Capturing and uploading media on iOS
Getting imagery off the phone and into Highlighter — attached to a case, picked by hand, or synced automatically from the library.
The mobile app has four routes for imagery, for four different jobs.
| Route | Use it when | Where it lives |
|---|---|---|
| Add Data | You want a photo or video attached to a specific case | The + button in the tab bar |
| Upload Photos | You want to send a handful of photos from the library | Profile → Media |
| Media Sync | You want everything this phone captures to arrive by itself | Profile → Media |
| Upload to Highlighter | The images are in another app, such as a drone's | That app's share sheet |
Upload Photos and Media Sync both read the same iOS photo library, so only one of them is active at a time. The app presents them as a choice, and switching between them does not interfere with uploads already in flight.
Add Data — attaching media to a case
Tap the + in the middle of the tab bar.
- Related Case — pick the case this belongs to. The picker searches your cases, and can create a new one.
- Add Media — choose Photo or Video.
- Photo lets you Take Photo with the camera or Choose from Library.
- Video picks an existing video from the library.
- Tap Save Data.
Save Data stays disabled until there is both a case and something to upload. Media you attach but never save is discarded when you close the sheet.
Saved media joins the same upload queue as Upload Photos. A photo with no camera serial number in it waits there until there is a destination for such photos — Profile → Media → Upload Photos shows 1 photo needs a data source — and then uploads and attaches to the case. See Choosing a data source.
Upload Photos — picking by hand
Profile → Media → Upload Photos opens a screen for sending specific photos.
Tap Choose Photos and pick what you want. Highlighter only sees the photos you pick — nothing else on the device is read, and no library-wide permission is requested.
The picked photos are copied by Highlighter onto the device first, then queued for upload. They are held on the device until they have been uploaded, so it is safe to leave the screen or close the app. Anything that fails shows in the queue with a Try Again button.
If you find yourself picking the same photos every evening, the screen offers Set Up Media Sync as the standing alternative.
Upload to Highlighter — sharing from another app
Some apps keep their imagery where Highlighter cannot read it — a drone's companion app, for example. Send it across with the iOS share sheet instead.
- In the other app (or in Photos, Files or Safari), select the images and tap Share.
- Choose Upload to Highlighter. You can share up to 500 images at a time.
- The sheet shows Adding 1 of N… and then Added N photos to Highlighter. Tap Done to go back to the app you came from.
Nothing uploads at that moment. The images are handed to Highlighter and upload the next time you open it, where Upload Photos opens to show their progress. From there they are treated exactly like photos you picked by hand: duplicates are skipped, they are routed by camera serial number, and they are held on the device until uploaded.
If the sheet says an image couldn't be read, the rest were still added. If nothing could be added, it says so and nothing is sent — try again, or pick the images in Upload Photos.
Shared images that have not been uploaded yet are discarded when you sign out or change which Highlighter the app signs in at.
Media Sync — watching the library
Profile → Media → Turn on Media Sync hands the whole photo library over, so new inspection imagery reaches Highlighter without anyone choosing it.
Setting it up
Media Sync needs full photo library access. iOS's Selected Photos option looks like it is working and then never finds anything, because newly transferred imagery is not in the selection — the app warns you when it detects this and offers Open Settings to fix it.
Setup is a single commitment: tap Start Media Sync. There is nothing to configure, because where each photo goes is decided by the camera serial number in the photo itself.
Photos already on the device when you set it up are left alone; only new imagery is synced.
What you see afterwards
The Media Sync screen shows the running state:
- Matched by camera serial — how imagery is being routed, with a per-camera breakdown of what has uploaded and what is still to go. Change redirects a camera to a different data source.
- Progress — how many files have uploaded, how many are queued, and how much is safely stored on the device. Uploads continue when connectivity allows.
- Needs review — imagery that might not be inspection material, held rather than imported on its own. Import or Dismiss each one.
- Needs a destination — photos whose metadata carries no camera serial number, which is most phone imagery. You choose a destination once, and it stands for every serial-less photo after it. The same standing choice is used by Upload Photos, and changing it in either place changes it in both.
- Problems — anything that failed, with Try Again.
- Check Again — rescan now.
- Can't find your photos? — a reminder at the bottom of the screen: transfer the photos from the camera to this device first, because no app can see photos left on a memory card. If they were already on the device before Media Sync was set up, use Rescan whole library.
Settings
- Sync photos automatically — the master switch. Turned off, the app still records what a scan finds but copies and uploads none of it. Photos you picked by hand are outside this switch and upload regardless.
- Upload on Wi-Fi only — imagery is still copied and queued on cellular, but held back from uploading until the phone is on Wi-Fi. Inspection frames run 10–50 MB each and a field day is measured in gigabytes, so this matters on a metered plan.
- Rescan whole library — send anything this device has not uploaded yet.
Choosing a data source
Both Upload Photos and Media Sync ask where imagery should go when they cannot work it out. The Choose Data Source sheet lists the data sources on your account — cameras appear by serial number — and can Create Data Source for a new one named on the spot.
Turning Media Sync off
Selecting Upload Photos while Media Sync is set up and collecting asks you to confirm first. Media Sync stops watching the library, anything already uploading finishes, and you can turn it back on from the same screen at any time.