Platform access level: This guide is for learners taking an Arist course inside Microsoft Teams. You do not need an Arist login or any platform role to follow it.
When Arist goes quiet in Microsoft Teams, the course itself is almost always fine. Nearly every case comes down to one of four things, and the fix for the most common one is two clicks. Work through the sections in order, because they are arranged from most to least likely.
Arist installs as two separate apps in Teams, and telling the two apart solves most problems on its own:
Arist is the course app, and it is the only one you can reply to: Your lessons arrive here and you send your answers here. If this app opens and your lessons are readable, your course is fine.
Arist Comms is the alert app, and it is one-way: It only tells you something is ready and carries a button into the lesson. Lessons never arrive here, and you cannot reply to it. Teams greys out its message box with You cannot send messages to this bot, which is normal and not the fault you are chasing.
Most reports of "Arist stopped working" are Arist Comms not alerting, while the Arist app and the course itself are fine.
Note: If your organization renamed and rebranded Arist, both apps may appear under a different name and logo. The behavior described here is the same either way.
1. Arist is not telling me about new lessons
This is the most common cause, and it is usually a blocked bot. If notifications stopped arriving but you can still open the Arist app and read your lessons, Arist Comms has been blocked, either deliberately or by accident. A working Arist Comms chat carries one card per alert, each with a Start lesson button into the lesson:
Clearing the block takes a few clicks, and the menu you need sits in a different place on a computer than it does on a phone. How do I unblock the Arist Comms bot in Microsoft Teams? walks through both, plus the case where Arist Comms has disappeared from your chat list rather than been blocked, and what to try if the alerts stay quiet afterward.
Important: A blocked bot never affects your course content. Every lesson you have already received is still in the Arist app, and you can keep completing the course as normal while you sort the notifications out.
2. I cannot find Arist in Teams at all
If neither app appears anywhere in Teams, the apps have not been made available to you yet. Your Microsoft Teams administrator has to grant employees permission to use the Arist and Arist Comms apps, and in most organizations they also pre-install both so you never have to think about it.
If your administrator has granted permission: You can add the apps yourself, and Using Arist on Microsoft Teams walks through it step by step.
If you see a Request button where you expected Add: You do not have permission to install the app, and the request goes to your IT team rather than to Arist.
If searching Arist returns nothing at all: Your organization may have renamed the apps, so ask your training leader what to search for.
3. My account is not authenticated yet
This one is not yours to fix, so retrying the app will not help. Your Microsoft Teams address has to be recorded on your learner record inside Arist. Until it is, the Arist app opens but cannot match you to your enrollments.
Contact your learning administrator and ask them to confirm your Teams address in Arist. If you are not sure who that is, email [email protected] and Arist will help you find the right person.
4. The app looks different from my coworker's
Two harmless things cause this.
Your organization white-labeled Arist: The app name and logo are changed to match your own branding, and it can take up to 72 hours for that change to appear in every employee's account. If your coworker sees the new branding and you do not, you are inside that window.
Teams is showing you a cached version: Teams holds on to settings from earlier use. Refreshing the app, or signing out and back in, picks up the current version, and clearing the Teams client cache resolves the stubborn cases.
5. None of these fixed it
Two details make a support request fast to resolve, so gather them before you write in:
Which app is affected: Arist, the course app you read and reply in, or Arist Comms, the alert app that tells you a lesson is ready.
What you have already tried: Unblocking, signing out and back in, and clearing the cache each rule out a different cause.
Send those to your training leader, or email [email protected] directly.
Related articles
How do I unblock the Arist Comms bot in Microsoft Teams?
Note: Need help at any point? Reach out to your Arist Customer Success contact, or email [email protected].