Link to iNat’s help page on iOS app

From the current iOS app, there is no link to the iNaturalist help pages:
https://www.inaturalist.org/pages/help

The only guidance currently provided is the short video on adding observations.

Hi @teellbee

This is a good suggestion but unfortunately the FAQ in its current state isn’t really appropriate for advising iNaturalist iOS users. There’s a lot of content in there that just isn’t relevant to the iOS app experience, and I’d hate to imply to new users that certain things are possible in the app when they actually aren’t. It’s also not translated and iNat wiki pages aren’t easily translatable, which is something we’re thinking about.

Tony and I talked yesterday, and we’ll explore pulling out a few important, mobile-relevant FAQs (what is an observation and organism / taxa / tree of life FAQs would be great to help new users, for sure), and figure out how to show that in the mobile apps. Not sure if it’ll be done in time for release 3.2 or later, but we’ll get to it!

Thanks again for the suggestion.

Best wishes,
alex

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Many thanks!

I have noticed that the iNat community expects all users to use the website functionalities so they can conform to the FAQ quidelines.

I’ve see quite a few posts in the Forum saying the app is just for quick field uploads and does not replace using the website app.

For iOS app users, I ~still~ believe a link is needed to iNaturalist.org (and /help) so they are not left feeling blindsided if IDers ask them to perform actions not available in that app (e.g., ‘Withdraw an ID’ or ‘Split an Observation’ with more than 1 organism).

Something simple, perhaps:
To learn about more useful features and ways to use them, visit the iNaturalist FAQ pages

And I’m all for that! Such is really needed and will be helpful :heart_eyes:

Just saying, my actual request is far more simple: for a link to iNaturalist.org within the iOS app.

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That’s something that’s been discussed, but the iNat website is very mobile-unfriendly in its current state - do we want to guide people to what would almost certainly be a frustrating experience?

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Really?
Lol, I always access the website via my iPhone or iPad. I have an old computer, but rarely use it, except for writing longer documents. (Well, lately I use it for Zoom/Webex on a bigger monitor).

So, while the iOS version of the platform may have its awkward aspects, it seems pretty usable to me.

@everybody Does you all really use computers all the time? :wink:

Am I wrong in sensing the iNat community expects all users to use the website functionalities and conform to the FAQs, regardless of their platform?

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I think people are pretty familiar with the fact that not every website is optimal for use on small devices. The FAQ is zoomable for legibility and there are alternative translation options built into browsers or via copy-paste as well (not ideal, but functional).

If there is any content in the FAQ that isn’t relevant to iOS, that should be made clear. As someone who teaches iNat workshops and helps troubleshoot issues with people using the website and apps quite a bit, I didn’t have an iPhone until recently and had no idea that iOS users can’t withdraw an ID from the app.

Might think about linking to the forum as well.

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I access the website on my phone fairly often - its fine, just needs zooming in. There is a link through to the website, it’s hiding in the taxon page (‘more info on inaturalist.org’).

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Is that on an Android phone? I don’t see any kind of taxon page on the iOS version. I checked, but I will look again.

On iOS (and Android), when you tap on any of the species/taxa names, e.g. on an observation, at the bottom of the next page it says to view more on the iNat website:

The link goes to the taxon page: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/64237-Phragmites-australis

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We

:) Argghh! All this time that I looked and looked, and still I missed that!

So, Obscure, then. But, ~at least~ possible. :clap:t3:

And, yet, I think it would not be hard to make it easier. :wink:

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@tiwane Yet, fwiw, I only have mobile devices. (My old computer won’t even upload to iNat - it just hangs up after choosing one photo.)

Not surprising, my poi is to fix the unfriendliness, ~if~ that is really the big problem. Lacking that, a nice little advisory on the iOS app and a website link seem reasonable.

I find being unable to use important functions missing from the iOS makes the app seem no more friendly.

I would enhance this feature request by suggesting a header/footer be added to the iOS app pages that includes the link to INaturalist.org.

I am aware of at least 2 significant updates to the iOS app since my original request where a better Photo picker was added and another were audio recording was added.

Long while back, I used to code and create websites as part of my job. I recall there could be a case for not wanting to recompile for a just for a minor fix. So, such minor fixes were included as part of a subsequent update.

Could not iNat include this in the next release along with another feature installation? Is that not how things are done now days?


Quick! To the help page!

(sorry)

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There won’t be more work done in the current apps so I’m closing this. There will potentially be a link in the new app.