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Survey123 Android App - Intermittent Crashing opening one survey

CoreyLunty1

Hello

I have a group of users who are experiencing intermittent crashing (the Android 'Survey123 has stopped working' dialog) when opening a survey.

Here are details on the crash:

-They are using Samsung Android tablets (exact model varies, I can get more details)

-Issue has occurred both in office (on WiFi) and in the field (on LTE connection)

-The error only occurs for one survey

-The error has been reproduced on multiple android tablet devices, suggesting it is not a single device specific problem

-The survey is launched by users clicking an arcgis-survey123:// URL, specifying both the itemID and a value for a single field.

-I was once able to reproduce the problem by starting the survey directly from within the Survey123 app and not via URL

-They typically click this link from within Collector, but I have tested clicking the link from the AGOL webmap in the Google Chrome android app and it also will occasionally result in a crash. I believe this rules out the transition from Collector app to Survey123 app as the culprit

-In my testing I have reproduced the crash on maybe 3% of survey launches. Field staff reports suggest they are seeing higher failure rates however

Here are resolutions we have attempted:

-Deletion and redownloading of the problematic survey via Survey123 app

-In Survey123, going into Settings > Storage > Fix Database

-Uninstall and reinstall of Survey123 app via Google Play store

The problem may not happen again for a while but it always reoccurs eventually.

Here are some things I would rather not do:

-factory reset tablets

-have to republish the survey

Note the large log file involved me repeatedly attempting to reproduce the problem. I have included the whole log because of the information at the beginning on android version, app version etc. The other two logs I have clipped to only include logging from the attempts which actually generated an error.

update: removed first and last names of inspectors from xlsx and re-attached esriinfo.zip

Survey123forArcGIS-20190621-080238[1].zip

Survey123forArcGIS-20190430-104824.log.zip

esriinfo.zip

Survey123forArcGIS-20190430-115800.log.zip

Survey123forArcGIS-20190430-102117.log.zip

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Anonymous User

Hi Aaron,

Are you using the 3.5 64-bit version?

Can you give the exact details of the device this happens on (make/model/OS version etc)?

Regards,

Phil.

dougbrowning

Look at what else is open when it happens. Also look at tablet free space. Tablets co mingle the memory. When the crashes happen in a row have you tried a close all on the apps open? Have you tried close all then rebooted?

AaronKoelker

After further testing with 3.5, I'm actually still getting pretty frequent crashes. Sometimes the app will run fine for 15-20 minute stretches with no issue -- other times I'll get three or four successive crashes in a row immediately upon launching that app. I haven't yet been able to pick out any rhyme or reason to the behavior yet.

Aaron

Anonymous User

Hi Aaron,

Great to hear using the 64 bit version of the Android app has resolved your crashing issues. A lot of work went into 3.5 to resolve some crashing and memory issues on all platform and we are seeing much better stability.

Are you experiencing any other outstanding issues with 3.5 and crashes or unexpected behaviour?

Phil.

CoreyLunty1

Hello James and Phil

We continued testing with the beta of 3.4. Some users continued to have issues with the app running out of memory and crashing. I will be revising the attachments on my original post to include a log file from June which was gathered using 3.4.

I notice that 3.5 was released on Google Play last week. Does it contain additional fixes that may help with this 'out of memory' issue?

AaronKoelker

Adding my experience to this discussion since it is close, though I see it on all my surveys instead of just one.

Using a Samsung Galaxy S9+ and Survey123 for Android has become unusable for me since the 3.3 update. Upon opening any survey, the app crashes somewhere between immediately and maybe 30 seconds or so. I can open a survey and not make any inputs on the screen, and the app will still close out at random. Disabled the app's permissions for location services and still see that same behavior, so not sure what's running in the background and tripping the crash. I get this behavior on all surveys, ranging from complex surveys with pulldata and external CSVs, to a simple test survey with a single yes/no question. Have reinstalled the app multiple times, and cleared installation folder manually through the file explorer. I also attempted to test the 3.4 EAC beta, but see the same behavior. If anything, the crash occurs quicker.

Haven't been able to get a hold of another android device in my office to test, but my coworkers iPhone devices are able to run the same surveys without issue. Works ok in the browser, too. So it seems to be android or device specific.

Wondering if anyone else is seeing issues on Galaxy devices after 3.3? Part of my position is to help support all our GIS users with their mobile solutions, including Survey123, so not being able to test or use any of our surveys has me in a bit of a pickle.

EDIT: Looks like the addition of a 64-bit version in 3.5 has solved my issue regarding the Samsung Galaxy S9+, which is a 64-bit device. The app is much more stable and usable!

dougbrowning

No, no GPS. The latest one is not a crash really it just loses the calcs - which breaks my form. iOS it was crashing.

ClayDonaldsonSWCA

Are you using external receivers? We have found this issue occurs more regularly with bluetooth GNSS.

ClayDonaldsonSWCA

Generally the 3 apps we have open at any given time are:

Collector
Survey123
Geode Connect

Currently no management software. I will run some tests on free-space today.

dougbrowning

We are seeing it on the Active 2 also.

Do you have lots of apps open at the time? How much free space on the tablet? Do you have any management software like MaaS360 or anything else that encrypts the device?

We are testing all of this.

ClayDonaldsonSWCA

I can report the same issue occurring on Samsung galaxy S3 and Active 2 tablets.

Unfortunately this has lead me to abandon survey123 methodology for multiple large scale projects. Hoping that a hotfix can be rolled out, but I understand the larger release is a more ideal for such fixes.

I would appreciate any workarounds in the meantime, if ESRI staff knows of any!

dougbrowning

Just had a big field training day. Several users ran into memory errors I think. In this case we have a large repeat that we set to a repeat_count of 50. Randomly it would blank one of my main calc fields - which breaks my entire form. The user is then stuck as they cannot go forward or backward. It is usually between repeat 11 and 15. Same tablet may be fine for a few runs then dies. We also see some relevant fields never show up when this happens. These are Samsungs but my iOS dies sometimes also.

It did seem to be when the user had other apps open, but not always. It also seemed to happen only on tablets that had the Mass360 management software on them - but this is not confirmed. So the guess is memory issue. For now we are taking out the repeat_count in the hope that a user could delete the bad repeat and try again. Crew is very nervous about this as they may be out in the field for a week at a time. This is also an issue on 3.4.

We also are trying to teach users to get around the repeat wrong error issue I posted about earlier. Basically our last repeat has some questions that do not appear on repeat 49. If a user is on 50 it tells them they are missing a required - even though they are not. Go to 49 and then it submits. So far this bug is still in 3.4. Big bug. And of course the required issues bug. I now have 4 major bugs open in 3.4.

I am rather disappointed that 3.4 is now pushed back again to June! Letting the major bugs of 3.3 go this long, and past the standard field season kickoff, is really not cool. If anything roll back to 3.2 at this point (can we get it). You cannot leave core bugs out there that long. I am personally taking a LOT of heat for this.

Please in the future consider lining up new releases with field season. Also more testing please. We have a crew of hundreds siting and waiting on this! If there is a bug like this it could cause a crew to stay late - and maybe get hurt out there! Again please consider how some of these things affect us and how many people are on us about it. The 123 team has been awesome the last 3/4 years but this one was a big opps.

Thanks

JamesTedrick

Hi Corey,

We expect the next release of the Survey123 field app in late June.

CoreyLunty1

A single field user was provided the 3.4 beta and performed testing yesterday. They did not experience the app crashing due to running out of memory. More field testing will be performed today and over the next few days by multiple users and I will be sure to report my results.

Phil, I don't suppose you can share any timeline on the official release of 3.4 in the Google Play store? I'm guessing not, but we are left with a decision to make here regarding either using the beta version on a large number of devices (which some folks are nervous about) vs waiting for the official 3.4 release. Thank you for any info you can share.

dougbrowning

I wonder if this is the same issue I had. I found that iOS will only let me hide (using a relevant) a few big drop down lists (via pulldata) before it starts crashing.

https://community.esri.com/thread/232390-survey123-crashes-on-ios-devices

CoreyLunty1

I strongly believe we are currently using S123 v 3.3.64 on all Android devices, though I would need to confirm.

You are correct that I make somewhat extensive usage of pulldata and I had suspected it was this complexity that could be behind the crashing. We are using an automated nightly process to update those external csv files, and republish the survey via FME Server and Python; they are vital to the workflow.

I installed the 3.4 beta on my testing device and have found it more stable and better performing, and that it has reduced failure rate to maybe 1% from the 3% I was seeing before. However, the field staff were always seeing higher failure than I was, and I plan to get the beta apk installed on some of their tablets over the next couple days to see if it resolves, or at least reduces, instances of the application crashing.

To help with troubleshooting I installed a lightweight RAM monitor app that displays a screen overlay and if I repeatedly try to start the survey over and over again, the available RAM does start to creep downwards, and then when it gets to around 6% the app crashes, suggesting it is still running out of memory, but the new version seems to better manage memory when using pulldata. I will find out if the field staff are running other apps that may be RAM heavy - keeping Chrome open with many tabs open or something perhaps.

Anonymous User

Hi Corey,

What version of the Survey123 app are you using on Android, does the same version crash on all devices? Did previosu versions crash with same survey?

Out of curiosity have you tested the 3.4 beta version available on EAC here: https://earlyadopter.esri.com/project/version/default.html?cap=e69ef91f45744b98882c651f7b518eb7&arttypeid=974ee061d12c4296a02a481c0c8fb8ce

I see you are using quite a few pulldata() calculations and external csv files, as well as external choices. We have seen with other users that some out of memory issues caused by pulldata() calculations and external csv files have been resolved in 3.4 beta.

Phil.

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