Mobile App Crashes, and more.

[Tim Fischer]

I'm using the iOS mobile app much more significantly this season for testing. It's very handy but also very tedious for the following reasons:
 

1. The app crashes frequently. If I'm on a test screen, and my phone locks (either times out or I hit the lock button, which is what I do when I put it in my pocket to work on something) when I wake the phone up, the app will instantly crash. Thankfully it re-logs in once launched again.
2. When I'm testing a prop and hit the back button, I would expect it to go back to the prop list for the preview I had aleady selected. Instead, it takes me back to the home screen as if I just re-logged in. Then I have to select my preview. And then I have to scroll through a huge list of props to get where I want again. The back button really should take me back to the prop list, and be scrolled to the prop I just left.
3. It's great that groups are now testable in the mobile app. But they're all mixed in with non-grouped items, so it makes for a huge list. Would love to see some more organization here (e.g. expanding subsections).
4. When you turn on a prop and switch to another prop, that previous prop goes back off. That prevents me from doing some things I need during testing... For example I may want to turn on two specific props that aren't grouped. Would be nice to have an option to leave props on when switching to a different prop.

Again, I love being able to walk through the display and do my testing from my phone. In the past I generally had my wife on cell phone and triggered test sequences from inside while she reported the status. But these four issues (especially the crash and back button) make it more tedious than necessary.

 

[k6ccc]

1.  That one is not an issue on my Android phone.  I don't normally use the LOR app on my @#$%^& work forced on me iPhone 13, buy I do have the app loaded.  I started the app, went into testing and then locked the phone.  After unlocking the phone, it came back right where it was before.  App version 1.101 with iOS version 18.1.1

2. There is a learning moment here.  I grumbled about the same thing until I learned.  Instead of pressing the back button, press the big blue bar at the top for "Previews" or "Props" to get back to that selection.

3, yep, it makes a long list.

4. I can plusses and minuses to this one.

 

[Tim Fischer]

Thanks for #2! That is helpful.

#1 happens every single time I lock my phone, at least from the tests section. Steps:

1) Testing-> <your preview>-> Select a Prop
2) Lock your phone, or let it go to sleep/lock on its own
3) Unlock phone
4) App appears momentarily, then crashes

I noticed the current version of the app in the app store is 2 years old, so I'm not holding my breath too hard on improvements to #3 or #4, but at least fixing the crash would be nice.

[k6ccc]

Tried several more times.  It does not crash, but it did go back to the lit of previews.

Android come up right back it was.

 

[Tim Fischer]

Sounds like a bug with the iOS version then. I'm happy to submit a video of it crashing lol. 

[Tim Fischer]

Does anyone from LOR monitor these forums? I was curious if the crash was a known issue.

[Jeremiah Ackermann]

I use the iOS (18.1) version of the mobile app and I don't see a crash. However I do see the behavior of going back to the preview list. What do you mean by crash, like the app exits completely and you need to start it back up again or the UI doesn't stay on the same page you were on before?

My guess is the app's UI is dynamically loaded based on what Control Panel gives it for data. The app is refreshing that data when it transitions from the locked to unlocked app state but doesn't try to keep the UI in sync with the data refresh. Instead it does a reset back to the main preview screen and requires navigating back to the prop you were on.

[Tim Fischer]

7 hours ago, Jeremiah Ackermann said:

IMy guess is the app's UI is dynamically loaded based on what Control Panel gives it for data. The app is refreshing that data when it transitions from the locked to unlocked app state but doesn't try to keep the UI in sync with the data refresh. Instead it does a reset back to the main preview screen and requires navigating back to the prop you were on.

The app actually crashes, not just goes back to the main app screen. I have to re-launch it from the iOS home screen.