Commons talk:Mobile app/Archive 1

(first section)

Thank you for helping test the app! Do leave feedback here, and we'll respond on the page itself. YuviPanda (WMF) (talk) 20:57, 17 April 2013 (UTC)

Extra parameters

I just downloaded the app and uploaded one picture from my phone gallery. See image here. It appears a template was added, but incompletely (note the date parameters that appear in text form). Just an FYI. Thanks! I am so excited for this app! --Another Believer (talk) 21:26, 18 April 2013 (UTC)

This one too. I made edits to both pages following uploading, but only related to categories and none specifically related to the date template. --Another Believer (talk) 03:50, 19 April 2013 (UTC)

It seems to add the date OK, but inserts extra }} inbetween template parameters. See File:Laser cut ship model.jpeg Andy Dingley (talk) 02:00, 20 April 2013 (UTC)

It's a bug! I'm on it, should be fixed before next release. Tracked at https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=47380. YuviPanda (WMF) (talk) 16:17, 20 April 2013 (UTC)

Thanks. --Another Believer (talk) 00:52, 21 April 2013 (UTC)

I just got this fixed. Should be up in the play store before end of the week. Thanks! YuviPanda (WMF) (talk) 20:11, 23 April 2013 (UTC)

Login?

Can we log in? If so, how? Jojalozzo (talk) 18:41, 19 April 2013 (UTC)

Hello! Yes, it should ask you to log in the first time you open the app. Is that not happening for you? YuviPanda (WMF) (talk) 16:29, 20 April 2013 (UTC)

Image preview after selection from existing photos

After picking an existing photo to upload, we should see the full image under the title/description fields. Currently the selected image is in the background and hard to see. The default Gallery app on Android only shows cropped square thumbnails, so I'm not sure if the photo I picked is the best of several similar images unless I see can it clearly. --Pmsyyz (talk) 03:08, 20 April 2013 (UTC)

Filed at https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=47460. Will be fixed in the next release. Thanks for the feedback :) YuviPanda (WMF) (talk) 16:17, 20 April 2013 (UTC)

Upload percentage indicator

I tried uploading a photo. It seemed to work. There was a notification saying it was being uploaded. When I clicked on it, it took me to my list of photos, with the photo there at the top, but I don't see it in my contributions list on the website. Maybe it is still uploading? The notification should stick around and show a percentage complete like Facebook and Flickr apps. --Pmsyyz (talk) 03:32, 20 April 2013 (UTC)

Hello! Can you tell me what version of Android you are using? And did the photo show up on your contributions in the site eventually? YuviPanda (WMF) (talk) 16:17, 20 April 2013 (UTC)

Android 4.2.2 on a Nexus 4. The image has not shown up in my contributions. I tried again on WiFi by clicking the image in my list, it said it was uploading it and had a progress bar. The progress bar completed, but the photo still hasn't shown up in my contributions or file list. --Pmsyyz (talk) 01:21, 21 April 2013 (UTC)

Same problem here : Upload seems to work, pic appears in the apps stream, but if you check closely, you will see that there is an undisclosed error, and the pic has not been downloaded.

Phone is Samsung Galaxy S3, Android is Samsung Official Rom (4.1.2), photo has been taken with phone camera app.

If more details are needed, just ask. Zeugma fr (talk) 12:39, 29 April 2013 (UTC)

One more note : GPS tagging is enabled on my phone. Zeugma fr (talk) 12:51, 29 April 2013 (UTC)

remove data cache, remove app, reinstall seems to work. --Zeugma fr (talk) 11:48, 1 May 2013 (UTC)

Lost EXIF data?

Faebot seem unhappy [1] Andy Dingley (talk) 10:04, 20 April 2013 (UTC)

Hmm, that's weird. What phone / OS version are you using? And can you check the same photo in your Gallery to see if it actually has EXIF? YuviPanda (WMF) (talk) 16:18, 20 April 2013 (UTC)

Ah, I think I see what's happened. This is a photo that was first uploaded to Facebook. The phone's an Android (a Samsung Galaxy SIII). With the Android Facebook app, it just _loves_ to slurp up any permitted FB content and make it appear on my phone, including stuffing the phone's Gallery with any FB photos. The image I selected to upload to Commons was the copy from FB, not the one from the phone. Although it seems to have read the image date OK (maybe just from a file timestamp), it was FB that lost the EXIF data, not the Commons app. Not helped by the pervasive "one big happy cloud" UI style these days.

I'm not sure what Category:Mobile uploads lacking EXIF data for camera is even for. Andy Dingley (talk) 16:49, 20 April 2013 (UTC)

A few comments

I've been using this app over the last few weeks on my Nexus 4 phone and have found it to be excellent. The user interface is very simple and effective and I like the way it integrates with the gallery app (I'm new to Android, so this may not be as innovative as I think! The uploads are also fast and there seems to be no loss of quality. The only thing which needs work is the categorisation page when which appears when you upload photos - the section of this where you search for categories tends to get lost due to the much greater prominence of the 'skip this step' option, and the search functionality isn't great (though this probably reflects the not-good status of Commons' search function in general). Nick-D (talk) 11:19, 20 April 2013 (UTC)

Thank you! We're working on making categorization back - soon making a 'list of recently used categories' the default view and de-emphasizing the 'skip' part. There's also a graph at http://mobile-reportcard.wmflabs.org/ that shows how many uploads are being uncategorized - it's currently at around 20%, so not too bad, I think :) YuviPanda (WMF) (talk) 16:28, 20 April 2013 (UTC)

When I upload photos from my phone I tend to drop them into a single easy-to-find category, and then add a proper category structure to the file when I get home. A list of recently used categories by the uploader would be excellent. Nick-D (talk) 22:55, 20 April 2013 (UTC)

Ditto. I tend to add additional categories when I get home. (I also add the uploaded images to my gallery subpages.) Recently found categories would help, as would the ability to upload more than one image at the same time. I tend to take multiple photographs at one location--it would be nice to add the same categories for all images at once. Perhaps mass upload would not be used frequently by mobile users, though. --Another Believer (talk) 00:56, 21 April 2013 (UTC)

Mass upload actually already exists! You can select multiple images in your phone's gallery and 'share' to the Commons app. It lets you name them and mass categorize them. It's not the easiest to find, we're looking for ways to make that better :) YuviPanda (WMF) (talk) 14:34, 21 April 2013 (UTC)

Thanks for the info--I'll try to check it out! --Another Believer (talk) 16:14, 22 April 2013 (UTC)

Short feedback to Android app

I successfully uploaded my first file with the Android app. User interface is well designed and easy to handle. Are GPS data integrated to the photos? I've activated GPS on my smartphone but the GPS data are not included (maybe reasonable as default due to privacy issues). At the first glance I suggest following improvements:

• Advanced preferences where app user can mark by checkbox which EXIF data are transmitted. At the moment it look likes as if all EXIF are transmitted which could be a privacy problem.
• I had a typo with categories on my first upload. I would suggest do add a warning when an entered category is not yet created. Especially novice smartphone Commoners will usually not want to create new categories.
• It should become clearer that the Title is the future filename of the upload. Otherwise it looks like a duplicate of the description field
• In the future it could be interesting to add editing facilities on already uploaded files. E.g. an interface for categorie (like HotCat) could be useful and a tool to geolocate uploaded files (like Geolocator) in combination with OSM and/or Google Maps/Earth

All in all great work, especially for those who are not as familiar with Commons. Assuming that future (more serious) compact cameras increasingly run on Android and have WiFi and 3G this app has a promising future.

Keep on developing! --Tuxyso (talk) 11:26, 22 April 2013 (UTC)

Samsung Galaxy S

I have a pretty standard Samsung phone using a FROYO build of Android, the Galaxy S / GT-I9000. This was the first in the S series, which is now up to S III I think. Anyway, I get an immediate "Your device isn't compatible with this version" on Google Play, which seems disappointing for a relatively standard sort of phone. Is it just a failure to put the phone type on the list, or an actual problem? Thanks --Fæ (talk) 22:02, 23 April 2013 (UTC)

Unfortunately we haven't been able to make the app work on Froyo (Android 2.2); it requires Gingerbread (Android 2.3) or higher. It looks like more recent versions of Android are available for your device via third-party releases like Cyanogenmod, but it's up to you whether it's worth reflashing your phone. --brion (talk) 22:20, 23 April 2013 (UTC)

Shame, I'm not in any hurry to flash my phone, it's been fine for years and there is not only a danger of bricking it by going to the cyanogenmod, but it would be a time-sink to re-install/re-configure all the bells and whistles on my apps. --Fæ (talk) 07:15, 24 April 2013 (UTC)

Broken template

I just installed the app and uploaded a test file. Everything went well but after uploading the file page, the broken template had the following error.

== {{int:license-header}} ==
{{self|cc-by-sa-3.0}}

{{Uploaded from Mobile|platform=Android|version=1.0beta7}}
year=2013|month=April|day=25}}
[[Category:Sunsets]]
[[Category:Sunsets of the United States]]

User:Mlpearc/Template:Font 03:44, 25 April 2013 (UTC)

Hello! We fixed this issue in the latest version, should be put up on the store by Monday. Apologies for the inconvenience, and thanks for the feedback! YuviPanda (WMF) (talk) 03:57, 25 April 2013 (UTC)

Please, no apologies needed, I'm glad I could help. Thanx for the response. User:Mlpearc/Template:Font 16:02, 27 April 2013 (UTC)

1.0beta8 for Android

1.0beta8 should appear in Google Play shortly, with some fixes and introduction of a recently-used categories list. Please let us know about any issues! --brion (talk) 19:34, 26 April 2013 (UTC)

iPhone app bug

I just installed the app on an iPhone 5. I logged in and now on the main app page all of my uploads are displayed twice. Refreshing does not fix the dupe display. Any idea how I can fix this? Thanks.--ukexpat (talk) 17:47, 30 April 2013 (UTC)

Feedback 1.0beta8

Tried it last Sunday. My first impression(s):

• Easy to use.
• No possibility to select the type of license (e.g. CC-BY-SA or CC-BY).
• Selection of categories should happen before upload.
• Imho no need to display all uploaded pics (or only when WIFI is on).

-- Wo st 01 (talk / cont) 20:26, 3 May 2013 (UTC)

How to remove failed uploads?

 Not done

I have uploaded around 25 images using the app without problem. However, some of my first attempts resulted in failed uploads. When I open the app, these failed uploads remain at the top of my upload list. I am able to work around them, but is there a way to delete these failed uploads so that I do not have to see them every time I open the app? --Another Believer (talk) 22:14, 3 May 2013 (UTC)

Sound

I hope this app will eventually be able to upload sound, as well as images - we have a dire need for more audio on Commons and Wikipedia. (What does a Volkswagen Beetle sound like? Or those church bells?) Is this planned? Andy Mabbett (talk) 18:23, 7 May 2013 (UTC)

So, small secret - the app actually sortof already supports Audio uploads. But it is reasonably well hidden, since it supports *only* uploading ogg files. So you need to 1. Find some other app that'll convert your recording to Ogg and then 2. Use the 'Share' feature to send it to the Commons app. It'll then proceed to upload it normally. We'll expose this better when Commons can accept non-ogg formats (or Android gets better support for encoding to Ogg, but patents, etc). YuviPanda (WMF) (talk) 05:49, 22 May 2013 (UTC)

Thank you, that's good to know, but what I would really like is a big red "record" button, so that I can record in ogg and upload, all in one app. Andy Mabbett (talk) 20:33, 22 May 2013 (UTC)

Yes, that is what I want too :) But I don't see it happening right now, primarily for legal (patents) reasons :( YuviPanda (WMF) (talk) 20:35, 22 May 2013 (UTC)

Understood. Please read as "... what I would really like eventually is..." ;-) Andy Mabbett (talk) 20:37, 22 May 2013 (UTC)

Minor point

I like this app - its great. It fit my need of being able to snap a picture and load it to commons with the barest minimum of effort whilst still leaving it well described. So when I have typed the file name ...... can this be entered as a start point for the description please? This would encourage me to get the filename as useful as possible so I didnt need to add much to the description. Ideally the app might even try to suggest cats based on geo positioning and the description I have typed. Good point from Andy above .... I'm going to see if it will do short videos. Victuallers (talk) 08:50, 11 May 2013 (UTC)

EXIF

Could the app capture the time from EXIF, as well as the date, please? And coordinates? Andy Mabbett (talk) 20:36, 22 May 2013 (UTC)

There's already a bot that picks out EXIF co-ordinates and puts them out with the proper location. It takes a day or so, though. And there is a bug for the EXIF thing. YuviPanda (WMF) (talk) 20:40, 22 May 2013 (UTC)

Yes, instant coords are an advantage of the desktop Upload Wizard. On the other hand the Wizard doesn't do compass headings; the bot does. Jim.henderson (talk) 20:45, 22 May 2013 (UTC)

Hehe, yeah. And I don't intend on adding location myself until I've time to 'do it right', which would mean showing it to you on a map, letting you change it, 'tag' it based on Geo-Coords from another page, etc. YuviPanda (WMF) (talk) 03:06, 23 May 2013 (UTC)

Thanks. The bug you mention is about cases where "the image was taken with the camera in the app"; to be clear, I was referring to images taken with the default camera app, where the date, but not time, is captured. Andy Mabbett (talk) 07:50, 24 May 2013 (UTC)

Adjusting (or inserting new) coords by point and click on map would be a great help, not only for pix but for articles. Jim.henderson (talk) 21:39, 28 May 2013 (UTC)

Where to report bugs?

This is sort of a meta-bug, because it is unclear to me where one should report bugs about the Commons upload app (or any other WMF-sponsored app). I put a bug report about the Android Commons app on what looked like relevant mediawiki page but there's little activity there, and no acknowledgment of the issue. Would this page be a better place for it? Brianwc (talk) 15:23, 3 June 2013 (UTC)

Figured this out myself: One should report bugs regarding the Commons App at the Bugzilla for the Commons App Brianwc (talk) 17:47, 4 June 2013 (UTC)

Windows Phone

The app has been out for a few months now, and I think it'd be great if the mobile development team could refocus and build an app for Windows Phone users. The OS has already become the third-largest OS by popularity by some counts, and is tipped to catch up with iOS in the coming year. With phones like the Nokia Lumia 920 having the best camera ever integrated in a smartphone (better than some current digital cameras), then it'd be silly not to work on a Windows Phone app to upload beautiful pictures from. WP users are currently shunned, as the mobile site is dysfunctional and does not allow you to upload. So really, it's impossible to add photos to Commons from a Windows Phone right now. That should change. JamesA (talk) 14:30, 1 July 2013 (UTC)

That's one reason my tablet is Windows 8 RT and my phone is Android. Yeah, handling more diversity costs the kind of resources that are scarce at WMF, but I expect it eventually. Jim.henderson (talk) 21:57, 7 July 2013 (UTC)

Compatible "high-end" Android cameras (with optical zoom)

What are the best optical zoom cameras that are compatible with this app? Are Samsung Galaxy Camera, Galaxy S4 Zoom, Galaxy NX or Nikon 800c compatible for shooting and instant upload to commons?--Kozuch (talk) 10:28, 6 July 2013 (UTC)

As usual, "best" in a tool depends on priorities. I expect, but do not know, that all the above will work the app properly. For me what's wrong with all the above except Galaxy S4 Zoom is that they aren't phones. That one doesn't exist yet, and will probably be high priced (or be locked into expensive serving companies) for some time. Galaxy NX also doesn't exist yet, is too big for my most used drive-by shooting method, and will be high priced forever. On the other hand, it has strap lugs on both ends. Few photographers care as much about that detail as I do. Nikon 800c is limited to an older Android version; I've become accustomed to Ver 4. On the whole I'm leaning more to Samsung Galaxy Camera than to Nikon 800c; the disadvantages of those two being decidedly less important than the rest, for my aims and methods. What I'd really like to know is how well their GPS performs under urban conditions, a question that few photographers even in Commons care much about. A reliable comparison, with and without aGPS and in other variant situations, could trump all else, for me. Jim.henderson (talk) 21:57, 7 July 2013 (UTC)

Ah. My unfounded confidence that the Samsung Galaxy Camera will be compatible to our app has been shaken by a report that it doesn't work with Flickr's app, and doesn't work right with Instagram's. Mashable review of Galaxy Camera Jim.henderson (talk) 13:42, 19 July 2013 (UTC)

iPhone app confusion

This summer, I try the original iOS app. As a novice iPhone user I might have not found all the options to configure it, but after installation it took forever to download countless thumbnails of files I have uploaded over the years. Most of them not mine as I did a lot of watermark removal work and uploading of historical images. Right now each time I start the app it opens very depressing collection of holocaust images. Is there a way to only show uploads from mobile devices? --Jarekt (talk) 03:39, 10 October 2013 (UTC)

 Comment Just for the records: confusion or not - this tool is massively misused for copyvio-uploads. Sad to say but it is the truth. --High Contrast (talk) 01:39, 19 January 2014 (UTC)

Andriod mobile app not preventing duplicate uploads?

I'm currently working through a long list of duplicate files and I stumble over duplicate files uploaded via Android app far too often for my taste. Please ensure the're s a checksum verification prior to upload to compare vs existing or deleted files. See File:Falles 2013 - 44.jpeg for a recent example. --Denniss (talk) 09:58, 27 February 2014 (UTC)

The web one?

"Android version has more features than the web one." Is "iOS" intended, or am I failing to understand a more subtle point? Jim.henderson (talk) 13:19, 12 July 2014 (UTC)

Feedback on Android

Hi,

I am not a mobile user. So for the first time, I used the Mobile App on a Samsung S4 to upload a few pictures. I am quite disappointed, to say the least. I stopped counting how many times the application crashed while uploading just a few pictures. Then in reviewing my uploads, I can't see the description or the license, the field is blank. Then I discovered that the Application does not check if the name already exists, and uploads over the old file without warning. Luckily I didn't upload over someone else files. Then the categories I choose were not included, and also no warning there. It is a bit less bad on a tablet, where I can read the description and the license, but I can't add any category.

Then at every crash, the application offers to send a feedback... by email, but without indicating which email it should be sent. Wouldn't be more efficient to send the feedback to appropriate system? Or you are afraid of being submerged under the number of reports?...

I wonder how a software in such a bad condition gets deployed... Now it is much easier than on the desktop, and I understand why we get so many useless pictures from mobile uploads. Regards, Yann (talk) 18:20, 6 September 2014 (UTC)

WMF fail

Not maintaining this very useful tool seems like a big fail to me. --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus ^Talk 06:07, 27 April 2015 (UTC)

Why is discontinued? No sense

At least let us use the App in its last version...--Coentor (talk) 22:00, 10 August 2015 (UTC)

I agree. Given that mobile phones are the dominant form of modern photography, this should have been an area the WMF invested in rather than walked away from. Nick-D (talk) 12:07, 11 August 2015 (UTC)

I also agree. Paucabot (talk) 09:36, 12 August 2015 (UTC)

As I understand it, similar functionality is being added to the official Wikipedia app. Some such thing is to be released in time for the October Openhousenewyork. As for what will be ready for that deadline, who knows? Jim.henderson (talk) 20:33, 13 August 2015 (UTC)

That would be good Nick-D (talk) 10:49, 14 August 2015 (UTC)

See for reference mailinglist April 2015, May 2015, mailinglist July 2015, mobile-list April 2015, Commons:Forum/Archiv/2015/July#Keine_App

and for background mailinglist September 2014, mobile-list September 2014

It would be terrible to see yet another selfies+copyvio-pocalypse turned on by the WMF mobile team. The upload results are very different, if you give the general Wikipedia mobile app an upload feature for the clueless (>90% selfies, logos, copyvios, trash) or if you give a Commons app to experienced users! --Atlasowa (talk) 11:54, 14 August 2015 (UTC)

Looking at recent mobile uploads (User:Didym/Mobile_upload), they seem to come only(?) from Commons Reloaded iOS app, Category:Uploaded_with_Commons_Reloaded. --Atlasowa (talk) 12:04, 14 August 2015 (UTC)

One may hope that, if the feature takes the form of a menu item for "Send a picture to illustrate this article" then many of the clueless pictures would at least be roughly, automatically categorized.

Re-born!

Example of a picture recently uploaded via the app

Hi all,

This app is too useful to be abandoned, so I compiled it and pushed it to Google Play:

• Install from Google Play
• Improve the source code, looking for volunteers! :-)
• Same for iOS

I removed the WMF logos to avoid trademark issues. Cheers! Syced (talk) 01:48, 8 September 2015 (UTC)

@Syced: I am very happy to see this. Thank you and everyone else who put the time into forking the old app. Keegan (talk) 17:17, 9 September 2015 (UTC)

I do not like that the app shows some random subset of my many 1000s of uploads when staring. In my case it mostly shows some PD holocaust photographs I uploaded 6 years ago. Those photographs were not taken with an iPhone, and none was taken by me. So why display them? May be we can customize which images are shown? --Jarekt (talk) 03:37, 10 September 2015 (UTC)

Jarekt: I was also surprised by this feature! Could you please add an enhancement task about this at https://github.com/nicolas-raoul/apps-android-commons/issues ? Would you mind also recording other requests that have been made on this talk page (or on bugzilla/phabricator) and that are still applicable to the current app? Thanks for caring! Syced (talk) 07:21, 10 September 2015 (UTC)

Thanks a lot for that @Syced: I had to upload a few photos from my iPhone and was surprised to say the least that the official app was no more... thanks for your work! --WikiKiwi (talk) 10:09, 13 October 2015 (UTC)

+1. Good work! @Syced, can you point me to the category that these uploads end up in? Is this File:Music Center at Strathmore - 4.jpeg from your "Upload to Commons" android app? Category:Uploaded with Mobile/Android is only for images uploaded using the official Wikimedia Commons app for Android? Can you check in which maintenance category your upload appears? --Atlasowa (talk) 11:20, 13 October 2015 (UTC)

I too am pleased to see the app return, even under the understanding that little progress is likely in improving it. And I'm pleased to see that the photos it offers as mine, are my latest uploads via Wizard into Category:WikiConference USA 2015. Hint: mine are signed in the filename as jeh. Jim.henderson (talk) 14:12, 14 October 2015 (UTC)

Atlasowa: Yes, all pictures uploaded by the app can be found in category "Uploaded with Mobile/Android". By the way, I am surprised that this Google Play link works now, I am sure it was dead a few weeks ago. Cheers! Syced (talk) 02:26, 16 October 2015 (UTC)

Oh, hey, I took that picture! Cool! Thank you for keeping the app updated; it definitely lowers the activation energy for uploading pictures I took with my phone (which is pretty much all of them nowadays). grendel|khan 15:16, 16 January 2016 (UTC)

Apple AppStore link is to German version

Just to mention that people who click on the 'AppStore' button will be taken to the German version of the AppStore. --Andrewssi2 (talk) 21:42, 15 September 2015 (UTC)

Thanks for the feedback! I have fixed the links I could find, please let me know if there is any left :-) Syced (talk) 14:57, 16 September 2015 (UTC)

Improving categorization in Upload to Commons Android App

Hi,

I'm working on a project to improve the categorization of pictures in the Upload to Commons Android app with Nicolas_Raoul and Niedzielski as part of the Outreachy Dec '15 program. I'm very much just starting out, so I'd love any feedback or suggestions that anyone might have.

We are planning on two major phases/releases for app updates, with Phase 1 enabling category suggestions based on the picture's location, and Phase 2 enabling more flexible category search results. It would be a huge help if we had some volunteers to test these releases (planned for Jan and Feb respectively), so it would be great if anyone could download the app and try it out. The source code and issues are stored on GitHub

Many thanks! :)

Misaochaaan (talk) 04:35, 2 December 2015 (UTC)

App update

Quick update: A new feature (display nearby categories when user uploads a photo) has been implemented and the updated app has been released on Google Play. :) We would greatly appreciate feedback on this feature, so please feel free to download the updated version of the app and to post feedback/issues on the GitHub page.

Please note that to use this new feature, you will need to have location tagging enabled for your camera.

Thanks!

Misaochaaan (talk) 04:08, 13 January 2016 (UTC)

App update #2

Quick update: More new features have been implemented:

• If a picture with no geolocation is uploaded, nearby category suggestions are offered based on the user's current location. This is optional and only works if enabled in Settings.
• Category search (when typing in the search field) has been made more flexible, whereas previously this was done solely by prefix search. E.g. now searching for 'latte' should be able to return 'iced latte'.

There have been several bugfixes and crash fixes, as well. Do give the latest version of the app a try and feel free to report any bugs that you find on our GitHub page. Thanks! :)

Misaochaaan (talk) 05:55, 17 February 2016 (UTC)

IEG proposal: Improve Upload to Commons Android app

Hi folks,

I've been working on the Android version of this app for the past few months as an Outreachy project (which was recently completed successfully :)). A few changes were made to the app to make categorization of pictures easier, via suggestion of nearby categories and more flexible category search. However, there are lots of improvements (documented on our GitHub page) that we couldn't fit into the scope of the Outreachy project. I would love to be able to continue working on the app to improve it further - hence an IEG proposal.

My IEG proposal for the app involves:

• Fixing long-standing bugs and looking into old crash reports to try and prevent them from recurring, to provide a smoother user experience
• Making several enhancements to the app to make it more user-friendly and newbie-friendly, new location-based features (e.g. a list of nearby articles lacking pictures), and further enhancing categorization.
• Increasing awareness of non-Wikimedians about this app to grow the contributor base

Several of the proposed features are based on previous suggestions by users, and I would very much appreciate more feedback and suggestions! If you are interested, please do take a look at the current proposal, feel free to ask questions and make new suggestions on the Discussion page, and review/endorse it as you see fit. If you would like to be part of the project, volunteers and additional advisors are always welcome.

Thank you so much! Misaochan (talk) 05:50, 4 March 2016 (UTC)

F-Droid

It would be nice to have this app also available through F-Droid. Here's how to do it. ~★ pikolas ^{[[mia diskuto]]} 20:38, 25 March 2016 (UTC)

Hi @Pikolas: , thanks for the suggestion! I've created a GitHub issue for it. :) Misaochan (talk) 07:12, 1 April 2016 (UTC)

Great idea Pikolas! I started writing the metadata, but if someone could write a complete recipe and test it that would be the best, see details on the issue linked to by Misaochan :-) Cheers! Syced (talk) 08:54, 1 April 2016 (UTC)

Location based category suggestion

Would be cool to see this feature also in the Commons UploadWizard. --Arnd (talk) 19:13, 24 May 2016 (UTC)

You're right! Could you please add a feature request on Phabricator? Thanks :-) Syced (talk) 09:40, 21 June 2016 (UTC)

Is there already a ticket that describes this feature of the Mobile app? --Arnd (talk) 18:13, 4 July 2016 (UTC)

Option : upload in another wiki based on mediawiki

Hi,

Thx for this great app : )

Would it be possible to add this option : upload in another wiki based on mediawiki ?

Via parameters for instance ?

--Dieudo (talk) 08:26, 8 August 2016 (UTC)

Let's talk about this at https://github.com/nicolas-raoul/apps-android-commons/issues/222 :-) Syced (talk) 10:13, 8 August 2016 (UTC)

IEG renewal proposal

Hi folks,

The Wikimedia Commons app was funded via an Individual Engagement Grant last year and and has several new features - a list and map of nearby places that need photos (based on Wikidata), category suggestions based on the image title, prevention of duplicate uploads, and a new tutorial to educate new users on what types of photos should or should not be uploaded. The final report for the completed IEG can be viewed here.

While we are very happy with the progress made, there are many other improvements that we would like to make but were not able to fit into the scope of the previous grant. Thus we are proposing a renewal of the IEG in order to work on these. Highlights of the proposed improvements include:

• Enhancing the "Nearby places that need photos" feature by (1) allowing users to upload their image directly from a location on the list or map, with suggested title and categories based on the associated Wikidata item, and (2) displaying the user's real-time position on the map to allow easier navigation to the location they wish to photograph
• A sleeker, more intuitive, and more interactive user interface - a floating action button for uploads, "Nearby places that need photos" in a tab alongside the user's contributions, and a panel to display Commons account notifications and information about the nearest place that needs photos
• Various technical and quality-of-life improvements, such as two-factor authentication login, multiple uploads, preventing overwrites, and fixing memory leaks and battery drain issues
• Improving user education by displaying Commons account and user talk notifications (e.g. picture nominated for deletion) in the app, adding a gallery of featured images, and adding various notices and explanations in the upload screen

We would very much appreciate feedback and suggestions on the renewal proposal - we are especially excited about the "Nearby places that need photos" feature, as we feel that it can help close the gap of geo-located Wikidata items that lack photos, and provide pictures for articles that need them. Please do take a look at our proposal, feel free to ask questions and make new suggestions on the Discussion page, and/or endorse the proposal if you see fit. If you would like to be part of the project, new volunteers and additions to our diverse team are always welcome - please visit our GitHub repository or Google groups forum and say "Hi". :)

Many thanks! Misaochan (talk) 10:41, 17 July 2017 (UTC)

Commons-App --- multiple uploads --- 01, 02, 03, ...

English

Can you change it please, that the app (with multiple uploads) numbered the pictures with 01.jpg, 02, jpg, 03, jpg ... to 10.jpg, 11.jpg, etc. Please not as before with the app 1.jpg, 2, jpg, 3.jpg, ... 10.jpg, etc. (because with this numbering appeared the pictures 1 and 11-19 before the pictures 2-9. Here's an example: Category:Geißberggraben (Tauber) that messes up the order 1-17...

For multiple uploads you can't specify descriptions in the app, only categories. This (specify descriptions) is only possible with single uploads. It would also be nice if you could edit descriptions of the images with the Commons app even after an upload. Greets -- Triplec85 (talk) 10:415, 16 January 2017 (UTC)

German

Könnt ihr es bitte ändern, dass die App bei Mehrfach-Uploads die Bilder mit 01.jpg, 02,jpg, 03,jpg … bis 10.jpg, 11.jpg, usw. benennt. Bitte nicht wie bisher mit der App 1.jpg, 2,jpg, 3.jpg, … 10.jpg, usw. (denn bei dieser Nummerierung erscheinten die Bilder 1 und 11-19 vor den Bildern 2-9.

Hier ein Beispiel: Category:Geißberggraben (Tauber). Das bringt die Reihenfolge 1-17 ... durcheinander.

Bei Mehrfach-Uploads kann man bei der App auch keine Beschreibungen angeben, nur Kategorien. Dies geht nur bei Einfach-Uploads. Schön wäre es auch, wenn man mit der Commons-App auch noch nach einem Upload Beschreibungen der Bilder editieren könnte. Gruß -- Triplec85 (talk) 10:15, 16. Januar 2017 (UTC)

These are several requirements, please create issues at so that the developers see them: https://github.com/commons-app/apps-android-commons. Thanks, --Arnd (talk) 10:35, 16 January 2018 (UTC)

Thanks! Done! https://github.com/commons-app/apps-android-commons/issues -- Triplec85 (talk) 19:45, 16. Januar 2017 (UTC)

Screenshot wanted

For an upcoming issue of The Signpost I'd like to feature a screenshot of the improved interface for finding suggested photos to take. Like what's shown here, but I'm unsure of the copyright status. Any help is gratefully accepted. Bri (talk) 18:10, 21 May 2018 (UTC)

Hello Bri, Great to hear this! I am Nicolas, who salvaged the app when WMF abandoned it, and maintained it until 2016 when Josephine took over. It is very important to us that everything you see in the app is freely reusable. For instance, in the tutorial slide that explains why uploading a screenshot of a proprietary app is forbidden, even the screenshot of a proprietary app is actually made up and in fact public domain.

• If you take a screenshot of the gallery, you must follow the license indications of each of the images shown.
• If you take a screenshot of the Nearby screen (as in your link above), you must add "© OpenStreetMap contributors" below the image, and make that text link to https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright
• The Commons logo is public domain. The UI elements of the app (buttons etc) are just plain stock UI elements with no originality and thus are public domain.

Don't hesitate to ask us more about anything, here or at commons-app-android@googlegroups.com or even join our Hangout at https://hangouts.google.com/group/UdnKCjQaoB5Mc3tn1 Cheers! Syced (talk) 03:24, 22 May 2018 (UTC)

So it appears that the blog discussing the app is missing the requisite "© OpenStreetMap contributors"? I'll go ahead and reuse the image. Bri (talk) 13:35, 22 May 2018 (UTC)

Hello Bri, sorry for the late response I don't watch pages so I rarely notice anything that does not have a notification haha. Yes she apparently did not think it was needed, it could be argued that the size of the map is tiny and not high-resolution nor is the map's data more than an illustration for the article, so that might be fair use. Maybe she did not really think much about it as it is just a personal blog. Syced (talk) 13:11, 3 June 2018 (UTC)

Helps needed to avoid dupes and overwrite

One of my friend started contributing to Commons using mobile uploads. But he faced two issues. 1. It uploads dupes even if the same file exists here. 2. It overwrites existing files if a file with same name already exists. Could you advise how can he avoid these mistakes? Jee 02:47, 5 November 2016 (UTC)

Hi @Jkadavoor: 1. Preventing duplicate uploads is an improvement that we are working on and hope to complete in the near future. Please see this thread for updates. 2. We are currently tracking the overwrite issue here. Unfortunately we still have no idea what is causing it, as it only happens occasionally and only to a few people. Does this happen all the time for your friend? Please post on the GitHub thread with further details and we will try to look into it. Thanks! Misaochan (talk) 05:30, 8 December 2016 (UTC)

Thanks Misaochan; I'll inform him. Jee 06:10, 8 December 2016 (UTC)

It's been a while, but this should finally have been fixed in v2.8.3. Please let us know if further overwrite issues occur, thanks! Misaochan (talk) 07:36, 18 September 2018 (UTC)

Is general browsing of the commons possible on the mobile app?

It seems that it's not possible to browse/search for pictures and categories on the mobile app. All I get are pictures which I uploaded (~20,000). Why would I want to look at them again on the mobile is beyond me? I already have them on my desktop where viewing is superior. I like browsing and searching categories that relate to my interest: 19th century life.— Ineuw talk 18:46, 7 May 2018 (UTC)

@Ineuw: Well, it was primarily developed for uploading files, not viewing them. But you're lucky: Just today it was announced that User:Ujjwalagrawal17 will start working on implementing browsing features: Commons:Village_pump#Wikimedia Commons app: Allow users to browse Commons from app, phab:T188597. --El Grafo (talk) 07:29, 8 May 2018 (UTC)

@El Grafo: Thanks for the info. Looking forward to using it.— Ineuw talk 08:09, 8 May 2018 (UTC)

@Ineuw: Hi, the browse feature is now available in v2.8, courtesy of our GSoC student Ujjwal! Hope you like it. :) Misaochan (talk) 07:32, 18 September 2018 (UTC)

@Misaochan: Thanks for remembering and letting me know. You are very kind. — Ineuw talk 07:39, 18 September 2018 (UTC)

Additional app stores

Any particular reasons as to why this app hasn't been ported to the other popular Android app stores (Amazon Appstore and Samsung Galaxy Apps)? Daylen (talk) 06:05, 18 September 2018 (UTC)

@Daylen: Good question! I created an issue here, will get back to you once the devs have discussed it. :) Misaochan (talk) 07:40, 18 September 2018 (UTC)

Other apps

Have we got a list of apps convenient to Wikiphotographers? Like, are there apps to show a map of unphotographed articles and Wikidata items? Jim.henderson (talk) 12:06, 22 July 2018 (UTC)

Hi Jim.henderson, I'm afraid I can't help you much with other apps, but we do have a map of unphotographed Wikidata items (under the Nearby feature) in the Commons Android app if that helps? Or did you have something else in mind? Misaochan (talk) 07:44, 18 September 2018 (UTC)

Oh! Silly me; I didn't look at that feature. Unfortunately it doesn't show any points that are more than one km from me (I'm typing this from the very dense Midtown Manhattan) so in daytime, even in suburbs, it probably won't be good for planning beyond several minutes of my day on the bicycle. Still, the information will be useful tomorrow when I stop pedaling in Connecticut and pull out the Android phone. As Wikidata becomes more populated the map will become more useful, and I can hope for improvement of the feature in the future. Thanks for the information! Jim.henderson (talk) 01:51, 20 September 2018 (UTC)

Thanks Jim.henderson! Yeah, that aspect of Nearby can definitely be improved. :) We intend to allow users to search in any area of the map that they choose, this should hopefully be implemented by the end of 2018. Misaochan (talk) 15:56, 28 September 2018 (UTC)

How to contribute & some general comments

Tried the web app last night (UTC -4:00), and found the navigation concept not perfect but I am sure that it will improve over time. The software itself is still very buggy. What type of information does the team require to identify problems? Unfortunately, I can contribute only in a non-technical manner. — Ineuw talk 21:17, 20 September 2018 (UTC)

Hi Ineuw, to clarify, what do you mean by the "web app"? Did you download the Android app (for instance through the Play Store here), or did you go to your mobile phone browser (such as by using this URL)? I am asking this because usually "web app" means a program that runs in the browser, whereas this talk page is for the Android app. ;) But if you did mean the Android app, what bugs did you experience? Thanks! Misaochan (talk) 15:53, 28 September 2018 (UTC)

@Misaochan: My mistake, it was the Android App from the Google App store. As for the bugs, I will repeat what I tried the last time and post the details here.— Ineuw talk 19:32, 28 September 2018 (UTC)

Crash on upload

On yesterday's bike ride I repeatedly stopped, pulled out my Nexus 6P with Android v6.1.0, checked the Commons app v2.8.3 for nearby pins, went there, clicked the target name to bring up OpenCamera v1.44.1, and snapped a photo. Completed the filename I wanted, and, umm, maybe the category, hit the right-arrow to upload, and got "Unfortunately the Commons app has stopped". Not exactly those words, but yes. And the picture isn't in Gallery, either. Restarted the phone a couple times to repeat in various places a few km away. Still doesn't work. Fortunately the beautiful warm day wasn't completely wasted as I also snapped the target with my big zoom camera. Next time, I'll try using Android's own camera app instead of my preferred OpenCamera, but I'm pessimistic.

So the following day, I tried again, this time afoot in shady places so I could see the screen clearly. No, not category. Here's more detail. I tapped the object pin, the name of the target, the + sign and the camera symbol. Used the camera app to snap the picture. Commons app came up, I added my initials as usual to the default filename, and right-arrow to upload. A box popped up to say the Commons app stopped. I restarted Android (probably not necessary), switched camera apps, and went through the whole thing again. Same result, several times. No picture was put in Photos. Snapped a few photos with both apps and not using the Commons app; got those few photos in Photos.

Far as I can see, the Commons app is preventing the camera app from storing the photo. Commons app tries to upload, but there's nothing, so the app stops. Obviously I don't know enough to be sure of that. Is it working for other users? Jim.henderson (talk) 16:01, 1 October 2018 (UTC)

I use the Commons App to upload pictures taken with my smartphone, with various results. Sure it is fast and easy, but the App is really buggy. I have reported some issues to the devs who are very responsive. Some of the issues have been fixed, some remain. But I always upload pictures long after they were taken, so I don't use the process you describe above. I suggest your report your problem to them. Regards, Yann (talk) 16:32, 1 October 2018 (UTC)

Hi Jim.henderson, could I please get you to update your app to the latest version (if you go to "About" in the app via the navigation drawer, it should say v2.8.4) and try uploading again? We have recently fixed an issue with recurring crashes that were affecting some users, so it would be good to see if it works for you now. Sorry about that! Misaochan (talk) 10:11, 2 October 2018 (UTC)

Done. Actually, before you wrote that, the upgrade appeared on Google Play Store. So, with that version I walked a couple hundred meters again to the same ENWP articled but uninteresting dance school. Same procedure, using first the Google default camera app and then Open Camera. This time, no crash. After asking and accepting the Category, it returned to the map, still showing the purple pin. I went home to check with the real computer. No pictures in Commons with those names; no personal upload record; no new pictures in that Category. No new pictures in Android Photos in the phone. Nice that v2.8.4 doesn't crash in this trial, but it still isn't working. I'll try again soon with a different procedure. Snap photos, then tell Google Photos to upload by Commons app. Jim.henderson (talk) 09:20, 4 October 2018 (UTC)

Jim.henderson, does the app itself demonstrate that the picture completed uploading? If you go to "Home", the main screen should contain a list of all the images you uploaded, including failed uploads (which would say "failed" under the upload). What does yours show? Trying with the different procedure that you mentioned (taking a picture first, and then uploading) would be helpful also, to help us isolate the problem. Lastly, a few people who have not relogged since our last authentication change (a few months ago) have experienced issues with failed uploads and found that logging out and in again solved the issue for them. Thanks for your patience! Misaochan (talk) 16:00, 4 October 2018 (UTC)

My use of the app has also slowed, as I've had trouble uploading images from my phone lately. I'll re-download the app soon and try again. -Another Believer (talk) 15:22, 4 October 2018 (UTC)

Another Believer, please let us know how it goes for you. :) Misaochan (talk) 16:12, 4 October 2018 (UTC)

Having a busy day, but next on my schedule is a bike ride to a restaurant 12 km away and I'll start early so as to snap a few. No, there is no sign of my uploads either in the app or elsewhere. Oops! Last week I forgot my password and recovered the account by E-mail, and I'm pretty sure the Commons app continued oblivious. I was also oblivious, at least for that app. I'll log out and in with the new password.

Done. Now it shows the pictures that failed to upload yesterday. I tried uploading one, and got the word "Queued" between the pic and its name. It's been that way for 27 minutes, so clearly it ain't working. About an hour from now I'll snap another and give it a try. Jim.henderson (talk) 13:14, 5 October 2018 (UTC)

Jim.henderson Ah, I see, thanks! Yes, the "Queued" bug is one that we are currently working on, unfortunately we have yet to be able to figure out how to solve it. :( I will add your comments to the issue that we are using to track it. Could you please (1) Try uploading via Gallery instead of directly from Camera, and (2) Re-check your Android version? I know you mentioned Android 6.1 to us earlier, but the Nexus 6P has been on 8.1 for a while now. Sorry to bother you but this will help us hugely. Thanks! Misaochan (talk) 09:38, 6 October 2018 (UTC)

Quick reply; tomorrow won't be so busy. I indeed tried from Photos, and failed. Alas, I don't remember the details and must repeat. Yes, Android 8.1 is what I've got. Don't recall whether that was a misreading or a typo, but anyway my error. More tomorrow. Jim.henderson (talk) 22:37, 6 October 2018 (UTC)

This afternoon, all went well. Every method I tried, the picture arrived. Start with Commons, bring up Camera to snap it. Worked. Start with Commons, bring up Photos to upload. Worked. Start with Camera, bring up Commons. Worked. Start with Photos, bring up Commons. Worked. Using the Open Camera app, I failed once and didn't have time for more experimenting. OC will be the focus of my next test session. Jim.henderson (talk) 22:39, 8 October 2018 (UTC)

Hey Jim.henderson, happy to hear that! :) We've actually just released v2.8.5 to beta, which is aimed at trying to eliminate the occasional upload failures for some people. If you have the time, could you please register for beta testing and let us know how it works for you? Thanks! Misaochan (talk) 13:03, 11 October 2018 (UTC)

Commons Android app PG proposal

Hi folks,

We're applying for a Project Grant to fund the development of v3.0 of the Commons Android app. At the moment, we're approaching completion of our 2nd Individual Engagement Grant, having implemented several major new features, e.g. a revamped map of "nearby places that need photos" with direct uploads and Wikidata integration, user talk notifications, browsing of other Commons pictures with focus on featured images, and 2FA logins. We currently have 4000+ active installs, and 15,000+ distinct images uploaded via our app have been used in Wikimedia articles. In the last 6 months alone, 21,241 files were uploaded via our app, and only 1738 (8.2%) of those files required deletion. We are also proud to report that we have a vibrant, diverse community of volunteers on our GitHub repository, and that we have increased our global user coverage since our first grant.

It has been a rocky road this year, however. One of the major issues we faced was that a large portion of our codebase is based on sparsely-documented legacy code from the very first incarnation of the app 5 years ago (a long time in the Android development world), leading to unpredictable behavior and bugs. We eventually found ourselves in a position where new features built on top of legacy code were causing other features to not work correctly, and even fixes to those problems sometimes had side effects that caused other problems. (My sincerest apologies to users for the inconveniences that they were caused!)

In view of that, our Project Grant proposal focuses on these areas:

• Increasing app stability and code quality: We plan to overhaul our legacy backend to adhere to modern best practices, reduce complexity and dependencies in our codebase, and introduce test-driven development for the first time.
• Targeted acquisition of photos for places that need them: The "Nearby places that need photos" feature has come a long way, but there is still plenty of room for improvement. We plan to introduce new quality-of-life features (e.g. by implementing filters and bookmarks) and fix a few outstanding bugs to make it more user-friendly and convenient to use. We will also complete the final link in the chain of collecting photos for Wikipedia articles that lack them by prompting users to add their recently-uploaded photo to the relevant Wikipedia article.
• Increasing user acquisition in the Global South: We plan to implement a "limited connectivity" mode, allow pausing and resuming of uploads, and put more time and effort into outreach and socializing the app, especially to underrepresented communities.
• We also wish to continue to assist the Commons community to reduce vandalism and improve usability of images uploaded. This will be done by implementing selfie detection, and a "to-do" system that reminds users if an image lacks a description/categories.

Your feedback is important to us! Please do take a look, and feel free to let us know what you think on the Discussion page, and/or endorse the proposal if you see fit. If you would like to be part of the project, new volunteers and additions to our diverse team are always welcome - please visit our GitHub repository and say "Hi". :)

Finally, we want to thank everyone who has cheered us on and supported us throughout the years. As a community-maintained app, we wouldn't be here without you.

Misaochan (talk) 18:00, 28 November 2018 (UTC)

Wish list

So, the darn thing works now. I walked and biked in Columbus today. Most my pictures were with the big camera and won't arrive quickly. On the Android phone, the Beta app worked, finding a target by the map, making it call Open Camera, uploading. Main difficulty was seeing my screen when Sun was bright; only different hardware would help that.

So, what still bugs me? Biggest nuisance in the map is that it keeps resizing the screen so the pins are all in a little round cluster in the center. Default size should be to make the cluster fill the screen, side to side, and maybe a little more, losing a few off the edges so the high and low parts of the screen are mostly filled. And if I zoom in on something off center, it should stay there instead of drifting to show me the center. I assume that's connected to the idea of showing me, as the word says, what's "nearby".

Much smaller nit, when I tap on a pin, a flag comes up with a name, and a footer shows that name and buttons for actions. Tapping the flag does nothing; must remember to tap the footer. Somewhat more important, if there's no ENWP article when I tap the W symbol, it should pop to say "Ain't got nuffin" or more cultured equivalent instead of pretending not to hear me.

On a grand scale, I was busy hopping back and forth between Google Maps, bike station search map, bike station unlock map, Wikipedia map, and Commons map. Of course the Wiki-empire can do nothing about the first three, but sure would be nice to have all Wikithings consolidated in one map with different symbols for Data, Pedia, Commons cat, Commons pic, and let me turn off the ones I don't want and concentrate on what's important to me at that moment. Like I do by adjusting Google Maps layers with train stations, bike routes and traffic congestion. Then it should let me tap into each page by its symbol to get the info I want. That, I assume, is far out of scope this year, next year, and indefinitely. But if I meet map people tomorrow at WMNA hackathon, that's one thing I'll bitch for, after voicing my gratitude for lovely things already done. Jim.henderson (talk) 23:58, 17 October 2018 (UTC)

Hi Jim.henderson, thanks for the in-depth list of suggestions! We do plan on revamping the map display in the very near future, with a "search this area" UI. This should indirectly fix your problem as well, as the pins displayed in the area would fill the screen and the zoom should not drift.

The flag is a relic of our old system, we are likely getting rid of it in the future and focusing solely on the footer. Do you prefer the flag, or is the confusion just caused by having both of them around?

The WP icon should actually be greyed out if no WP article exists, does it not do that for you?

Cheers! ;) Misaochan (talk) 09:09, 30 October 2018 (UTC)

Since then, I've learned about WikiShootMe. More about that in a later paragraph.

Kill the flag, or make it more active, all the same for me. You're right, the inactive WP icon is grey. However, surrounded by white, it is not pale enough for me to notice the difference easily. Better make a dead link red as done inside WP articles, or with an X through it, or some other really blatant cue.

Last night at dusk I was early for a date, so strolled along Broadway (a target-rich environment) with the Android in my hand. I had the WikiShootMe site open in the browser, turning off the layer for WD places that already had a photo. Couple years ago I used that site but it only worked well at home; not on my phone of the time. Someone kindly reminded me of it after I complained about the Commons App map. WSM's multilayer feature is a great help; pretty much what I asked for previously. I can pocket the phone, or switch among apps, and come back to see the map looking the same, instead of outzoomed to see a vast area with a little cluster of indicators in the middle.

The WSM site also has an upload feature, which is cruder than the Commons App. It doesn't allow changing the filename or adding categories, far as I could see. I decided the best of both worlds was to walk and pick targets with the WSM site, and switch to Commons App to handle the picture work. Naturally it would be less clumsy if these powers were unified, but so far this seems the most efficient way.

The major remaining annoyance has more to do with Wikidata. Often WD has a link to the ENWP article, even though the Commons app does not. Sometimes that article has a picture, but WD does not, hence both the WSM page and the Commons app fail to show that the object has been photographed. I haven't tried to figure whether that's only a matter of inadequate data about these objects, or some deeper problem in connecting the various Wiki-items that try to cover them.

As it happens, the majority of unphotographed WD sites in this neighborhood are theaters that haven't existed for decades. That wastes a certain amount of my time, but it could only be repaired by noting the demolition in WD and giving the mobile mapper an option of ignoring the demolished ones. I shan't get my hopes up for that. Jim.henderson (talk) 14:41, 30 October 2018 (UTC)

Jim.henderson, I understand the frustration re: zooming. I will let you know when we have completed our revamp of the map UI. ;) Best, Misaochan (talk) 07:47, 7 November 2018 (UTC)

A lot of interesting insight in these posts, thanks! About demolished buildings we have this issue waiting for a generous developer: https://github.com/commons-app/apps-android-commons/issues/618 . About items that have a picture on Wikipedia but not Wikidata: Before my trips I use this tool to fix the problem: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WDFIST#Tip:_Items_around_you Syced (talk) 09:48, 7 November 2018 (UTC)

Hi Jim.henderson, just a brief update: we have found out a way to solve the zoom issue, and the fix should be ready with our v2.9 release next week. I will let you know when the release is in beta. :) Misaochan (talk) 09:45, 22 November 2018 (UTC)

Jim.henderson, v2.9 was just released for beta testing. Hope the new default zoom level works better for you. :) Misaochan (talk) 16:57, 27 November 2018 (UTC)

Very good. Minutes before you entered that, I turned off the computer, put my meal on the fire, turned on the phone, and found and downloaded the new version. Then ate quickly and spent busy hours running errands. Chores done, I opened the app. Oops! The map isn't under the menu button; it's up front. Good. Yes, the map opens nicely, with the screen showing almost all the pins. Exactly right; if it showed all the sites in a given radius, it would also show blank spaces. Another good one, when I zoom in or out, it stays where I put it. Of course, the map is still only for nearby objects, which wasn't very informative since I was already back home, but a choice of viewed location will be a new feature one day, not the fix of an old bug.

One annoyance; the map took a long time to load through my slow DSL. Like, a quarter minute. I don't recall such slowness with the old version, but it could be my elderly memory fading. Anyway, it's good to see you're working on the app. Jim.henderson (talk) 01:36, 28 November 2018 (UTC)

Jim.henderson, great to hear that. ;) Re: searching other locations, we are actually actively working on it now (see discussion here) - the feature should be rolling out with v2.10 in a month or so. :) Re: map loading, we haven't changed the query itself recently, so it is unlikely to have gotten slower, but we should certainly look into ways to make it faster in the future.

We have also just submitted a PG proposal with our plans for 2019, would love to hear your thoughts on it as a regular user of our app.

Thanks,

Misaochan (talk) 14:19, 29 November 2018 (UTC)

Allow multiple files to be uploaded

Right now I don't commonly use the Wikimedia Commons app from Google Play because I could only use it to upload 1 (one) image at a time, this is despite the advantages that this app has over the browser (though a ton of disadvantages such as an inability to edit and/or categories existing files). The Wikimedia Commons app should allow its users to upload the same amount of files as the MediaWiki Upload Wizard allows or 50 (fifty). --Donald Trung 『徵國單』 (No Fake News 💬) (WikiProject Numismatics 💴) (Articles 📚) 17:50, 29 November 2018 (UTC)

v2.9 beta allows multiple uploads. You can sign up for beta testing here (though bear in mind that beta versions tend to have more bugs than production). It should be out in production in a few weeks' time. Categorizing existing files is one of the improvements proposed in the PG proposal. ;) Misaochan (talk) 17:57, 29 November 2018 (UTC)

What is this sentence talking about?

"Please note that the selfie-pocalypse frequently mentioned in association with mobile uploads was solely caused by the mobile web interface (now deprecated)." Deprecated? Y'all mean this interface? Because that's the standard upload form that I use and only recently (earlier this year) did the MediaWiki Upload Wizard support the mobile web interface. So which mobile web interface is this sentence talking about? --Donald Trung 『徵國單』 (No Fake News 💬) (WikiProject Numismatics 💴) (Articles 📚) 17:54, 29 November 2018 (UTC)

AFAIK it was referring to the Mobile Media Uploads interface (also see this). We should probably make this clearer, Syced? Misaochan (talk) 18:03, 29 November 2018 (UTC)

@Donald Trung and Misaochan: mw:Wikimedia mobile engineering/Mobile QA/Commons uploads has some relevant info. They said: "We want to encourage users to contribute pictures to Wikipedia pages missing images. We do this by showing a big upload button in those pages." I believe this was a major cause of the influx of the inexperienced uploads in 2013. (I didn't experience it first-hand, so that's only my understanding from existing documents and comments I saw, though.) --whym (talk) 14:58, 1 December 2018 (UTC)

Incorrect dates reported as of 2.8.6?

Consider File:Ratatat light show at Pomona Fox Theater April 15 2015.jpg. I uploaded it with Commons App for Android 2.8.6; note that in the original upload, the 'according to EXIF' source date was the upload date, not the date actually specified in the EXIF, as shown in the 'Metadata' section on the file page. This also happened in 2.8.5 (see File:Dasyprocta leporina at Buffalo Zoo.jpg), but not 2.7.2 (see File:San Jose Fire Department crane truck, rear corner view.jpg); I don't have examples of uploads made with versions in between. This seems like a pretty big potential annoyance (though the true EXIF dates are still discoverable; nothing's really lost). Is there anywhere else I should be reporting this? grendel|khan 06:27, 21 November 2018 (UTC)

Hi Grendelkhan, same for example here File:Calgary Folk Festival.jpg. Could you please report this as a bug on https://github.com/commons-app/apps-android-commons/issues. --Arnd (talk) 07:16, 21 November 2018 (UTC)

Ah, it's already been reported; it's issue 1854 on the tracker, and should be fixed in 2.9. (Though maybe there should be a bot run to correct all of the wrong metadata?) This has been known since August, which is a bit disappointing; I'm not sure when 2.9 is supposed to come out. grendel|khan 14:35, 21 November 2018 (UTC)

Hi guys, sorry about that. 2.9 is slated for release to beta early next week. We are still working on solving a few other niggling issues with that release, and we didn't want to rush it and release with those bugs. Time has been very tight for us recently, as we are only a small community team of part-time devs, and we are also running hard into other deadlines at the same time.

Thanks for your understanding. I will ping you as soon as 2.9 is out. :) Misaochan (talk) 09:43, 22 November 2018 (UTC)

I could run my bot to change the misleading date if you like. But what i need to know for it is which files must be considered. --Arnd (talk) 10:12, 22 November 2018 (UTC)

Thanks Arnd. As far as I am aware based on user reports, this would affect files uploaded in version 2.8 (so 2.8.0, 2.8.1, etc). Misaochan (talk) 10:36, 22 November 2018 (UTC)

Thanks Misaochan. I would prepare and test such a bot run the next time. But i will start later after the new release is out. Do you have any idea how long it approximately takes until most users updated their apps? --Arnd (talk) 10:52, 22 November 2018 (UTC)

Hmm, we would usually leave a major release in beta for a couple of weeks, and then promote to production if there are no serious issues with the beta testing. After that, most non-beta-testing users take another couple of weeks to update their apps usually (although some never do... I still see uploads from users using v1.x of the app, lol. Such is Android development....). I guess it might be best to start the bot at the end of Dec? I can ping you once we have promoted to production, and the bot can be run 2 weeks after that probably. Misaochan (talk) 12:48, 22 November 2018 (UTC)

Ok Misaochan. I think i will need to update the files based on this search. I will check if the Exif date fits to what is used in the Exif date template. If not, i will update it. But what to do if there is no Exif date available? What does the app in this case? --Arnd (talk) 13:37, 22 November 2018 (UTC)

Thanks, the search looks good to me. I will need to double-check this, but I believe we use the upload date if there is no date in Exif. Misaochan (talk) 14:53, 22 November 2018 (UTC)

Hi Grendelkhan and Arnd, we just released v2.9 for beta testing. Could you please give it a test and see if the date is fixed for you? Thanks. Misaochan (talk) 16:58, 27 November 2018 (UTC)

Looks good to me! (See File:UP 1096 crossing Hamilton Avenue in Campbell.jpg.) Thanks for looking into this. Could the app use a more thorough test suite, do you think? I understand that this is a lot of work for a small dev team--thank you for the quick response, and for taking care of this. grendel|khan 17:37, 3 December 2018 (UTC)

Thanks Grendelkhan, happy to hear it works for you now. :) We do actually have plans to implement a more thorough test suite next year! We've submitted a proposal for it here, would greatly appreciate your feedback. Misaochan (talk) 11:36, 4 December 2018 (UTC)

Imply "|Permission" in Summary

Misaochan, try to put one more line, since i often use :

|Permission=

You can use this picture according to license. For use outside of Wikipedia I would appreciate it if you let me know by sending e-mail to petarmslo@gmail.com . Thank you in advance.

Petar Milošević (author)

It look like this. --Mile (talk) 12:42, 18 January 2019 (UTC)

Apps option

I noticed that wiki its not offering the 2 options that are usually available for downloading apps on ur mobile device (app store for iphone and google play for android) Only showed google play and "F-droid" which its the first time in my life seen such a thing... besides my previous knowledge I heard about windows play or whatever Microsoft store offered. I will appreciate accurate facts and feedback on this topic please. Sincerely Vinicio Viquez aka Gaymalegender on wiki Gaymalegender (talk) 16:11, 2 April 2019 (UTC)

@Gaymalegender: The app is only available for android, not for iOS/iphone. F-droid is an alternative for people with android devices who want to install apps without creating a Google account. Hope that helps? --El Grafo (talk) 13:12, 3 April 2019 (UTC)

What would make a non-existent location stop showing up?

I walked around today according to a "nearby" search, looking for various markers. Unfortunately, most of the ones I tried to find turned out to be non-existent. There are a few reasons for this, some of which are probably unavoidable. But if, for example, there was a building in a location that has since been demolished, or if we have an entry for a business that used to occupy a particular building, what settings (or Wikidata properties?) would make them stop showing up? — Rhododendrites ^talk |  01:48, 2 September 2019 (UTC)

Far as I see, it's all about Wikidata. A vaudeville theater remains in WD, even though it closed half a century before anyone thought of Wikidata. There would have to be a marker in WD, which there sometimes is but often is not, and Mobile App would have to use it, which so far as I know it does not. It's so frequent, I pay it little attention and go on to the next marker. What does get my attention is when a modern building, far more permanent than the businesses that occupy it, is in the wrong place. Then I track down the error in longitude or whatever. One trick is, on the phone I make a bad adjustment so it shows in my WD watchlist instead of relying on my flaky memory. At home with the big computer, tracking down the errors is much easier. Jim.henderson (talk) 22:36, 4 September 2019 (UTC)

Thanks. Yeah, though it seems like it should be a very straightforward matter to fix with a Wikidata statement of e.g. destruction date/dissolution date or status=demolished or something. I installed the app and walked up from Battery Park to just north of the UN along the east side of Manhattan and it seemed like 75% of the places I went to take a picture of didn't exist and another 5-10% were businesses inside the buildings with nothing visible outside (not much we can really do about that one, though). — Rhododendrites ^talk |  23:29, 4 September 2019 (UTC)

Right, we are using Wikidata to populate "nearby", so if something shows up on WD it would show up on our map. Could you point us to the WD marker that you are referring to, Jim.henderson? We could check for that in our app. Additionally, as a future enhancement, I wonder if it would be welcome for us to implement a system where the user can edit that marker in WD via the app? Misaochan (talk) 10:15, 19 September 2019 (UTC)

I took two examples of sites that came up on the map but weren't there: wikidata:Q5073064 and wikidata:Q45092860. The latter (Gramercy Theater) is an instance of "former building or structure". That seems like a good example of a property that should disqualify appearing in the app. The former (Chapel of Free Grace) had no property indicating it wasn't there anymore. I added service_retirement=1940s (when I started typing "demolished" it told me to use "service_retirement" for buildings, which I found strange but went with it). Hopefully that, too, would be disqualifying (although I could see "service retirement" also meaning the closure of a business/organization within a building that continues to exist)... — Rhododendrites ^talk |  14:42, 19 September 2019 (UTC)

A more general Wikidata property is https://m.wikidata.org/wiki/Property:P576 we should add it as a MINUS to the SPARQL request. Hopefully it won't make it even slower. Syced (talk) 19:31, 27 September 2019 (UTC)

That's the one that says to use P730 for buildings (service_retirement), which seems like it would be most relevant for the cases I ran into. — Rhododendrites ^talk |  20:29, 27 September 2019 (UTC)

Advice for tags regarding screenshots of the app

I uploaded a few screenshots of the app for demonstration purposes (see e.g. File:Commons app demo screenshot 2.png). What would be the best way to list the source and what license should I use? I don't see anything explicit in the Google store. — Rhododendrites ^talk |  19:48, 25 September 2019 (UTC)

The app is licensed Apache2 so I am pretty sure CC-BY-SA is the best choice. But if the screenshot shows images not taken by you, or a map, then be sure to acknowledge each of them too (URL, author, license). Thanks! 🙂 Syced (talk) 19:25, 27 September 2019 (UTC)

Link to one of the screenshots above. It does include a map. That's largely my question: how do I acknowledge that? — Rhododendrites ^talk |  20:26, 27 September 2019 (UTC)

If your screenshot includes a map, choose the license CC-BY-SA-3.0 and write this attribution: "© OpenStreetMap contributors". Thanks! 🙂 Syced (talk) 21:08, 30 September 2019 (UTC)

Thank you for improvements

I have been uploading images since 2013 using the Android Commons app and the Commons mobile app. To say that there have been frustrations is an understatement. Many crashes, many unexplained failures to upload, many uninstall/reinstall efforts and many cases of giving up trying to upload a useful photo. Despite this, I have managed to upload quite a few decent photos over the years, interspersed with months of not really bothering to try. But in recent weeks, I have had universally good results with the latest version. No crashes, rapid uploads and the app is suggesting actually relevant categories and it is easier to search for other categories. In my opinion, the current version is vastly better than all previous versions, and I sure hope that nobody screws it up. Thanks. Cullen328 (talk) 00:40, 14 May 2019 (UTC)

Thank you for your feedback, Cullen328, glad to see that the recent version works for you! We will try our best not to screw things up. ;) Misaochan (talk) 12:05, 9 June 2019 (UTC)

Gah, I had my hopes up after reading your message, but my attempts to add images still fail. I used to love using this app, but I've mostly given up at this point, unfortunately. -Another Believer (talk) 14:08, 14 May 2019 (UTC)

Another Believer, sorry to hear that. We're aware that there are still a few people experiencing issues with the latest version. The reason this is taking so long to fix is described in greater detail here, but the short version of it is that we are building on legacy code that is causing a lot of unexpected, difficult-to-debug issues. We have been playing patchwork with this for some time (which has fixed a lot of issues, albeit not all), but at the end of the day the inevitable solution is to overhaul the codebase to a more modern version, with better software development practices and stricter code quality measures. This does take a lot of time, and will also involve some teething issues, but it is the best long-term solution for everyone involved. We are halfway through the overhaul now, would you like me to ping you when we are done? Misaochan (talk) 12:05, 9 June 2019 (UTC)

@Misaochan: Yes, please! -Another Believer (talk) 15:16, 9 June 2019 (UTC)

@Another Believer: Will do. Apologies for the inconvenience in the meantime. Misaochan (talk) 15:38, 9 June 2019 (UTC)

@Misaochan: , please let me know when you are done as well. Cullen328 (talk) 17:13, 9 June 2019 (UTC)

@Cullen328: Sure thing! :) Misaochan (talk) 07:51, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

Hi Another Believer and Cullen328, just an update: We have just released the first of two planned releases in our code overhaul project (v2.11), which should now be available to download from the Play Store for all beta testers. This may not completely fix the failed uploads issue, but I just wanted to let you know so that you are kept up to date. If you experience any issues with v2.11, please do let us know so that we can fix it ASAP (the good news is that the further we get with the overhaul, the easier debugging and fixing issues gets for us). I'll ping you again when v2.12 is out, which should contain the completely revamped authentication flow that would address the failed uploads. Best, Misaochan (talk) 14:22, 29 July 2019 (UTC)

@Misaochan: Thanks for the update. I just tried to upload a photo from my phone using my wifi at home, but the upload failed. :( I'll try again after the next update. -Another Believer (talk) 18:59, 30 July 2019 (UTC)

@Another Believer: Sorry for the delay, v2.12 is out now. :) Could I please ask that you do a fresh install (uninstall and then reinstall the app, check that you have the correct version) and try again? Thanks! Misaochan (talk) 11:52, 1 February 2020 (UTC)

@Misaochan: I just uploaded this file successfully! -Another Believer (talk) 19:15, 1 February 2020 (UTC)

Incorrect date format

The app uses incorrectly a localized date format as a parameter for templates, e.g. |date={{According to EXIF data|15. 09. 2019}} See [2]. Please correct the app and correct all affected file pages by a bot. --ŠJů (talk) 19:28, 15 September 2019 (UTC)

i fixed them. Strangely, there are different kind of wrong formats with an without whitespaces.[3] --Arnd (talk) 06:00, 16 September 2019 (UTC)

seems to be this bug. --Arnd (talk) 15:03, 17 September 2019 (UTC)

We are working on this here. Very sorry for the delay, but a developer who is new to the Wikimedia ecosystem has volunteered to do it, so we are trying to encourage him instead of yanking the issue out from under him, as far as reasonably possible :). Misaochan (talk) 10:05, 19 September 2019 (UTC)

This should be fixed in v2.12.0. Please let us know if there are any further issues, thanks! Misaochan (talk) 09:24, 2 December 2019 (UTC)

Now I see things like {{According to EXIF data|12/01/2020}} which is actually worse, since it thinks that the date is in December. ℺ Gone Postal (〠 ✉ • ✍ ⏿) 03:05, 17 January 2020 (UTC)

Hi Gone_Postal, could you link the relevant image, please, so I can check what version of the app they are using? Some people are still using v2.11. If there is still an issue with v2.12 we'll prioritize a fix. Misaochan (talk) 06:24, 17 January 2020 (UTC)

@Misaochan: I can see the lack of basic knowledge here. As the documentation says, the only proper date format is ISO 8601. No other funny formts, period. The same applies to the date field of {{Information}}. Also it should be {{According to Exif data}} because {{According to EXIF data}} is a redirect. --jdx ^Re: 05:27, 17 January 2020 (UTC)

jdx Yes, we are aware of that. We are not trying to use different formats, the issue was with a method call used to parse the date in different locales. We can change the case to {{According to Exif data}} in our next release. Misaochan (talk) 06:43, 17 January 2020 (UTC)

@Misaochan: Please take a look at File:Provost John Ross.jpg. I will fix it right now, but currently it populates 2020-10-01 rather than obviously correct 2020-01-10. This should be fixed before the dates will become impossible to guess. For example if it were a difference between a correct 08-07 and incorrect 07-08 there'd be no way to really check that. Maybe the person just waited a month to upload. ℺ Gone Postal (〠 ✉ • ✍ ⏿) 03:53, 22 January 2020 (UTC)

〠 yes, I took a look at that file and it was uploaded by someone using version 2.11 of our app (not the latest). We are trying very hard to get 2.12 to all users, it should be done by next week (currently it is only available to some users). If you see anything uploaded by v2.12 onwards and the file date is wrong, please let us know. You can check it under the licensing, for instance this file says "This file was uploaded via Mobile Android App (Commons mobile app) 2.11.0~93b948d20.". Misaochan (talk) 09:52, 22 January 2020 (UTC)

Hi, I was contacted by User:Gone_Postal. I appear to be responsible for some of the images above. He suggested that I upgrade. I uninstalled and reinstalled Commons on my phone this morning, but I still have v2.11.0~93b948d20. I can't see a way to get v2.12. I am on Samsung Note 8, on Android. Any pointers please? I'd be happy to upgrade and test whether a new version improves things - if I can get it. thanks Watty62 (talk) 16:20, 28 January 2020 (UTC)

Hi Watty62, v2.12 is currently still in beta, although we are trying to get it to all users by the end of this week. If you like, you can access the beta version immediately by signing up for beta testing, and then you should get the option to update. Sorry for the inconvenience! Misaochan (talk) 16:41, 29 January 2020 (UTC)

@Misaochan: Please hurry. I know that it's best not to rush such things, otherwise it is possible that another mistake like that will get out to a wide audience, however, we are getting more and more users uploading and creating categories like that. I do try to change it up, but it takes time that can be spent elsewhere. Good luck. ℺ Gone Postal (〠 ✉ • ✍ ⏿) 05:07, 30 January 2020 (UTC)

〠 Sure. Your feedback can help us speed things up - did you notice any issues caused by uploads from the 2.12 version? Misaochan (talk) 11:36, 30 January 2020 (UTC)

Every time I see a problem, it is 2.11, nothing bad came across my screen from 2.12. ℺ Gone Postal (〠 ✉ • ✍ ⏿) 11:37, 30 January 2020 (UTC)

Thank you. Unless we get any new reports of major/urgent issues, we will be pushing to production at the end of this week. Misaochan (talk) 17:24, 30 January 2020 (UTC)

@Gone Postal: I've just pushed v2.12.3 to production, it should be available to all users in a few hours. If you have any further issues with someone posting uploads from 2.11, please ask them to update their app, thanks! Misaochan (talk) 11:07, 1 February 2020 (UTC)

Looks like V2.12 fixed the date issues we had with my uploads. See Piper Alpha Memorial Plaque as an example. Thanks Watty62 (talk) 17:24, 2 February 2020 (UTC)

Apple App?

Is something like this app also available or planned for Apple devices like iPhones? --Neitram (talk) 14:58, 25 April 2019 (UTC)

There was an iOS port available, but currently there nobody maintaining/developing it. The source code is available at github, so if you are interested in picking it up: go for it ;-P --El Grafo (talk) 08:05, 26 April 2019 (UTC)

Thanks! I wonder why the WMF with all their money is not paying some developer to develop and maintain this app? --Neitram (talk) 06:54, 30 April 2019 (UTC)

Because if they would, people would be complaining about how they are wasting donor money on closed eco systems for a toy or some weird shit argument like that. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 08:19, 30 July 2019 (UTC)

Hello Neitram, this is actually quite a popular request, so much so that I've been considering applying for a Project Grant in the next round for the development of an iOS app (this is also how the Android app is currently funded, by the way, we are not officially "WMF staff"). The main issue as far as I can tell is that the existing iOS port is very old and does not comply to modern iOS development practices (for one thing, it's in Objective-C...). So it would probably be better to create one from scratch rather than trying to reuse legacy code. I have no iOS dev experience unfortunately, but we could search for collaborators that do. If we do apply for funding for the iOS app, would you like me to ping you when the proposal is up? Misaochan (talk) 12:10, 9 June 2019 (UTC)

@Misaochan: Thanks for your reply. Sure, please ping me when the proposal is up. --Neitram (talk) 06:28, 14 June 2019 (UTC)

@Neitram: Hi Neitram, the proposal for the iOS app is up. :) If it is approved, we can start work on it in June this year, when the successful grants are announced. Misaochan (talk) 14:41, 19 February 2020 (UTC)

@Misaochan: Thanks, that is great news! --Neitram (talk) 15:11, 19 February 2020 (UTC)

@Neitram: Thank you! :) If you are in favour of the proposal, could I please ask that you endorse it? That will help give the funding committee an idea of the level of demand for the iOS app. Misaochan (talk) 15:30, 19 February 2020 (UTC)

@Misaochan: Done! --Neitram (talk) 15:39, 19 February 2020 (UTC)

Beta map not working

Two weeks ago I replaced my Android phone and decided to try again with the Commons App on my new Motorola G7 Power. The "Contributions" tab failed to show my pictures, but that's no big deal as it seldom worked in the past, either. The important feature is "Nearby" but that is not showing me any points. I checked with the old Nexus 6P phone; same thing.

Oh. I just now checked again on the Moto. Now I'm seeing the pointers. Three days ago, nothing. Some pointers are ghostly grey instead of vivid blue and red; perhaps showing whether the object still exists or not. Tried turning on and off the "Exists" and "Needs photo" and got some changes but then the app crashed. So, maybe there is progress. Anyway, rather than try to use the "Nearby" feature I've been snapping the picture, then looking at it in the Google Photos app, and hitting "Share" to select the Commons App. That works, except sometimes it crashes and always the page on Commons fails to show the coordinates that are in EXIF in the picture that's still in the phone. Some day, the app will actually work, I hope. Jim.henderson (talk) 02:15, 21 January 2020 (UTC)

Hi Jim.henderson, thanks for reporting the crash, we're taking a look at it. Yes, some users were experiencing issues with Nearby in v2.12.0, which should be fixed by v2.12.1. Sorry about that. Please do understand that as a beta tester, you are testing the beta version of the app, which increases the odds of issues like this happening for you. While we do our best to prevent this, Android development is a huge ecosystem with a large number of possible devices and API levels, unlike iOS. As a small part-time community team, we simply do not have the resources to test on all of these, hence we rely on reports from our beta users. While we appreciate your reports and testing, if stability is very important to you, I would recommend not being a beta tester. You can opt out anytime and also rejoin anytime you like. Misaochan (talk) 10:14, 22 January 2020 (UTC)

Sure, User:Misaochan. I wish the Foundation would put some money into it, but money is limited, and improvements in the WP mobile app can attract editors among the majority of readers who read on mobile, so I can understand why WP gets priority. And yes, I've been told Android is a difficult target. I chose the old Nexus for its lack of additions to stock Android, and now the Moto on the basis that its additions are few. I don't know whether that makes an easier development target, but I think the simpler learning helps my stiff old mind. Springtime is coming, and I'll spend more time outdoors with warmer weather, longer days, and sunlight on the north side of buildings. If the Beta version doesn't work well enough by then, I'll look up what must be done to slip back to the full release version. Meanwhile, I shall continue to complain, umm, I mean report, about crashes and glitches. Jim.henderson (talk) 21:51, 22 January 2020 (UTC)

Jim.henderson, glad to hear that. ;) We have been trying to debug your crash, but we're encountering issues because the stack trace is uninformative, and we aren't able to reproduce it. If you continue to crash in v2.12.3 (the current beta version), could you please: (1) After you submit the crash report, go to Settings > Send Log File; (2) In the email where the log file is sent, describe the steps you were taking exactly before it happened? Thanks so much! Misaochan (talk) 17:22, 30 January 2020 (UTC)

Goodness, User:Misaochan, am I the only user who thinks the app's potential is worth a little effort on our part? Anyway with unseasonably warm weather I've been outdoors more, which means more opportunity for pictures but also less time at the keyboard. So, I've been thinking but not writing. I'll go through my complaints, starting with the "Contributions" section, which is the less important one. Oh, I should say, "About" says this is: Commons 1.12.3~dc08a5e88. OS is: Android 9, PPOS29.114.134-7, security patch level: 1 Dec 2019. Not sure whether this info is included in the automated crash report.

First, the display of contributed pictures is out of sequence. It starts with several old "failed uploads" even though the pictures actually arrived at Commons. Presumably those are ones where the app crashed in whatever steps follow the actual upload. Then it gets into a bunch that are mislabeled, each showing the filename that belongs to one of the others. Finally it gets to pictures with correct filenames, in no particular sequence. Not oldest first, or newest first, or alphabetical, nor anything else I can detect. But as I say, this whole feature doesn't matter much.

Second, when I snap the picture using the Android camera app or "Open Camera" and go to Android "Photos" to look at it, the Photos menu allows me to "Share" via various apps including Commons. It uploads, though it never says it finishes. When I check with the browser, the file has arrived with my descriptions such as they are (stiff fingers on small virtual keyboard) and NO coordinates! Grr, the high probability of accurate GPS fixes is one of the best things about cellphone pictures, but instead of relying on that, I must check at the home computer and use "Locate-Tool" to set a location, either from memory or from looking at the copy that's in the phone. I imagine this is less interesting to many users, however. While writing this I checked to ensure that "Location" was checked in the apps page about EXIF, and it turned out that was the only information it was set to upload. So, I turned all of them on, and will snap and send another picture on my way to coach an edit-a-thon in Bushwick tonight.

Now to the meaty bit, using the map. First problem, the app downloads the map every time it starts. Perhaps this is on the theory that the map is too big to store on the phone, but none of my other apps that have a map do this. They already have their map data. The download takes something like half a minute at home with my slow DSL. On the road, it's over a minute and it makes a spike in my usage. If I get too many of those spikes, I'll have to pay more for the month. Having waited for the download, I tap the buttons to see which Wikidata items have a ENWP article or "need" a photo. This is again a delay with each tap, presumably while it communicates with the database by radio. Sometimes this action also makes it crash. If the app crashes, as it often does, or if I shut off the phone to save battery when I'm bicycling or otherwise too busy to do anything with the phone, it must download the map all over again. Generally I wait for a Wi-Fi connection. When I upload from the map, the app usually crashes. This combination of map download and crashed uploads is so annoying that it's the main reason I seldom use the map but rather start the app from Google Photos. Drat; there's something else that bothers me, but it's been a few days since I tried it, so I've forgotten the finer points.

Yes, I'll send you some more information for crashes and hope it helps. Jim.henderson (talk) 21:58, 30 January 2020 (UTC)

Hi Jim.henderson, thanks for the detailed post - I am heading off soon but will come back to you later. I just wanted to write a short note about your crash reports - we appreciate the ones you have been sending, but they all only contain the (same) stack trace which is leading us to a dead end. We can get more information on your crash if, after you crash, you go to the app's Settings (in the navigation drawer on the left) and then tap "Send Log File" and send that email through. That will contain more thorough logs that will hopefully help us figure out the problem. Thanks! Misaochan (talk) 18:22, 1 February 2020 (UTC)

You must have written that shortly after my crash report. Walking from one errand to another I turned on the phone and looked at the Commons map. I lacked the patience to wait for the map, backed out to Home Screen, and pocketed the phone. Few minutes later I saw an interesting building, snapped two pictures with different camera apps, and used Google Photos to start the upload of the second photo via Commons App. Finished filling out the various forms, did the go ahead tap, and immediately crashed. Sent the report that the crash routine asked for, adding a few words but forgetting the other log. Power cycled the phone, uploaded the first pic I had snapped, same way except I had not looked at the map. It worked. Completing my errands, I carried my groceries home, turned on the phone, and uploaded the other picture via Google Photos and Commons app. Also successful. Having read your message here, I turned on the phone, started the app, and sent the other log. I don't know whether that will do any good, since many things had presumably been reset by the power cycle.

All of this makes me think the map feature is useless to me. In the first place the map takes a long time to download. I also suspect that having looked at the map causes crashes during picture upload. Whatever the reason for a crash, it necessitates restarting the app, again requiring a long download. If I close the app from the task list, again I must wait for the map to download. Finally, the map does not know where I am. Walking a few blocks in Manhattan, or biking a few minutes in the suburbs, brings me to another area with completely different points of interest. I can manually move the map to my new location, but sometimes I'm in an unfamiliar area. The only way I see to make the app know my location is to close the app in the task list, reopen, and await the long, slow map download again.

So, the only method that works properly for me is choosing a picture in the Google Photos app and uploading via the Commons app. It suggests location categories and provides convenient forms for entering other information. When I got home, I saw that the GPS coordinates had indeed arrived. Locations for the two uploads I did today are off by about 20m, but presumably that's because the phone's GPS has trouble with the tall steel buildings around me.

The other ways I have tried to use the app have been completely unproductive. Jim.henderson (talk) 20:51, 1 February 2020 (UTC)

Hi Jim.henderson, re: the crashes, we've created a fix based on your logs, but we cannot test it ourselves because we can't reproduce the crash. One of our devs contacted you through email to ask if you were willing to test our fix directly - this would save us a lot of time in making an official release that may or may not work for you. I completely understand if you do not wish to do so, but please let us know either way. :)

Re: the slow map downloads, that is indeed a problem for people with slower connections. We are planning to fix this by adding a limited connection mode, but it does require a big change that will take a couple of months for us to implement. Glad to hear the GPS coordinates are working - unfortunately we have no control over the GPS signals which can indeed be a few metres off. Best, Misaochan (talk) 11:28, 5 February 2020 (UTC)

Been busy but the next few days look fairly light. I'll have time to answer questions and maybe interact more intesively. Right now I've got a slack few minutes before the lecture finishes and I'll be coaching new users at an editathon. Jim.henderson (talk) 18:12, 22 February 2020 (UTC)

App doesn't work at all

I don't know if this is just me but for years now, on several different Android phones, this app doesn't work at all. Either it refuses to upload an image or crashes right after selecting an image from the gallery. When the issue first came along, i wrote an email to the developers, but after a few rounds of emails the issue was just dropped and haven't heard of them again. Now I decided to try the app again, thinking maybe a couple years of development made it better. Nope. The interface is nice and flashy but it's just not functioning. Very frustrating. Teemeah (talk) 10:46, 7 April 2020 (UTC)

You are right. The app is very unstable with a lot of bugs. I really recommend the developers to focus on these issues until the app has acceptable quality. Any new feature does not help if the app as a whole is working like it is now. --Arnd (talk) 11:50, 7 April 2020 (UTC)

Incomplete Exif data

I recently uploaded two files through the Mobile app: File:Guensberg Dorfzentrum 2020.jpg and File:Galmis Maerz 2020.jpg. I notice that for both files, the Exif metadata on Commons lacks the "Camera manufacturer" and "Camera model" fields, though these most definitely exist in the original files - I checked. Earlier uploads using the same device, but an earlier version of the app, included this data, see File:Blick auf Edendorf 2.jpg (HMD Global, Nokia 8 - taken with a different aspect ratio setting, but it's the same smartphone). Also, the original file of File:Guensberg Dorfzentrum 2020.jpg (not the other one) has coordinates in the Exif data, which apparently also were omitted when uploading with the app. Furthermore, I'm pretty sure that I chose Category:Günsberg when uploading that file, but it was also missing and I added it manually later. I do not think that these omissions are intentional? Gestumblindi (talk) 20:18, 16 March 2020 (UTC)

Hi Gestumblindi, in the app settings there is now a "Manage Exif Tags" menu which by default does not contain the mentioned fields. --Arnd (talk) 07:30, 5 April 2020 (UTC)

@Aschroet: That is surprising. What is the reason for not including these fields by default? They seem to be pretty important to me. Coordinates are often very helpful information for identifying and categorizing a location. And I know that Commons volunteers who are active in checking possible copyright violations often look at the camera manufacturer/model fields to check for inconsistencies - if one uploads images from a wildly varying selection of cameras in a short time, for example, it is more likely that the images are not their own. Not including these fields per default unnecessarily hampers these established workflows on Commons. Where should I suggest reverting this detrimental change? Github, I suppose, as pointed out by Eatcha here? Or are you involved in developing that tool and could point the other developers to my concerns, as I'm really not familiar with Github? Gestumblindi (talk) 14:46, 5 April 2020 (UTC)

TBH : Smartphone GPS coordinates are much more accurate than cameras, if you guys don't add the coordinates info a bot will have to the additional job by adding the GPS tag. Is there any reason for disabling automatic coordinates extraction ? I presume privacy ? But we have bots that extracts location info out of the files + mediawiki will still display the coordinates in the exif data fileds. // Eatcha (talk) 14:53, 5 April 2020 (UTC) -- Eatcha (talk) 14:53, 5 April 2020 (UTC)

@Eatcha: Aren't the bots taking the location out of the Exif data, in order to create a {{Location}} template? If the coordinates aren't included in the Exif data (which is stored in the files) at the point of uploading, as the app removes them, I think the bots have no data to work with? Gestumblindi (talk) 15:00, 5 April 2020 (UTC)

I don't know if they hide the data or delete it. I don't use it regularly, I downloaded the app and it appears location is selected to be kept as default. But camera and lens model, serial numbers and software are not. Is removing these information a requirement to comply with the privacy policies or they are additional features from the developers ? Removing these information can be very useful for users in oppressive countries but I don't see how it helps considering most of our users are from democratic countries maybe checking the IP/GPS location will help identify users from oppressive countries. BTW: The app is great, the nearby notification feature sounds interesting. Eatcha (talk) 16:55, 5 April 2020 (UTC)

I don't know if they hide the data or delete it - it was omitted in the upload, see my example File:Guensberg Dorfzentrum 2020.jpg: the original file on the smartphone has coordinates in the Exif data, but in this file on Commons the Exif data lacks them, so the app removes them from Exif when uploading. But maybe they already changed the default setting, as you say that the location was now selected to be kept when you tried it? Camera model would still be useful. Gestumblindi (talk) 17:16, 5 April 2020 (UTC)

I uploaded a random file with default options File:Somewhere in orange CA.jpg, it includes location information. -- Eatcha (talk) 17:26, 5 April 2020 (UTC)

That's interesting. The coordinates box wasn't checked in the settings on my phone. Maybe a recent change, or maybe even region specific? I'm in Switzerland; Europe is known for restrictive privacy laws, so maybe the app behaves differently in Europe? But, as I said in the other thread, I really see no privacy issues with including the camera model. Gestumblindi (talk) 18:08, 5 April 2020 (UTC)

Could this also be related to the bug I reported in November? --GPSLeo (talk) 19:01, 5 April 2020 (UTC)

Tracked in Phabricator
Task T223051

Gestumblindi, kannst du bitte in die Einstellungen der App gehen und unter Datenschutz den Punkt Manage EXIF Tags auswählen. Dort kannst du die gewünschten Tags hinzufügen. --Arnd (talk) 17:34, 5 April 2020 (UTC)

@Aschroet: Ja, das ist mir ja nun seit deinem Beitrag oben schon klar. Das ist schön und gut, aber was mich gerade störte, ist, dass diese Optionen neuerdings per Default abgewählt waren und viele Nutzer sie nicht eigens aktivieren werden; meistens sind diese Felder aber erwünscht und nützlich. Gemäss dem Beitrag von Eatcha scheinen die Koordinaten nun zumindest bei ihm aber standardmässig angewählt zu sein, vielleicht wurde es schon geändert. Gestumblindi (talk) 18:04, 5 April 2020 (UTC)

Well, I'm now pretty sure that there must be a bug in the software. I have now activated location in "Manage Exif Tags" and uploaded File:Volg Lommiswil during pandemic 2020.jpg which most definitely has Exif coordinates in my original file, I see them with viewers such as IrfanView - and still it was uploaded without location data! Gestumblindi (talk) 17:26, 12 April 2020 (UTC)

I did now go to the length of creating a Github account to report it, and here is the report. Gestumblindi (talk) 17:51, 12 April 2020 (UTC)

Name of photographer not shown

If images are shown via App and the photographer is added using the {{Creator}} template, the name of the photographer is not shown. Instead there is something like "title=Q...". --XRay ^talk 15:22, 18 April 2020 (UTC)

Requested pictures

First I'd like to congratulate the developers. The app has become much more stable. On a long bike ride a few days ago it handled several pictures and didn't crash at all. Much more useful that way.

Down to business, in ENWP we have en:Wikipedia:Requested pictures. It's pretty much useless and my guess is that it's useless because it isn't easy to use on the road because there aren't any coordinates. Some of the requested subjects don't exist; others are people or some other subject that doesn't stay still. Not much we can do about those.

More fundamental, the associated request category doesn't make a map. Making a separate map from these items wouldn't help much anyway. What is needed, rather, is to integrate it with Wikidata and WikiShootMe and the Commons App, so when an editor adds a request template, it goes into Wikidata and thus into the maps. Some of these subjects do have a photo, but an editor says it's bad (usually correctly) or the subject would be better understood from another angle or whatever. We've got nothing that will map such things.

Whether I'm entering this in the correct Talk Page, I don't know but maybe someone else will have a better idea. Jim.henderson (talk) 23:44, 29 July 2020 (UTC)

Blocked?

Hi - trying to upload via the mobile app today, it reads I am blocked? I think this is an error? ɱ (talk) 13:27, 25 September 2020 (UTC)

It just worked uploading using the desktop mode on my phone's web browser. There should be an upload tool on the mobile site, is there not? Regardless, shows this was an error. ɱ (talk) 13:34, 25 September 2020 (UTC)

@Ɱ: I don’t know what’s up with the app, but you can upload from the mobile web site: although the hamburger menu doesn’t contain it, there’s an upload link on the Main Page, which seems to work more or less on mobile. (I haven’t actually used it on mobile yet, because the last time I wanted to use it was the time I proposed to include the link on the mobile main page. :P) —Tacsipacsi (talk) 00:05, 26 September 2020 (UTC)

Thanks for the tip. It is better than the desktop mode, though I would still like to be "unblocked" on this mobile app, whatever that entails... ɱ (talk) 00:16, 26 September 2020 (UTC)

Can anyone with technical knowledge here help? Or where else should I post about this? ɱ (talk) 14:12, 29 September 2020 (UTC)

@Ɱ: You may give GitHub a try if you have an account there (or don’t mind registering just for this). —Tacsipacsi (talk) 00:24, 30 September 2020 (UTC)

Location doesn't update

Only just noticed the Commons app now shows what places around you need images. This is great!

One issue is that even when I authorize location, it displays nearby locations once, but then doesn't update my location when I move. Seems like the only way to make it update what's nearby is to force the app to close, then reopen it. — Rhododendrites ^talk |  01:46, 2 September 2019 (UTC)

Hi Rhododendrites, thanks for letting us know. :) We are working on fixing this issue (along with a few others) in v2.12, would you like me to ping you when the new version is ready for beta testing? Misaochan (talk) 10:07, 19 September 2019 (UTC)

@Misaochan: Yes please. :) — Rhododendrites ^talk |  13:39, 19 September 2019 (UTC)

@Rhododendrites: v2.12 is out, please let us know if it solves the problem for you. :) Misaochan (talk) 11:51, 1 February 2020 (UTC)

@Misaochan: I have 2.12.3 and it still has the issue with not refreshing locations, as a workaround, once I get to the site of the photo, I exit the app and reload it. It would be nice to have a refresh button or even a interval setting for it doing it automatically.Back ache (talk) 11:09, 7 October 2020 (UTC)

Suggested edits?

After seeing several problematic captions added through Suggested Edits I thought I'd try it for myself. To my surprise, I can't find it anywhere. How do I access this feature? — Rhododendrites ^talk |  17:53, 8 October 2020 (UTC)

@Rhododendrites: I know it’s highly confusing, but these edits originate from the Wikipedia app, not the Commons one. —Tacsipacsi (talk) 21:38, 8 October 2020 (UTC)

Proposals for improvement

Please correct these imperfections:

• the app fills in the "description" field with the P31 (instance of) label instead with the label and description of the photographed subject
• the app should fill a link to the Wikidata item to the "description" field if the photographed point is based on it
• please, order the parameters of the {{Information}} template in the standard and logical way (description, date, source, author, permission). Currently, a date is located as the last parameter. --ŠJů (talk) 02:34, 16 October 2020 (UTC)

No reaction here in 2.5 months. I added it as an issue to GitHub now. --ŠJů (talk) 19:43, 27 December 2020 (UTC)

Unfortunately, developers do not seem to understand that the description of an image should identify what is in the image. --ŠJů (talk) 18:16, 29 December 2020 (UTC)

{{Taken in}}

Would it be possible to use {{Taken in}} rather than a regular category? The categories actually state that they should not be added manually. Please see Revision #390555221 for what I am talking about. ℺ Gone Postal (〠 ✉ • ✍ ⏿) 06:57, 28 January 2020 (UTC)

I've created an issue. :) Misaochan (talk) 17:04, 29 January 2020 (UTC)

User:Gone_Postal: I guess you meant "Taken with" or something? Are you talking about date or camera model? Thanks! Syced (talk) 10:53, 11 March 2020 (UTC)

@Gone Postal: Please can you respond, so this issue can either be resolved or closed? Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 15:25, 19 January 2021 (UTC)

Yes. I am sorry, of course you are correct. ℺ Gone Postal (〠 ✉ • ✍ ⏿) 08:00, 22 January 2021 (UTC)

Dropbox bug

Image previews do not load when uploading photos directly from Dropbox. The photos themselves upload perfectly fine. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ckere (talk • contribs) 01:19, 6 May 2013 (UTC)

@Pigsonthewing: Do you have details on the resolution of this?   — Jeff G. ツ _{please ping or talk to me} 20:54, 23 May 2022 (UTC)

Category search shouldn't be case-sensitive

I noticed that the Mobile app's feature to search for categories to add is, apparently, case-sensitive. If I start a search for GLAM-on-Tour categories (see Category:GLAM on Tour), it shows no results if I type "glam" in lowercase letters, only with uppercase GLAM. I think it should better be case-insensitive. Gestumblindi (talk) 15:10, 10 July 2021 (UTC)

@Gestumblindi: Yes, it’s a long-standing feature request. See GitHub issue #3179. —Tacsipacsi (talk) 23:33, 10 July 2021 (UTC)

@Tacsipacsi: Thanks for the information. There might also be an issue with parentheses? There is Category:Wilhelm Tell (ship, 1908) which the app didn't find, though I entered the category name fully and with correct upper and lower case. Gestumblindi (talk) 14:15, 18 July 2021 (UTC)

Great improvement, Summer 2021

For a long time I have thought this to be a great idea with so many problems that it it was unable to be useful. When it started, it took a whole minute to decide it wasn't in London, and another minute or more to download the locations for whatever part of New York I'm in. I stopped trying to use the Commons App to find a target and then call the camera app, and started snapping the photo first, then using Google Photo to call the Commons App. This had the disadvantage of complexity, and the Commons App had to guess at what the target was, and wasn't very skilled at that.

Last month (August) I tried it again and yes! It starts by thinking it's on Earth, not in London. Good guess. Then in a few seconds it discovers it's in New York. After a few more seconds it can display the nearby locations. I used it several times last week, and several times this afternoon. It's a really useful tool, now.

Am I completely happy with the Commons App now? No, never. There are always little things to complain about. When I walk several hundred meters in a crowded city, I am surrounded by an entirely different field of points of interest, but the App doesn't know I have moved. I refresh my location, and it still thinks I'm in the old location. I must change from the map view to the personal upload view and go back, and wait a few seconds for the pins for the new location. But a few seconds are a mere annoyance, not a crippling minute or more.

Oh, a much smaller annoyance. It asks for the "caption" and makes it the filename. It should say this will be the filename. I misunderstood it twice or thrice (slow learning is common at my age) and it should be made clearer. Eventually I will think of other annoyances but these will do for now. For now, the Commons App works well enough to be a real tool for me. Jim.henderson (talk) 00:12, 7 September 2021 (UTC)

A bug

I am located in UTC+8 area. I found that when I upload photos using the Commons mobile app , if my photo is taken after 16:00 (UTC+8), the time of the photo will be incorrectly marked as the next day. For example, my picture at 17:00 on November 12, 2021 will be incorrectly marked as the picture taken on November 13. Neither my time zone (UTC+8) nor UTC time should be November 12, so this time is obviously wrong. I had to change every page to correct the time.

I want to ask how I can avoid this? If possible, I hope someone can reflect this vulnerability to developers. Thanks.----Eguersi (talk) 04:23, 13 November 2021 (UTC)

Deletion

12:37, 1 March 2021 (UTC) Shisma used this app for Android to upload File:Pumpkin tart 3.jpg. They then nominated it for deletion using the "Nominate for Deletion" button in that same app, not following through on the {{Delete}} tag in this edit. I found the file in Category:Incomplete deletion requests - missing subpage and converted the tag to {{G7}}, resulting in the conversation at User talk:Shisma#File:Pumpkin tart 3.jpg. Please make sure that the app generates compliant DRs and offers {{G7}} as an alternative for own authorship within 7 days.   — Jeff G. ツ _{please ping or talk to me} 16:17, 4 March 2021 (UTC)

Also, looking at edit https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Pietra_miliare_romana.jpg&diff=573235850&oldid=500090921 , "month=luglio" is wrong, it must be "month=July" or "month=7" per {{Delete}}, or the file ends up in nonexistent Category:Deletion requests Luglio 2021, rather than Category:Deletion requests July 2021.   — Jeff G. ツ _{please ping or talk to me} 23:09, 4 July 2021 (UTC)

This is still happening, for example with these three edits 4.   — Jeff G. ツ _{please ping or talk to me} 09:19, 2 May 2022 (UTC)

Thank you for your feedback! Good news, we have fixed the non-compliant DRs issue, it should be part of the imminent 4.0 release :-) Hopefully a volunteer will jump in to add G7 soon. Have a great week! Syced (talk) 00:52, 23 May 2022 (UTC)

@Syced: Thanks! Please update this page and Commons:Mobile app when releasing.   — Jeff G. ツ _{please ping or talk to me} 10:49, 23 May 2022 (UTC)

Please add random button to android app

As there in website version, random button to android app version should be added. Please 🙏 151.135.236.86 17:49, 13 August 2022 (UTC)

This app is somehow annoying me ...

... because from experience it only uploads about 7 of 10 photos. Trying to reupload fails, trying to retrigger the failed upload fails. Basically these photos are lost for commons since in no longer try after two failiures. Full bandwith from home. I am not talking of standing somewhere in the forest with a bad connection. I wished you would improve stablitiy. Best --Marbot (talk) 19:06, 5 September 2021 (UTC)

That tends to happen indeed... I noticed two things that help: 1) Upload less pictures at a time, for instance 3 or 5. 2) Keep the app on top, without using other apps (I suspect the app gets killed for memory when using other apps). Syced (talk) 10:52, 26 May 2022 (UTC)

I am also getting a "Failed" with no explanation, on a strong wifi connection. Uploading a single image and keeping the app open. A more explanatory error message would help here. --Lord Belbury (talk) 10:23, 17 August 2022 (UTC)

ːIt used to work properly. But after the recent update the file is shown as uploaded but is not reflecting in the site. the uploads are not showing any error messages also. the feed back system is also not working ̴̴

"Model" (the device that was used for the image capture) isn't saved

I noticed that a couple images I uploaded that I took with my Samsung Galaxy S21, don't actually show up on Commons that they've been taken with that phone even though the data is in the exif. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rechterkant_Sancta_Maria.jpg ♦♦♦thibaultmol♦♦♦ (talk) 14:28, 29 July 2022 (UTC)

@Thibaultmol: I don't see that "the data is in the exif" in that file's case. Could you check it on your phone, and maybe overwrite with your phone's web browser?   — Jeff G. ツ _{please ping or talk to me} 13:22, 31 July 2022 (UTC)

That's what I mean, the actual file does have that exif data. it's like it's getting removed when uploaded trough the app.

Actual file: https://send.bitwarden.com/#X7f5l8mp3keDoa7jAOkMmQ/JFt1UTmk7h-aJPl1E57UzQ thibaultmol (talk) 14:08, 31 July 2022 (UTC)

@Thibaultmol: I see now, thanks. This looks like the app messing up during upload.   — Jeff G. ツ _{please ping or talk to me} 23:54, 1 August 2022 (UTC)

It might be stripping out exif info to limit the file size and speed up the upload process. For many even small reductions in data has big savings. Gnangarra 05:18, 5 August 2022 (UTC)

@Thibaultmol Could you try using the new version, currently in beta?   — Jeff G. ツ _{please ping or talk to me} 11:12, 5 August 2022 (UTC)

Tried the current beta 4.0.3-23c474b06 but still no 'model' metadata on the page https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nieuw_postkantoor_Bpost_2022.jpg thibaultmol (talk) 12:49, 5 August 2022 (UTC)

I believe this is discussed in [4]. It looks like Android considers some file metadata to be private information and redact them by default. I think the app can ask the user to give permission to view it, but that's not implemented yet. (So the GitHub issue remains open.) whym (talk) 13:43, 5 August 2022 (UTC)

@Thibaultmol The app has a feature to hide/unhide selected EXIF data fields in uploaded files. Have you tried changing the selection? It's under Settings > Privacy. (Obviously, please make sure to enable fields that you are happy to publish.) whym (talk) 13:16, 17 August 2022 (UTC)

THERE WE GO! Yep, didn't notice that setting. All good now probably thibaultmol (talk) 13:30, 17 August 2022 (UTC)

When I reported the bug in 2020, it persisted even if I explicitly permitted the Exif fields to be included, but I don't know the current state of this. Gestumblindi (talk) 18:40, 18 August 2022 (UTC)

It looks as though the bug remains for some devices/Android versions, but not for others. (In your GitHub report the version was Android 9, although it might not be the one you are using any more.) Apparently Pixel 3/Android 12 looks like among the latter judging by what I tried 2 days ago. whym (talk) 03:24, 19 August 2022 (UTC)

WLM in the app

Hello. A WLM participant asks me if it is possible, in the Commons app, to differentiate in the icons of the elements participating in the contest, those that already have a photo and those that don't. Also, how can the monument identifier be added? Thanks. Rodelar (talk) 15:30, 1 September 2022 (UTC)

Thanks for letting us know! The 2021/2022 issue was filed at https://github.com/commons-app/apps-android-commons/issues/5043 please feel free to subscribe to it to get any updates. Good idea about WLM picture existing status, I created https://github.com/commons-app/apps-android-commons/issues/5047 please check whether it correctly describes your wish. To add identifiers for another country, please create a GitHub pull request, or a new GitHub issue describing the specifics. We cannot make any promise unfortunately. Thanks a lot for your interest in the app! Syced (talk) 01:43, 7 September 2022 (UTC)

Login Failed

I just downloaded this app and I'm trying to logging my account, it is refusing to login it just says Login Failed but I'm 100% sure my username and password are correct I have tried a lot of times but it is still refusing I don't know what could be the problem, thanks. Rebel Agent (talk) 16:02, 2 October 2022 (UTC)

I tried logging with my test account and I got Login Success I found out that my main account (this one) can't logging because I enabled 2FA security but I'm not sure though can someone who enabled 2FA logging or I can't use the app as long as it is enabled ? Rebel Agent (talk) 16:30, 2 October 2022 (UTC)

Which version of the app did you use? The app should ask for your 2FA code when your account is set up that way. Did you enter it and fail, or was there no field to enter the code at all? whym (talk) 12:47, 14 December 2022 (UTC)

Image upload stuck at "queued"

I shared two images using the app yesterday; both failed and I retried them. The first (File:Image 70 coffee set - 2022-12-13 - Andy Mabbett - 01.jpg) ten uploaded successfully, but the second (filename ending "02") is showing in the app as "queued". There appears to be no feature in the app allowing me to force the upload to start. I have forced the app to close, and restarted it, to no avail. What should I do? Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 12:05, 14 December 2022 (UTC)

This may not be an optimal answer, but what I did when I encountered the problem was ignoring it and re-uploading the failed file. When re-uploading, using a stable and high speed connection seemed to help. I think in the worst case you might upload a duplicate but you can flag it for speedy deletion later. whym (talk) 12:42, 14 December 2022 (UTC)

Now on GitHub: Issue 5136. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 14:25, 31 December 2022 (UTC)

iOS App

Why isn‘t there an iOS app or even at least some good GUIs to get more non techies into uploading on Commons. The source code shit is very repulsive for many people who make good photos and might share them. —A11w1ss3nd (talk) 09:41, 11 February 2023 (UTC)

Did you try Special:UploadWizard? It works on any device (both mobile and desktop), and you don’t need to deal with wikitext (unless you want to include wikitext in the description). (And for why there isn’t an iOS app: because nobody created one. The Android app is also volunteer-maintained, probably no volunteer developer has the time, experience and equipment – a Mac to develop and an iPhone or iPad to test on – to create an iOS one.) —Tacsipacsi (talk) 17:50, 12 February 2023 (UTC)