Record Sounds in the Android App

[jdmore]

@kueda

unless people are ok with sounds not being accessible from outside the iNat app.

On the web site, would an observer be able to navigate to a sound file associated with their observation and download it, or point to it as a URL, as can be done with image files now? If so, maybe that would be enough external access for most users?

[kueda]

@jdmore

On the web site, would an observer be able to navigate to a sound file associated with their observation and download it, or point to it as a URL, as can be done with image files now?

Yes, but IMO, given the fact that I haven’t found a single Android app that does everything I want (record audio for other apps, crop & amplify existing sounds, not require phone permissions, not be plastered with ads), I suspect most people who are into recording sounds will want to be able to access these files from other apps on their phones.

[bouteloua]

[do you want to field bug reports here or in separate topics or?] Pixel 3 / Android 9. When I record a sound with the iNat app, and try to import the same sound in a new observation (idk, just testing it out), I get an error that says “Error importing sound(s): Can only import photo files with WAV/MP3/AMR extensions”. Same with a WAV file made using the recorder app I happened to have on my phone–Smart Recorder. I haven’t experienced issues with files made using that app and uploaded to iNat via the browser. I am able to successfully add a RecForge-made file to an observation.

@kueda

Import existing sounds as observations : for me this opens up the built-in Google file chooser, which just defaults to recent files. I need to “Open from” audio and/or from RecForge to actually get at the sound files.

@kueda

In order to write sound files recorded in the iNat app to a place you can access them from other apps, we have to register them as audio files with the operating system…

Nothing showing up in Recent for me either, having recorded a few files in iNat, Smart Recorder, and RecForge. I don’t know if this Smart Recorder app is abnormal among recorder apps in, by default, neither saving files to the Audio folder nor appearing as an option on that file chooser screen (like RecForge does), but have to hunt around for the device folders.

@kueda

The new observation slide-up menu is now a lot bigger. Is that annoying? For me it’s certainly still a one-handed operation, but I find myself having to think about what option to choose.

Yeah, any more than 3 or 4 options takes significantly longer to understand in a quick glance. Is it at all possible to do one combined “Choose photo or sound” option? Only tangentially related, but are there any data on which selection is more common, “Take photo” or “Choose image”? I would think the most commonly used item would be at the bottom, closest to the (+) button, and the 2nd most commonly used right above it.

[upupa-epops]

@kueda

Sounds generally don’t come with metadata that are useful for observations, like when the sound was recorded (vs. when the file was created)

What is the difference between when the sound was recorded and when the file was created?

[clay_s]

@upupa-epops

@kueda

Sounds generally don’t come with metadata that are useful for observations, like when the sound was recorded (vs. when the file was created)

What is the difference between when the sound was recorded and when the file was created?

Unknown. I can pause my recorder, and then hours later hit stop. File creation time would be the stop time, not the start time. It does depend on the app though.

[kueda]

@bouteloua

do you want to field bug reports here or in separate topics

Here is fine until we launch this.

@bouteloua

When I record a sound with the iNat app, and try to import the same sound in a new observation (idk, just testing it out), I get an error that says “Error importing sound(s): Can only import photo files with WAV/MP3/AMR extensions”

I suspect this should be fixed in the latest beta (1.13.2, build 368, released today).

@bouteloua

Is it at all possible to do one combined “Choose photo or sound” option?

We wanted to do this but couldn’t make it work.

@bouteloua

are there any data on which selection is more common, “Take photo” or “Choose image”?

Not that I know of.

@bouteloua

I would think the most commonly used item would be at the bottom, closest to the (+) button, and the 2nd most commonly used right above it.

Talking to @abhasm about ordering and possibly just redesigning this subview. Personally I find it infuriating when I have to bend my thumb to the bottom of the screen (like we do for the green + button, oi), but I can definitely see how having the most common option in the same location as the green + might be best.

@upupa-epops

What is the difference between when the sound was recorded and when the file was created?

You might record a sound on Monday, the crop it on Thursday and make a new file from the crop. The sound was recorded on Monday, but the file was created on Thursday. Photos commonly have metadata that distinguish this (DateTimeOriginal vs DateTimeDigitized).

[kueda]

@bouteloua

are there any data on which selection is more common, “Take photo” or “Choose image”?

Correction from @alex: we used to record this in the iPhone app, and the data indicated that while more observations were added via choosing existing photos, more people took new photos. So take that for what it’s worth.

[bouteloua]

alrighty then. thanks!

[bouteloua]

@kueda

I suspect this should be fixed in the latest beta (1.13.2, build 368, released today).

Yep, working OK for me now!

[kueda]

FWIW, we ended up redoing the new obs slide-up menu, which took a bit longer, but we just started rolling this out to production, so those of you who aren’t in the beta program, keep an eye out for updates.