KoboCollect, in one sentence
KoboCollect is the free and open source mobile app from KoboToolbox, available on Android, designed to collect data in the field. Its reason for existing fits in one word: offline. An enumerator downloads the questionnaire while there is still network, leaves for a week in an area with no coverage, records the interviews, and everything reaches the server on return.
So it only does part of the job, and that matters for understanding where it stops: the questionnaire is designed elsewhere, the answers are analysed elsewhere. KoboCollect is the field half of the chain, the half that has to work in a village with no electricity.
Installing the app
KoboCollect is downloaded from the Google Play Store, and that is the channel to prefer: it is where the fixes arrive. Installing asks for no account at this stage, configuration comes afterwards.
The point that decides everything, even before ordering phones for a collection, is the Android version:
- Android 8.0 or later: recent versions of KoboCollect install normally.
- Android 5.1 to 7: the app still works, but with an earlier version, published on the project's GitHub repository. Entry level devices bought a few years ago often fall into this category.
Second hardware point, quieter and paid for in the middle of a collection: storage space. The questionnaires themselves are light, but photos, audio and video are not, and they stay on the device as long as the answers have not been sent. A collection running several days with photos on a 16 GB phone ends badly.
Connecting it to the right server
This is the step where almost everyone gets stuck, and the cause is always the same: the address to enter in the app is not the one you open in your browser. KoboToolbox exposes one address for the web interface and another one for collection, and it is the second that KoboCollect asks for.
| Server | Browser address | Address to enter in KoboCollect |
|---|---|---|
| Global | kf.kobotoolbox.org | https://kc.kobotoolbox.org |
| Europe | eu.kobotoolbox.org | https://kc-eu.kobotoolbox.org |
| Your organisation's own instance | specific to the organisation | given by the administrator |
With the right address, manual configuration fits in three fields: in the app, choose "Manually enter project details", enter the address, the username and the password of the KoboToolbox account, then "Add". A web interface address entered here raises no explicit error: it simply brings back no questionnaire, which sends you looking for the problem in the wrong place.
Configuring a whole team with a QR code
Retyping an address, a username and a password on twenty phones is slow and produces typos. KoboToolbox therefore lets you carry the whole configuration in a QR code. From a device already configured: open the project, the round icon at the top right, Settings, Project Management, then "Reconfigure with QR code". The other phones scan it, and it is done.
Collecting, offline
The KoboCollect main menu follows the real order of a collection, and it reads like a queue: Download form, Start new form, Drafts, Ready to send, Sent, Delete form.
- Download form fetches the blank questionnaires from the server. Tick the ones you need, or Select All, then Get Selected. This is the only step that requires a network, and it is done before leaving the covered area.
- Start new form opens a questionnaire and starts an entry. At the end, three choices: Save as draft to come back to it, Finalize to close the answer, Send to close it and send it straight away if the network is there.
- Drafts keeps the incomplete answers, which stay editable. That is the right reflex when an interview is cut short.
- Ready to send is the queue of finalised answers waiting for a network. They can stay there for days without risk. On return, Select All then Send Selected.
- Sent keeps a record of what has gone, which lets you check that no questionnaire was left behind.
Everything between the download and the sending happens with no connection at all, including photos, audio recordings and GPS coordinates. Skip logic, validation constraints and repeat blocks also work offline: they are compiled into the questionnaire itself, not computed by the server.
KoboCollect, ODK Collect or Enketo
All three read the same questionnaire. The choice is therefore not about content compatibility, but about the device available and the server in use.
| KoboCollect | ODK Collect | Enketo | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Runs on | Android app | Android app | Web browser |
| Offline | Full | Full | Partial, depending on the browser |
| Server targeted | KoboToolbox | ODK Central and others | KoboToolbox, ODK |
| iPhone, computer | No | No | Yes |
| Questionnaire | XLSForm | XLSForm | XLSForm |
In practice: KoboCollect for field collection on Android, Enketo for a questionnaire sent by link to respondents or entered from an office, ODK Collect if the organisation works on ODK Central rather than KoboToolbox. The difference between these two ecosystems is covered in what is KoboToolbox, and the division of roles between the format, the platform and the app is covered in full in XLSForm, Kobo, ODK: finally understanding who does what.
What KoboCollect does not do
The app is excellent at what it is built for, and it is better to know straight away where it stops, because that is where most of the MEAL work sits:
- It does not design the questionnaire. That one is written in the XLSForm format, in a spreadsheet or in a generator, then deployed to the server. KoboCollect only reads it.
- It does not clean the data. Duplicates, outliers, interviews too short to be plausible: none of that shows on the phone.
- It does not analyse. No cross tabulation, no disaggregation by sex or by site, no indicator calculation.
- It produces no report. The answers reach the server, and the reporting work starts there.
It is a healthy division: an app that has to survive an entry level phone, with no network, in the dust, has no business doing statistics. But it explains why a team equipped with KoboCollect has solved collection, and nothing else.
Where the questionnaire comes from, and where the answers go
Seen end to end, the chain has five steps, and KoboCollect occupies only one of them:
- Design. The questionnaire is described in plain language in OptiBot, which produces a complete XLSForm, with its question types, its skip logic and its constraints.
- Deploy. From Opti Gemba, the questionnaire goes out to a KoboToolbox project, new or existing. The full procedure, API token included, is on connecting KoboToolbox to Opti'.
- Collect. The enumerators download the form into KoboCollect and work offline.
- Bring back. Opti' imports the answers back, and can follow the collection live while it is happening.
- Analyse and report. Cleaning, disaggregation, indicators, then the narrative report.
Opti' also has its own collection, online and offline: an assignment can be run without Kobo at all. Going through KoboCollect is justified when the organisation already collects on KoboToolbox, when the enumerators are trained on it, or when a donor imposes the server. In that case nothing has to be rebuilt: it is the same XLSForm on both sides.
Frequently asked questions
Is KoboCollect available on iPhone?
No. KoboCollect is an Android app, and there is no official equivalent on iOS. On an iPhone, an iPad or a computer, collection is done through Enketo web forms, which open in the browser from the same questionnaire. That is why field teams almost always work on entry level Android phones: they are the only devices that give access to the full offline app.
Which server address should be entered in KoboCollect?
The collection one, which is not the one in your browser. For the Global server, https://kc.kobotoolbox.org. For the Europe server, https://kc-eu.kobotoolbox.org. The addresses kf.kobotoolbox.org and eu.kobotoolbox.org belong to the web interface: entered in the app, they bring back no questionnaire at all. If your organisation hosts its own instance, the address is given to you by its administrator.
Does KoboCollect really work with no connection?
Yes, on one condition: the questionnaire has to be downloaded onto the device before the network is lost. Once "Download form" is done, everything else happens offline, including photos, audio and GPS coordinates. Finalised answers pile up in "Ready to send" and only go out when you ask for it, once the network is back. Allow enough storage space if you collect media.
Which Android version does KoboCollect need?
Recent versions of the app require Android 8.0 or later. Older devices are not ruled out for all that: KoboCollect keeps working from Android 5.1 with an earlier version, published on the project's GitHub repository. This is worth checking before buying a batch of phones for a collection.
Can the configuration QR code be shared with the whole team?
Technically yes, and it is the fastest way to configure twenty phones. But this QR code contains the server address, the username and the account password, in plain text. Passing it around a messaging group or pinning it to a wall amounts to publishing the password. Show it screen to screen, or generate it from an account dedicated to collection, whose password is changed at the end of the assignment.
Does a questionnaire changed on the server reach the phones on its own?
No, and it is a classic source of errors at the start of a collection. A change deployed on KoboToolbox does not replace the form already downloaded onto a device: "Download form" has to be done again on every phone. Answers already entered with the old version stay valid and go out normally, but they do not carry the questions that were added.
Is KoboCollect required to use Opti'?
No. Opti' has its own collection, online and offline, and an assignment can be run end to end without going through Kobo. KoboCollect stays useful when the organisation already collects on KoboToolbox, when the enumerators are trained on that app, or when a donor imposes the server. In that case Opti' generates the questionnaire, sends it to Kobo, then imports the answers back to analyse them.
Generate the questionnaire KoboCollect will fetch
Opti' is an all in one MEAL platform covering the whole cycle, from questionnaire design to the final report. It is made of three modules:
OptiBot
The MEAL AI assistant: XLSForm generation, methodological advice and documents (ToR, methodologies).
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Opti Gemba
Assignment management: ToR, a Kobo and ODK compatible questionnaire, online and offline collection, analysis and report.
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Opti Academy
Personalised AI led MEAL training, fitted to your role and your context.
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