Indicate obscuration with stemless map markers on iPhone app

I recently heard complaints from colleagues about the display of iNaturalist observations within the Apple version of the app. The issue was that obscured observations, unverified, and research grade observations all show up with the same marker. However, when I borrowed a coworker’s phone to test the display on an iPhone, I noticed additional differences. Here is a comparison of the displays on an iPhone, Android phone, and the desktop version of the website:

I included a yellow circle where one observation is missing from the iPhone (even through this one is zoomed in the farthest). If you look closely, you can find a few more missing observations towards the bottom of the screen. There is also at least one place where the markers display in different orders (the plant is on top in the android and website, while a bird displays for the iPhone) but this is just an issue of ordering, not a true bug.

It is not a concern for me personally as an Android user (and I mostly use the website), but I’m hoping to get an answer for my colleagues. I suppose I’m willing to accept that some observations won’t display on iPhones, but my main concern is that iPhone users can’t see the difference between obscured, needs ID, and research grade observations. Is this a fixable problem, or just a quirk of developing an Apple app?

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Just to add some info to this bug report, looks like this is the observation missing in that yellow circle on the iOS screenshot: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/2318162

Wow, good job finding it with the limited information I gave! I should have provided it initially, but yes, that is the missing observation. It has a fairly large uncertainty circle, which is maybe (or maybe not) a clue to the problem.

Still, my main issue is around the distinction in observation types not displaying in iOS.

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Looks like this has been an open issue for some time now:
https://github.com/inaturalist/INaturalistIOS/issues/125

This is not a bug, rather it is the expected behavior for the iOS app (which I agree needs improvement). I would say this topic fits better as a Feature Request, but it’s already on our radar so I don’t think it’s necessary to make one.

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