Android v2.2 Release Notes

[OpinioNate]

Previous version release notes

 

A new version of Geocaching for Android has been released to the Android Market, including the following updates:

 

New features:

 

• Save an entire search list for offline use using the “Save List” menu item
  
• Save search results and pocket queries in the background. Continue to use the app while your Geocaches are saving!
  
• View pocket queries without saving to device first
  
• No more “lite” geocaches from the pocket query. Full geocache data!
  

 

Bug fixes:

 

• Extending searches on map honors the advanced search criteria
  
• Other bug fixes, performance increases and UI responsiveness and server communications
  

[+larryc43230]

Previous version release notes

 

A new version of Geocaching for Android has been released to the Android Market, including the following updates:

 

New features:

 

• Save an entire search list for offline use using the "Save List" menu item
• Save search results and pocket queries in the background. Continue to use the app while your Geocaches are saving!
• View pocket queries without saving to device first
• No more "lite" geocaches from the pocket query. Full geocache data!

 

Bug fixes:

 

• Extending searches on map honors the advanced search criteria
• Other bug fixes, performance increases and UI responsiveness and server communications

The issue I previously reported regarding caches missing from the Search results list appear to have been resolved. See this post for the latest results of my testing.

 

Thanks for continuing to improve the app!

 

--Larry

[mortonfox]

It's good that most of the PQ saving now takes place in the background because that used to take 15 minutes. So thanks for that! However, when I tap a PQ in the list of PQs, it takes up to two minutes to bring up the list of caches in the PQ before I can even start saving it. Could you possibly add a way to start saving the PQ to an offline list without viewing it?

 

Also, it appears not to be possible to save multiple PQs at the same time. The app crashes when I try to start a second save while the first background save is still going. A warning would be nice instead of crashing.

[+Gray Bat]

V2.2 for Android has issues with Recent Logs, I just updated this morning 12/16/11. It seems to list recent logs for some caches, for others, it indicates no recent logs. At one point it even said I had 0 Caches found. Closing the app and rebooting phone fixed that particular issue. Running Droid Bionic, Android 2.3.4 with the recent 5.5.893.XT875 Motorola / Verizon bug fixes for Droid Bionic.

[Moun10Bike]

Gray Bat, are these caches you called up on a search, caches you are viewing in a PQ, or caches you have saved in an offline list?

[+Gray Bat]

Gray Bat, are these caches you called up on a search, caches you are viewing in a PQ, or caches you have saved in an offline list?

 

They are caches I am pulling up in a search "Find Nearby Caches", however, I will note that I also have an offline PQ list that is saved offline in the Droid. I have not yet seen consistent behavior. Some just published caches and possibly newer caches that were not part of my PQ from weeks back did bring up the recent logs today, while older caches did not show the recent logs - but they are most likely in my offline list - which I did not load or activate.

 

As a test, I have just removed the offline list (previous PQ from a few weeks back) from the droid in the belief that it could possibly cause conflict. Once I did this, I was able to successfully obtain Recent Logs for ten out of ten caches that would have previously been in my offline list. Note that my database location is on the Phone and not on the SD card.

 

As further verification that the offline list may have caused conflict, I now have recent logs appearing for a cache that did not bring up recent logs, but had been in my offline list.

 

I can attempt further testing if needed.

Edited December 17, 2011 by Gray Bat

[Chris-E]

Please add German language in the next Version.

The App looks much better on iphone that on android. (Maybe other "Themes"??)

 

But please, Please, PLEASE : ADD GERMAN LANGUAGE

 

(Sorry for my bad english ;-) )

[+nighthawk1701]

Why cant i load a trackable i found in this app. The ipod app can load a trackable in the field. The android can drop a trackable from the inventory list. Please fix this.

[hneel]

Why cant i load a trackable i found in this app. The ipod app can load a trackable in the field. The android can drop a trackable from the inventory list. Please fix this.

 

This is indeed the only thing I'm missing in the current app.

For example, I recently saw a TB sticker on a car and I wanted to log it, but I couldn't.

[+BugsBunnies]

When attempting to upload a log with an attached photo, the upload appeared to be successful (ie, no error messages), but the log never appeared, and remained in the "pending logs" queue.

Despite several attempts to upload all pending logs, this particular log failed to upload.

It was only after I removed the attached photo that the log was successfully uploaded.

 

The app needs to handle failed uploads more robustly, report the failed upload, and provide some indication why the upload failed.

 

Does the app do any resizing before trying to upload the photo, or was it trying to upload a full-sized 8MP photo (~3.2MB)?

 

FWIW, I only specified a caption for the photo, and not a description, and I'm running version 2.2 of the app on a Samsung Galaxy SII, on Android 2.3.6.

Edited January 1, 2012 by BugsBunnies

[+TravelWithUs]

Will this app work on android honeycomb 3.2 for Tablets? The app is available in the app market and costs $9.99 but I want to be sure it will work on my Toshiba thrive tablet.

[+novalightning]

Loving the app on my andriod phone - great work guys. Any plans to add the challenges to the app.

[Moun10Bike]

Loving the app on my andriod phone - great work guys. Any plans to add the challenges to the app.

 

There's a separate app for Challenges: http://bit.ly/uAAT5H

[+dicky82]

are there any plans to make my personal cache notes availble in the android app?

I really would like to store data in there, but how am i supposed to read them on the road?

additional it would be lovely to be able to edit them.

 

dicky

Edited January 3, 2012 by dicky82

[+WanderingExplorer]

I have downloaded v2.2 on my android Samsung Galaxy phone and the compass is very erratic, I cannot even use it.

[john loves cindi]

I've seached through the app that I down loaded for my htc and can not find how to turn on the potioning for my my phone . The map is always oriented north no matter which way I'm facing. went through google maps to see if there was a setting to change this as well. This was easy task on my fiances Iphone.

[filipepro]

Like other unofficial applications have, It would be very interesting to have the possibility to create multiple personalized waypoints with coordenates entered manually. For example, in a multi if in the description is given a new coordenates for points 1,2, etc.. we should be able to create a waypoint manually. I can't do it here... Or... can I? Did I miss something??

 

EDIT:

Sorry... I've found it...

Edited January 31, 2012 by filipepro

[+TravelWithUs]

Thank you for developing this app. In general I like. After using 2 months in several states in the South West and Rocky Mtn region I have the following comments:

What needs improvement;

1. Offline lists. When I attempt to save PQ to offline lists, it crashes 50% of time before the transfer. :(

2. The app also does not update the Offline lists 3 out of 4 tries and there is no way of knowing if the upload was successful unless I back out of two windows and re-open offline lists. this is very cumbersome and time consuming. :(

3. Navigate to Geocache is very very slow with cell tower connection.

4. Navigate to Geocache is very very very very slow without cell tower connecton.

5. Can not filter types for caches with inventory only

6. Compass is slow to stablize and point to direction of cache.

 

What I like:

1. Find nearby caches. Perfect for unplanned caching.

2. Very large screen on my tablet. Much better than my P60

3. Ability to navigate several different ways. Although all methods are slow.

 

Please try to fix the PQ save to offline lists crashes.

Please add a feature to add new PQ from tablet.

Thank you.

[+Semper Questio]

Thank you for developing this app. In general I like. After using 2 months in several states in the South West and Rocky Mtn region I have the following comments:

What needs improvement;

1. Offline lists. When I attempt to save PQ to offline lists, it crashes 50% of time before the transfer. :(

2. The app also does not update the Offline lists 3 out of 4 tries and there is no way of knowing if the upload was successful unless I back out of two windows and re-open offline lists. this is very cumbersome and time consuming. :(

3. Navigate to Geocache is very very slow with cell tower connection.

4. Navigate to Geocache is very very very very slow without cell tower connecton.

5. Can not filter types for caches with inventory only

6. Compass is slow to stablize and point to direction of cache.

 

What I like:

1. Find nearby caches. Perfect for unplanned caching.

2. Very large screen on my tablet. Much better than my P60

3. Ability to navigate several different ways. Although all methods are slow.

 

Please try to fix the PQ save to offline lists crashes.

Please add a feature to add new PQ from tablet.

Thank you.

 

I've got to pretty much agree on all points. The slowness is why I generally just use the app for new caches, look for caches outside my area, and to look at older logs or more recent info than I have loaded in CacheMate on my phone. And usually, I end up enter the coords from the app into my 60csx if they are not already there and then proceeding with the hunt. I only VERY rarely hunt with the app. It is just too slow and I can never trust where it is telling me to look.

[+AJBB]

I'm very disappointed.

 

Just got a new Android Galaxy and the first thing I did was download Geocaching Live API from the Android market. Given that the cost was pretty much the same as the app that I downloaded for my ipod touch a year earlier, I'm disappointed in the difference in functionality. Unfortunately, Groundspeak has a won't step up past the Android-Market-won't-refund-after-15-minutes policy.

 

For instance,

- Geocache icons on maps do not have different icons for caches I previously found or caches that I planted

- In "Offline" mode (no WiFi, but GPS), no maps seem to be available, unless you start it at the same scale. Even then, zooming in shows that tiling is not available and the maps gets pixelated.

 

I've now moved to another free app on Android that has this (and more). What a waste of $10. Groundspeak shouldn't be charging the same amount for the supposedly same app on different platforms when they are that grossly different in functionality.

[+todpike]

My biggest problem with the Android app is that some very basic functions are slow or broken entirely on my LG Ally:

 

1. after I load a cache, the description often does not display at all. sometimes backing out and trying again works, but often a long description doesn not scroll either.
   
2. same thing with the logs.
   
3. rotating the screen is *very* slow
   
4. when I go to log a cache, typing in the text box does not echo. sometimes if I rotate the screen it displays, but not always.
   

 

In any case, for what I need to do (find a cache, then log it), the app is worthless. It's too bad, because I really want to support the official app, and I keep waiting for an update to fix the problems, but so far nothing has helped. I've tried reporting the problems in the feedback area, but nothing there either.

[+Rynee]

Why cant i load a trackable i found in this app. The ipod app can load a trackable in the field. The android can drop a trackable from the inventory list. Please fix this.

. Why can't you on the main screen next to the search that says location click on that change location to say trackable type in the trackable number and press enter

 

This is indeed the only thing I'm missing in the current app.

For example, I recently saw a TB sticker on a car and I wanted to log it, but I couldn't.

[+Rynee]

Why cant i load a trackable i found in this app. The ipod app can load a trackable in the field. The android can drop a trackable from the inventory list. Please fix this.

.

 

This is indeed the only thing I'm missing in the current app.

For example, I recently saw a TB sticker on a car and I wanted to log it, but I couldn't.

.

 

Why can't you on the main screen next to the search that says location click on that change location to say trackable type in the trackable number and press enter

[+KMacneal]

I just downloaded the App.

 

When I open the Pocket Queries, I don't see any of the ones I created on geocaching.com.

 

I saved .gpx files to my SD card. I can see them under settings. When I try to open them, I am asked to save to a list. I save them to a list, but when I open the list they aren't there.

 

I did a search geocaches with Mass Pike in the name. When I do it on geocaching.com I get 7 or 8 caches. When it do it in the App, I get 1. I click on "More" and no additional caches appear.

[Moun10Bike]

I just downloaded the App.

 

When I open the Pocket Queries, I don't see any of the ones I created on geocaching.com.

 

You have not generated any of the them. You have to set the PQ to run before it will be available on the device.

 

I saved .gpx files to my SD card. I can see them under settings. When I try to open them, I am asked to save to a list. I save them to a list, but when I open the list they aren't there.

 

I am not able to reproduce this behavior. What was the source of the GPX files you used? Do they contain caches with GC codes from Geocaching.com, or some other data?

 

I did a search geocaches with Mass Pike in the name. When I do it on geocaching.com I get 7 or 8 caches. When it do it in the App, I get 1. I click on "More" and no additional caches appear.

 

For performance reasons there is a cap on the distance when searching in the app.

[OpinioNate]

New release notes are posted.