Getting started on Android
Sign in to your Highlighter account from an Android phone or tablet and register it as a device, so the photos it sends have somewhere to land.
The Highlighter Android app runs on phones and tablets with Android 11 or later.
The app does not have an account system of its own. It signs in to the same Highlighter account you use in the browser, and everything it shows you comes from that account.
Note: The Android app is in a field trial. It is not in Google Play; builds are sent to trial participants directly. It does not yet do everything the web app does — each page says what is missing.
First launch
Opening the app shows the Welcome screen. Tap Login to sign in to your Highlighter account.
Under the button the screen says where you are about to sign in — Signing in at followed by the name of the Highlighter the app is pointed at — and that continuing means agreeing to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Tap either name to read it inside the app.
Choosing which Highlighter to sign in at
Most people never need this. If you have been told to use a different Highlighter, tap the cog in the corner of the Welcome screen. The Server screen lists the ones this version of the app knows about — Staging and Production. Tap the one you were told to use, then Close.
Changing it signs you out, and clears the photos the app was still holding to upload, because they belong to the Highlighter they were queued for.
Signing in
Tap Login. The app opens Highlighter's own web sign-in page in a browser tab. You type your email and password there, not into the app, so multi-factor authentication and single sign-on work as they do on the web.
When sign-in succeeds the browser tab closes and the app takes you to the Dashboard. Your session is remembered on the device, so on later launches you go straight to the Dashboard.
If sign-in fails, the reason is shown on the Welcome screen. If the device has no browser the app can use, it says "No browser is available to sign in with. Install or enable one, then try again."
Getting around
The bar at the bottom has four tabs:
| Tab | What it is |
|---|---|
| Dashboard | Case counts, recent messages, and the first few cases |
| Cases | The full list of your cases, searchable, filterable and sortable by distance |
| Map | Your cases and their located files on a map |
| Profile | The server you are signed in at, this device, how photos reach Highlighter, sign out |
Each tab keeps its place while you visit another.
Registering this device
Highlighter treats a phone or tablet as a device: a named source of data attached to your account. Registering it creates that record on the server and gives the photos from its own cameras a data source each.
- Open the Profile tab. Under This device, tap Register this device.
- Give the device a name a colleague would recognise.
- The device type is fixed at Mobile Camera.
- Tap Register Device.
When registration succeeds you are returned to the Profile tab, where This device now shows the device's name and the ID the server assigned.
You do not need to register again on later launches. The registration lives on the server, and the app asks for it back when it starts and when you sign in.
If registration is refused
Creating a device requires a Highlighter role permission that the Contributor role does not carry. If you see "Your Highlighter role can't register devices", ask an account owner or manager to register the device for you, or to change your role. Any other failure shows a Registration Failed message with the reason.
If you have already chosen where your photos go
If you have already picked a destination by hand for photos from this device (see Uploading photos on Android), registering it changes where the next photos go. The app asks Change where this device's photos go? first, and explains:
- Photos already uploaded stay where they are.
- New photos from this device go to a data source for each of its cameras instead.
- Photos from anything else that cannot identify itself keep going to the destination you chose.
Signing out
Tap Sign out at the bottom of the Profile tab. It takes effect straight away, without asking you to confirm.
Signing out also discards any photos still waiting to upload and the copies the app was holding of them, so one person's photos can never be uploaded under the next person's account. Photos that had already finished uploading are unaffected.