Dashboard and cases on iOS

The Dashboard is where the app opens; the Cases list and case detail screens are where the work is.

Getting around

The app has a floating tab bar with four tabs and a + button in the middle:

If the phone loses connectivity, a red "Offline — showing saved data" banner appears across the top. You keep what was already loaded, and the app reloads your cases by itself when the connection comes back.

Each tab keeps its place while you visit another. A search you had narrowed, a case you had open and a message you had started typing are still there when you come back.

Dashboard

The Dashboard summarises your account at a glance:

• Four stat cards — Total Cases, Ready, Processing, and Completed, counted across your cases.
• Recent Messages — the three newest messages from any of your cases. View All opens the full message inbox.
• Recent Cases — the first four cases in the order the Cases tab is currently sorted by. View All switches to the Cases tab.

Pull down to refresh, or tap the refresh control in the header — the header also shows how long ago the list was last updated. The menu button (☰) at the top left opens a small summary sheet showing whether this device is registered, its name and its last known location, with a shortcut to the Profile tab to register or change it.

The Cases list

The Cases tab lists every case you have access to. Each row shows the case title, its status and importance, its location if it has one and how far away that is, its date, and the newest message on it, when there is one.

• Search — typing in the search box searches on the server, so it matches cases that have not been loaded yet, including partial reference codes.
• Filter — the filter control narrows the list to a single status, or All. The statuses are Draft, Ready, Processing, Paused, Completed, Cancelled and Failed.
• Sort — the sort control orders the list one of three ways. The ranking is done by Highlighter across all your cases, not just the ones loaded so far.
  • Nearest — closest to where the phone is now, with the distance on each row. This is the order the app starts in. It needs a position from the phone: until there is one — because location access has been refused, or no fix has arrived yet — the option reads Nearest unavailable and the list stays in Most Recent order.
  • Most Recent — most recently discussed first, with cases nobody has messaged last.
  • Importance — most important first, newest first among equals.
• Scrolling loads more cases as you reach the end of the list.
• Swipe a row right for Edit, or left for Archive. Archiving sets the case to Cancelled in Highlighter.

If the list cannot be loaded, the screen shows the server's own reason and a Try Again button.

Inside a case

Tapping a case opens it. The header carries the case title and status, an overflow menu with Edit Case and Export, and four tabs. The app remembers which tab of a case you had open, and any message you had started typing there, when you leave the case and come back.

Overview

Case info — the case's importance, its description, and its location, address and coordinates, when it has them. A case's location lives on its entity, and many cases have none; the app leaves those blank rather than inventing an address.

Summary — the number of data points on the case (its attached files) and the number of devices those files came from.

Messages

The conversation on the case. See Case messages.

Data

Every file attached to the case — the tab's label carries the count — each row showing its filename, the coordinates it was captured at (or No GPS data) and its capture date (or No capture date).

Tapping a row opens the data point's screen, titled with its number (for example Data Point #1), with a full preview of the photo or video, where and when it was captured, the device it came from, its notes, and an Export action. Tap the preview to see it full screen.

Map

The case's files plotted on a map, with Map and Satellite styles. Only files that carry coordinates appear. Tapping a pin opens the data point, with a shortcut through to its full details.

Creating and editing cases

The + on the Cases list opens Create New Case. Edit Case on an open case, or Edit on a swiped row, opens the same form for an existing one.

Tap Create Case or Save Changes. The case is saved to Highlighter, so it appears for everyone on the web as well as on the phone. If Highlighter refuses the change, the form shows the reason and keeps what you typed.