Random crashing in the field

[NOLTNorth_Olympic_Land_Trust]

The app seems to shut itself down or crash, inevitably when I am in the field and need my maps. Because I am offline, I cannot sign back into the app.  It seems that if one is to use this app offline, then the maps that are "On Device" should be accessible without needing to sign into the app via WiFi or cell.  Any suggestions?  I cannot seem to re-create the problem in town, with WiFi turned off (I do not have cellular on the iPad), so it feels like it is related to the remoteness (not sure how that could be) or that it is random.

Just a side note - this app does not seem user-friendly in the sense that, say a person collecting data in the field forgets to sign in when they are still online, then they cannot use the app when they get into the field.  There should be a way to use the maps on your device regardless of being on or off line.  Seems strange that an app that is for offline use needs to be online to access the offline content... I hope someone can explain why this app is set up this way? 

Also, I was advised in another thread that I should not change to another app while using Collector (although I have been able to switch back and forth successfully offline, so I do not believe that is the cause of the shutting down or crashing of Collector). In a field environment, field workers will most likely also be using other apps in the field.

[RussRoberts]

So the issue with signing in and being signed out could be do to the device having some very low connection and not being fully disconnected and it is trying to sign in after being shutdown(manually or by the OS) which will have you sign back in to renew your session. We are working on improving this and hopefully end the main issue you are running into. To work around this try signing in when you are in a connected environment and going into airplane mode and you should be able to launch the app and not be prompted to sign back in or hang at signing back in.

Regarding the crash you can grab the logs on your device and send them to me and we can investigate that issue. You can see my reply in this thread which outlines the steps to take to grab those crash logs.
http://forums.arcgis.com/threads/106687-Offline-map-use-can-download-to-device-but-then-cannot-acces...

Let me know if you have any other comments and questions.
Russ

[NOLTNorth_Olympic_Land_Trust]

Thank you - I will try the airplane mode tomorrow.  I will look for the crash log, but likely not until next week. Thanks again

[NOLTNorth_Olympic_Land_Trust]

So Russ, turning on Airplane Mode absolutely does not work.  It disables the GPS.
So then I closed out (not signed out, just pushed the bottom middle button so I could go to Settings) to turn Airplane Mode off, then couldn't get back into Collector.  Funny, in town I can go offline, and successfully go back and forth between two apps.  In the field, it doesn't work.  This makes my iPad purchase and app work completely useless.  I'm not sure how you expect people to use Collector offline (which was the purpose of the app update?)

I see nobody else has mentioned this problem.  I'm not sure why it is just me.  But I'm super frustrated, as you can tell.  Also, I didn't have a problem in field testing in my iPad2, but on the IPad mini, I just find everyone useless.  Could it be the change in the Apple product that is causing the problem?

[GaryMorris1]

In order to get into Collector while in Airplane mode, you must have at least 1 map downloaded in the Collector app.  You must also be signed in before going into Airplane mode.  Once you are in the app, you can turn off Airplane mode using the control center  or Setting app in order to use the GPS.

[MaryCoyne]

I Am having the same problem.  I cannot use the app unless it is connected via wifi even though it is downloaded to the iPad. I was told that you needed to have a cellular ipad even though you may not have a cellular account. Is this true because I am about to buy a new iPad just for this use but I am holding off because of this problem.

[GaryMorris1]

You should be able to start the app without any connection provided you were signed in to an account when you had a connection and you have at least one offline map on your device.  Even if the app crashes you should be able to restart the app without a data connection.  It doesn't sign you out when you are disconnected.

The advice about not changing to other apps is incorrect.  You can switch apps as often as you like while using Collector.  You can turn off your iPad or iPhone and restart it while in the field and you should still be able to use Collector.

It is recommended that you have use an iPad with cellular capability with Collector because only those models have a GPS chip.  If you want to collect geographic data in the field you will need GPS in order to get an accurate location (you can also you an external bluetooth GPS if you really want to use a WiFi only device like iPad or iPod Touch).  You don't need a cellular data account or connection, provided you have downloaded your map(s) before leaving WiFi.