Uploading photos on Android

Two ways to get the photos on the device into Highlighter: pick them yourself, or have the app watch the photo library and send new imagery on its own.

The Media section of the Profile tab chooses how photographs reach Highlighter.

Both read the same photo library, so only one is used at a time. Switching between them does not interrupt uploads already in progress.

On Android the app uploads photos. It cannot yet attach a file to a particular case, record video, or receive images shared from another app.

Where a photo goes

Every photo is matched to a data source by the serial number of the camera that took it, read from the photo itself. A camera Highlighter has not seen before gets a new data source.

Photos with no camera serial number in them — which is most phone and tablet photos, until the device is registered — cannot be matched. The app asks you where they should go once, and uses that answer for every such photo afterwards. See Choosing a data source.

Upload Photos — picking by hand

Profile → Media → Upload Photos, then Choose Photos, and pick what you want. Highlighter only sees the photos you pick; nothing else on the device is read.

Before the first pick, Android asks for photo access. This is so the photos you pick keep their location — without it, Android removes the GPS position from them. Choosing Allow limited access with nothing selected is enough. If you refuse, the photos still upload, without a position.

After a pick the screen reports how many were added, how many were already in Highlighter, and how many could not be read. Then:

• Needs a data source — photos with no camera serial number, waiting for you to choose where they go.
• Where these go — the destination currently used for photos with no camera serial number, with Change.
• Your uploads — what you have picked and how far each has got. Highlighter holds these on the device until they are uploaded, so it is safe to leave the screen or close the app.

If you find yourself picking the same photos every day, Set Up Media Sync at the bottom of the screen is the standing alternative.

Media Sync — watching the library

Profile → Media → Turn on Media Sync has the app find inspection imagery in the device's photo library on its own.

Setting it up

Media Sync needs access to all photos. It only reads them; it never changes or deletes them. If access has not been given, the screen shows Photo access needed with Allow Photo Access, or Open Settings if it was refused earlier.

Then tap Start Media Sync. There is nothing else to configure.

If you gave Allow limited access, Media Sync still starts, but its screen warns Selected photos only: the app can see only the photos you picked, so it will not find new imagery by itself. Tap Change Access and choose Allow all.

Photos already on the device when you set it up are left alone; only new imagery is synced.

While Sync photos automatically is on and the app can read all photos, a new photo in the library starts a scan by itself, even when another app is in front or Highlighter is closed. A drone flight app that saves each photo as it is taken, for example, has its photos uploaded without anyone opening Highlighter. Android may delay the scan on an idle device with the screen off; Check Again scans at once.

What you see afterwards

• Status — Matched by camera serial, how many photos have uploaded and how many are queued, and how much is safely stored on the device. Uploads continue whenever there is a connection. An upload that failed because of the connection or a busy server is tried again by itself after a short wait, and one that stops moving for a minute is stopped and retried. Below that, each camera's data source with what has uploaded and what is still to go; Change points a camera's imagery at a different data source.
• Check Again — look for new photos now.
• Needs review — imagery that might not be inspection material, held rather than imported on its own. Import or Dismiss each one.
• Needs a data source — photos with no camera serial number, waiting for a destination.
• Needs attention — anything that failed, with Try Again.
• Can't find your photos? — a reminder to transfer the photos from the camera to this device first, because no app can see photos left on a memory card.

Settings

• Sync photos automatically — find, copy and upload new imagery without being asked.
• Upload on Wi-Fi only — imagery is still copied and queued on mobile data, but held back from uploading until the device is on Wi-Fi. Turning it off releases what was waiting.
• Rescan whole library — send anything this device has not uploaded yet, including photos that were on it before Media Sync was set up.

Choosing a data source

The Choose Data Source sheet lists the data sources on your account — cameras appear as Camera followed by their serial number. Tap one, or type a name under Or create a new one and tap Create Data Source.

The choice is shared: it is used by both Upload Photos and Media Sync, and changing it in one changes it in the other.

Turning Media Sync off

Selecting Upload Photos while Media Sync is on asks Turn off Media Sync? Choosing Turn Off and Pick Photos stops the app watching the library. Anything already uploading finishes, and you can turn Media Sync back on from the same place at any time.