we're launching a native Classroom mobile app for both Android and iOS (also available in Google Play for Education to help teachers and students connect from wherever they are, and save even more paper and time," said Jorge Lugo, Software Engineer, Google for Education Classroom, in a blog post on Wednesday.

With the Classroom app, users can 'Snap a photo' right from the assignment page to attach it to their assignment. They can also attach images, pdfs and webpages in their assignments by directly sharing them from other apps.

"For example, when you're in a drawing app, you can create a graphic for an assignment. When you click 'share' in that app, Classroom will come up as an option, and you can attach the graphic to an assignment," added Lugo.

The Classroom mobile app also does automatic 'Offline caching', which means it caches class streams and assignment information once from the Internet for offline access later.

(Also see: Google Drive for Education Unveiled With Free Unlimited Storage and More)

Lastly, the blog post also noted that Google Classroom tool has also got two new features - a teacher assignments page and the ability to archive classes - to help teachers stay organised.

To remind you, Google Classroom was announced as a free education tool under the Google Apps for Education suite last year in May. The tool includes features like paperless assignments via Google Docs, Google Drive, Gmail, and things like real-time communication with students.