Attaching image in Draft mode is broken

[+HoochDog]

Steps to recreate... in the official iPhone app...

 

1) create new log entry

2) select draft

3) attach image

4) save draft

5) come back later to the draft, turn off draft and officially post log entry

 

result...

log entry image is not visible in official iOS app (black image appears)

log entry is not visible in a web browser. 

here is a link to a log that had an image uploaded using these steps

https://www.geocaching.com/seek/log.aspx?LUID=dbe3755b-af54-4d9f-aea9-8f76045ab631
 

this bug is very annoying. I like to attach images in draft mode so I don’t have to remember which image went with which cache, but want to type in my full log later. Thank you. 

Edited October 12, 2020 by HoochDog
Clarification

[+HoochDog]

It's been a couple of days.  Can anyone confirm this behavior or is it just me?  This one won't crash the app , so feel free to test.

[+CAVinoGal]

7 hours ago, HoochDog said:

Can anyone confirm this behavior or is it just me?

While I can't confirm the same behavior with an iPhone, I can say that it's also broken in the Android app.  Yesterday and today, I attached an image to a draft, intending to upload and complete my log later at home.  The draft was there, but there was no image attached, even though it showed in the draft at the time I created it.  I had to remember which photo I wanted to attach to that log and go find it in my dowloads from the photos of the day.

 

My workflow:  Log a draft on the phone app while at the cache site, after signing the log, quick timestamp, notes I want to expand on, etc.  Attach photo if desired...save draft and on to the next cache.

At home: Log in to Geocaching.com on my laptop, go to my Dashboard, scroll down to Drafts, open the first one to log, and write my full log.  The photo I had attached (normally there, already attached) is missing.  This seems to happen if I use "take photo" or "select photo" - it doesn't matter.  If I want the photo to appear with my log I need to reattach it, then upload my log.

Once I have completed that, it takes me to the cache page with a button at the top that is a link to "Return to Drafts", where I can then move on to the next draft awaiting completion.

 

Again though, I use an Android phone so there is likely to be differences.  Maybe I should post this in the Android bugs forum....

Edited October 15, 2020 by CAVinoGal
Clarification

[+outdoorsoccer]

9 hours ago, HoochDog said:

It's been a couple of days.  Can anyone confirm this behavior or is it just me?  This one won't crash the app , so feel free to test.

I have iPhone and was able to load an image to my draft log with no problem. Just added photos to 3 drafts today.  Have you tried restarting your phone?  Or logging out and back into the app?   Or deleting the app and reinstalling?  If you still are having trouble after doing all that, then I am not sure what else to suggest other than contacting GS and see if they are getting  bug reports from other iPhone users.   Good luck!  Let us know if it gets resolved. 

[+Max and 99]

10 hours ago, HoochDog said:

It's been a couple of days.  Can anyone confirm this behavior or is it just me?  This one won't crash the app , so feel free to test.

I can confirm. I don't have much experience with drafts but I followed your steps. After I officially posted the log the app said I had no drafts. However it now shows as a draft on the map and there's no image to be seen even though the draft had an image. 

 

[+HoochDog]

10 hours ago, outdoorsoccer said:

I have iPhone and was able to load an image to my draft log with no problem. Just added photos to 3 drafts today.  Have you tried restarting your phone?  Or logging out and back into the app?   Or deleting the app and reinstalling?  If you still are having trouble after doing all that, then I am not sure what else to suggest other than contacting GS and see if they are getting  bug reports from other iPhone users.   Good luck!  Let us know if it gets resolved. 

adding photos to drafts isn’t the issue. As noted in the steps and screenshots. When you come back later and post your log, it results in an uploaded image that is broken and not viewable. 

[+Pleu]

I found this thread because a similar issue was raised in a swedish facebookgroup. The best idea there is that this might be related to the standard format of the iphone's camera that changed a while back and that the official app might be handling this format differently (maybe something changed in a update of the app?). I don't have a iPhone so I can't test this to see if it helps, but here are some article about the thing with suggestions for how to change the format in settings or use different ways to convert the picture to a format that should work in the app: https://www.techgeekandmore.com/change-default-image-format-iphone-ipad/ and https://www.iosappweekly.com/change-photo-format-on-iphone-jpeg-png-tiff-heic/

[+HoochDog]

3 hours ago, Pleu said:

 this might be related to the standard format of the iphone's camera that changed a while back and that the official app might be handling this format differently  

Good theory but I already save photos in high compatibility, jpeg mode. 
functionality is still broken. 

image seems to upload in draft. 
when you access draft, you can see a thumbnail of the image. 
When you turn off draft and save it. Image is broken. 

 

[+HoochDog]

I’ve done some more experimenting. Title of this thread should say “posting draft images is broken”

 

scenario 1) broken

attach image with iPhone app in draft. Come back to iPhone app and save log. 
 

scenario 2) broken

create draft log with image in iPhone app that rhymes with hashly (don’t know if I’m aloud to say). Access that draft log in iPhone app. See image. Save log. No images show up in log.  Not even broken ones. 
 

scenario 3) WORKS

create draft with image in iPhone app. Complete draft and post it using the website. 
 

this third scenario works. So as a workaround for now, if your draft has an image, complete the draft on the website. 
 

I’d still prefer the posting draft loses images bug be fixed though. 

Edited November 8, 2020 by HoochDog
Typo

[+Pleu]

22 hours ago, HoochDog said:

iPhone app that rhymes with hashly (don’t know if I’m aloud to say)

Cachly should be allowed, they use the official API so they are "good guys". I think it's only unathourized apps that are not allowed.

You did some good testing, I hope HQ can check on this because there seem to be a bug in how the drafts are handled. 

[em_adventuring]

Thank you for reporting the issue. We have notified the Engineering team.

[+Coyle_DK]

This issue is STILL in scope, and is a real pain on the Android App ver 7.5.0 (6/7-2022).

 

I have been used the iOS version for many years now, and this works very fine with uploading draft log images to GC automatically, and it's easy to log all the drafts with a good logging and image after a tour.

 

The Android version is never the less NOT uploading the draft images, so the only solution is first to publish all draft logs from the GeoCaching to the GC from the App, so the images remains, and then again go online find all the logged caches, and change the log-text for the adventure one-by-one.

 

This i totally waste of time, when it works so smooth in the iOS version.... and just encourages people to make meaningless log in the fields without images, because this not work.

 

PLEASE FIX THIS !!!!

 

Edited July 6, 2022 by Coyle_DK

[+CAVinoGal]

On 7/6/2022 at 3:28 PM, Coyle_DK said:

This issue is STILL in scope, and is a real pain on the Android App ver 7.5.0 (6/7-2022).

 

I have Android version 9.5.0, Android 12, Google Pixel 4a.  Perhaps updating to the newest verion of the Android app would help?  It seems to be working fine for me....

[+Bl4ckH4wkGER]

On 7/6/2022 at 3:28 PM, Coyle_DK said:

This issue is STILL in scope, and is a real pain on the Android App ver 7.5.0 (6/7-2022).

 

The app build you are running was released on Feb 11 2019. As @CAVinoGal noted you should update to the last version.

The latest app build 9.5.0 has a minimum requirement of Android 7.

 

If your phone doesn't support newer builds than 7.5.0, it may be because the operating system on your phone is too old. 

[+lokijota]

I'm on android, v9.34.0,and I've lost count at the number of times I've lost photos in drafts. It's not reliable. I go back to the draft a week later, eg. when some trip is over, and all photos are gone both in the phone drafts and online. It's the single most annoying thing, I've lost logs of virtuals because of this. 

[+Rkoehn1]

51 minutes ago, lokijota said:

I'm on android, v9.34.0,and I've lost count at the number of times I've lost photos in drafts. It's not reliable. I go back to the draft a week later, eg. when some trip is over, and all photos are gone both in the phone drafts and online. It's the single most annoying thing, I've lost logs of virtuals because of this. 

I thought it was just me! Glad but sad to hear it isn't.

[+Max and 99]

1 hour ago, lokijota said:

I'm on android, v9.34.0,and I've lost count at the number of times I've lost photos in drafts. It's not reliable. I go back to the draft a week later, eg. when some trip is over, and all photos are gone both in the phone drafts and online. It's the single most annoying thing, I've lost logs of virtuals because of this. 

Are these not still available on your phone? My Android saves them in a geo: folder. 

[worrellsquirrel]

3 hours ago, lokijota said:

I'm on android, v9.34.0,and I've lost count at the number of times I've lost photos in drafts. It's not reliable. I go back to the draft a week later, eg. when some trip is over, and all photos are gone both in the phone drafts and online. It's the single most annoying thing, I've lost logs of virtuals because of this. 

 

2 hours ago, Rkoehn1 said:

I thought it was just me! Glad but sad to hear it isn't.

 

Hello @lokijota and @Rkoehn1,

 

Currently, our developers are only aware of this issue occurring on the iOS platform. To help us identify the underlying cause and receive direct troubleshooting, please write to us at the following email address:

 

contact@geocaching.com

 

Screenshots / screen recordings and detailed steps to reproduce the issue are always appreciated. Thank you for your patience and understanding!

[+Max and 99]

3 hours ago, worrellsquirrel said:

 

 

Hello @lokijota and @Rkoehn1,

 

Currently, our developers are only aware of this issue occurring on the iOS platform. To help us identify the underlying cause and receive direct troubleshooting, please write to us at the following email address:

 

contact@geocaching.com

 

Screenshots / screen recordings and detailed steps to reproduce the issue are always appreciated. Thank you for your patience and understanding!

I tested it out on my Android, 9.34.0

I created a log, added a photo, then saved it as a draft.

Went to the desktop, clicked on the draft, and posted it. It's still hanging, BUT.....

I got a notification on my phone of the log, and it is indeed posted to the cache page, without a photo.

Still hanging.

Email sent.

Edited August 22 by Max and 99

[+Max and 99]

I don't know if it's just me, but today all images I attached to my logs thru the app disappear. I have to go to my log on the website to add them again.

Android.