Recorded sound observations crash Android app when attempting to save

Bug Reports
1

platform: Android
app ver.: 1.19.8(430)

App crashes while attempting to either save or upload an observation with recorded sound.

Process to duplicate:

1 ) I open the app, then hit the plus sign to add an observation
2 ) then record sound
3) After I record the sound, I allow the app to find my location and store the lat/lon coordinates.
4) Then I attempt to save the observaton. On this step, the app often crashes repeatedly and does not seem to want to save the sound file observation.

In other words, after submitting the crash report, I reopen the app immediately to try again, and if it doesn’t like the sound file, the app will crash every time. It was a short sound file, not very long, maybe 10-20 seconds.

I don’t have the app set to sync automatically, because I like to wait for WiFi. But when I did finally try to upload the observations, the app would also crash. I gave up and deleted the observations from my phone, but not before the app added the observations as empty, and no sound file.

In other words, when I looked on a web browser, the sound files were gone, leaving only an empty observation.

I did submit a crash report twice, the logs and a note from within the Android OS immediately after the crashes.

Thanks!

2

To add to that: the sound recording is erased when the screen orientation switches from landscape to portrait, and the app crashes if you click the “back” key on your phone instead of the in-app icon.

3

Hmm, I’m not able to replicate this after multiple attempts on a Pixel 3a. Can you please try one more time and, after it crashes, reopen the app and send us some log files from it? To send log files, go to the Settings tab in the app and tap three times on the version number. You will then have the option to email the log files to us.

4

I switched to another recording app and it doesn’t do it anymore, it was from a Galaxy S8 but I can’t find the app I used when it did that.

5

Thanks. Perhaps it’s the device’s default sound recording app? Which app are you using now?

6

It could be the default app, but I think I moved away from that one at some point. The one I’m using now is Rec Forge II Pro as I can select an external microphone and (I am meant to be able to) edit the calls before submitting the recordings.
I actually solved the question I asked on Zoom yesterday that way, using an app that defaults on the external mic so that I get to use it when it’s plugged in. The best would be able to select the input, but as it works like that, it’s good enough :-) Thank you so much for all work and making iNat such a great platform!

7

I have the Samsung Galaxy S7 with the default recording app. I will try to replicate but it doesn’t happen every single time. I read what you said about sending the log files by tapping three times on the version, got it.

8

I have the Pixel 2a XL, and I’m having a lot of problems with sound files as well.

Suddenly today I had the sound program fail in 6 out of 8 times that I attempted to make a record. Sometimes when I pressed “done” after recording the sound, the program would just stall indefinitely until I paused and then unpaused iNaturalist. My record would be there with no date, location or sound file. Other times, I would record and hit “done” and the program stalled for a while and then just acted like I hadn’t recorded a file yet. This never happened before tonight, now it’s happening over and over. Any advice?

9

Can you replicate again, then send a log file immediately so we can investigate further? To send log files, go into About, and triple tap Version, then follow the instructions.