[fixed] Waypoints with Photos on Motorola Android 6

[Jess]

Hello,
If I create a new Waypoint, I can't add a Photo on it. I have an error message that tells that the external application is not yet compatible with this application. I tried with the intern camera and Retrica but still the same message.

Best regards

[Psyberia-Support]

Hi and thanks for reporting this issue,
Unfortunately some Motorola devices are not compatible with this feature, as previously reported here.
I still try to find a solution but right now I haven't been able to...
Note that you should still be able to attach an existing picture using the "Galery" button on the side of the "Camera" button...
Sorry about that
Best regards

[Jess]

Hello,
Thanks for your answer.
I tried to switch to the gallery mode by swiping on the left in the camera mode but it doesn't seem to be possible in this case.
This application is amazing though.

[Yemble]

Hello,
Thanks for your answer.
I tried to switch to the gallery mode by swiping on the left in the camera mode but it doesn't seem to be possible in this case.
This application is amazing though.

Just tried creating a picture waypoint using the camera on my Moto X Force running Android v6.01 and it works perfectly. I'm using the OpenCamera & Photos APPs . However, if you edit a WP and attempt to assign an existing photo to it directly via the JPG button, then you get the error. If, instead, you select the photo via the "Open from" slider (LHS) via Photos or Gallery, then it works fine.

I find it difficult to believe that this little bug is specific to Motorola phones. More likely Android 6.*

[T2D]

I just followed Yemble's instructions using my phone (Moto X Play, Android 6.0.1) and can confirm I see the same behavior.

I can create a Picture Waypoint.
I cannot add an existing photo to an existing waypoint using AlpineQuest's native image viewer. The viewer shows "Recent" photos but if I select one, the following error message is displayed:

"Sorry, the external application used is not yet compatible with this application yet. Please contact us on our support forum so we can fix this issue."

If I sweep from the left to expose the side-menu, AlpineQuest's image viewer offers the following choices:

Recent
Google Drive
Images
Downloads
Internal Storage
SD Card
---------------
Gallery
Photos
FX File Chooser


The only options that work properly are:
"Gallery" (a stock Motorola app)
"Photos" (a stock Google app)
"FX File Chooser" (a purchased file-manager app)

I tested all options listed above "Gallery" (except for Google Drive) and they do not allow me to choose a photo (they produce the error message shown above).


While testing this AQ feature, I learned I can attach more than one image to a waypoint. I edited an existing waypoint and added three images. However, when displaying the waypoint, only the 2nd and 3rd images appeared as thumbnails (the first was absent). In addition, I cannot delete the first image (by tapping the "paper shredder" icon next to it). I can delete the second and third attached images but not the first one. Is this a software bug or is it a design choice to disallow changing a picture waypoint to an ordinary (non-picture) waypoint?

[Psyberia-Support]

Thanks for your feedback.
I do have an X Play (with Android 5) for my testings and I reproduce the same behaviors. I can take a new picture, but cannot directly assign a picture from the "Recent" images list (which is not native to AQ but a Moto "image chooser" app).
However I can successfully assign a picture using the "Gallery" app (LHS), and also with "ES File Explorer" which is installed and shown here...

T2D, for your issue with the first picture, I guess it's because the picture doesn't exists anymore (or at least the app cannot access it). Double check the image path. It explains why you cannot remove the picture and why the preview is not displayed.

[T2D]

Either I have misunderstood the purpose of the "shredder" icon or it isn't working correctly.

1. I attached 3 existing images to an existing waypoint.
2. I tapped the "shredder" icon next to each image to delete it from the waypoint.
3. All three images have been deleted from my phone.

Is this the way it's supposed to work? The "shredder" icon doesn't just remove the photo from the waypoint, it also deletes the photo.

Actually, the "shredded" photos have not been truly deleted but "zeroed out". When I use FX File Explorer, the 3 files still appear in the folder but each one's size is 0 bytes.

In Motorola's Gallery and in Google's Photos, the 3 files are still displayed. However, I believe that's because these apps maintain their own index, meta-data, and preview thumbnails. For example, using either Gallery or Photos, I can display a "shredded" photo and examine its details (resolution, geotag, etc). However, the app is unable to share the file. If I try to send the photo via email, it results in a zero-byte file attachment. If I try to upload the photo to Google Drive, it fails. Gallery and Photos can only show me the meta-data they have but are unable to do anything with the original file because it no longer has any content.

• If the "shredder" icon is supposed to delete the original file, it isn't doing it correctly.
• If the "shredder" icon is supposed to simply remove the photo from the waypoint, it's doing much more that!

PS
The three photos, that are now "zeroed out", didn't have backups so they are permanently lost. However, they weren't very important and are replaceable.

Here's what the "shredded" files look like in FX File Explorer. Unlike the Gallery and Photos apps, this file-manager doesn't store meta-data and gets its information from the filesystem. The photos were stored in "internal storage" (/storage/emulated/0/DCIM/Camera) and not the "SD card".

[Psyberia-Support]

Hi again,

Yes the shred icon is actually made to delete the image from the device... To remove the image link from waypoint, you need to clear the text field.
In a way it's true that it's not so clear and can be dangerous... As far as I remember there is a confirmation message, but it's a generic one maybe I could make it more clear...
It has been done this way to easily delete pictures that you've just taken from the app using the Camera app (that was the only option in the earlier versions) and not for the picture taken from the Gallery...

I'm sorry if you lost some data, I'll try to improve this...

Note that the application simply delete the picture file from the device. If some apps maintain an index (like caching size, dimensions, thumbnail) it may be an issue until that app updates its database and realizes the file has been deleted...

[T2D]

You're absolutely right!

I was wrong about FX File Explorer. It's "Images" view works the same way as Gallery and Photos. All three apps maintain a private index of photo files. When AQ deletes a photo, their index isn't updated and so they continue to believe the photo is available but is now 0 bytes in size.

I can't find a way to force a refresh of the index. However, (and this is curious) if I delete the zero-byte file in Gallery, it's also automatically removed from Google Photos and FX's Image view. I don't understand why Gallery's deletion action is communicated to the other two apps but not when AQ deletes a photo. My uneducated guess is perhaps Gallery transmits a "deletion intent" that is received by Photos and EX so they can update their indexes accordingly.

You are correct that AlpineQuest asks for confirmation before deleting the photo. It's my fault for thinking there was some kind of nuance to the word "delete". It means what is says; the photo will be deleted from storage. I thought it was to "detach" the photo from the waypoint. My mistake.

Food for thought: here's how a competitor's product handles the same situation.
The action to eliminate a photo from a picture waypoint is called "Remove". When you choose to remove a photo from a waypoint, it asks for confirmation and includes an option to delete the photo from memory. In other words, the default action is to remove (detach) the photo from the waypoint. A separate option lets the user also delete the photo from storage.

[Yemble]

I agree that this would be a safer way to handle this scenario.