New INat iOS app doesn't zoom

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Please fill out the following sections to the best of your ability, it will help us investigate bugs if we have this information at the outset. Screenshots are especially helpful, so please provide those if you can.

Platform iOS, Website):

iOS

App version number, if a mobile app issue

0.59.13

Screenshots of what you are seeing (instructions for taking a screenshot on computers and mobile devices: https://www.take-a-screenshot.org/):

Description of problem :

The new iNat app no longer uses the standard camera UI. It now has its own camera UI which is

a) confusing. Generally it’s better to stick with UI that users are already familiar with rather than making them learn something new. This is true even if the new UI is better than the one it replaces.
b) doesn’t fully support the camera in the iPhone 15 Pro. There is no 5x zoom button, only 3x. Update: and I just looked again and now it’s only 1x, not even 3x

The old app that doesn’t use a custom camera widget does pick up and recognize that this phone can do 5x zoom.

This is what the new app looks like when I take a picture:

7F06457D-3505-4A08-BB65-F112B626AE19_1_101_o
7F06457D-3505-4A08-BB65-F112B626AE19_1_101_o1290Ă—2796 455 KB

This is the old app:

9EAADC0A-9D6F-42A2-B34D-918BE7D4D316_1_101_o
9EAADC0A-9D6F-42A2-B34D-918BE7D4D316_1_101_o1290Ă—2796 485 KB

And this is the default camera app (which offers a macro option neither old nor new apps include):

The closer the iNat app can be to the camera app, the more familiar it will be to users.

D30F7CC0-02D1-4182-9627-F7D85C2AB3D1_1_101_o
D30F7CC0-02D1-4182-9627-F7D85C2AB3D1_1_101_o1290Ă—2796 370 KB

Also note that the old app used the word “Cancel” which the new app seems to have replaced with an X. The word is clearer.

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Can you please be more specific about why it’s confusing? The different layout? Also, are you using the AI camera or the standard camera in the app?

I have an iPhone 15 Pro, and I don’t see a 5x option in the default camera app for the device? I also don’t see it when I use iNat Classic.

image
image1179Ă—2414 56.7 KB

I tried looking in camera settings but didn’t see any 5x option. That being said, I mostly use my phone’s camera for macro shots, so I could definitely be missing something.

3

I know nothing about AI camera or the standard camera. Is that why there are two icons? There really should be exactly one camera, but if there must be two, please use text to label them.

4

Moved this to the discussion topic because it’s not really a bug, it’s a design choice.

Yes, there are two cameras. There should be a large explainer that describes all the different icons.

image
image1179Ă—1850 188 KB

Ah, apparently you have the iPhone 15 Pro Max. The regular iPhone 15 Pro’s camera only goes to 3x. We’re not able to make the app’s camera conform to every possible set of cameras. (Sorry, I was wrong here. It’s probably possible for iOS devices)

If you want to use all of your phone’s camera functioality, I recommend using its camera app or a third party camera app. That being said, I’m able to get my phone to swithc to macro mode pretty easily by tapping to focus on something close.

You can bulk import photos into the new iNat app pretty easily, so I often just use my phone’s camera app and import the photos when I’m home.

3 Likes