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"Recovered Survey" dialog not appearing after device crash - 4 separate incidents

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07-31-2025 06:30 AM
Strahanjen
by
Frequent Contributor
‎07-31-2025 06:30 AM

We've had 4 separate incidents this field season where a device crashed mid-survey and the user did not get a prompt to continue the recovered survey. This has not been an issue in prior field seasons, so we are perplexed. I haven't yet submitted a ticket because I cannot replicate the issue, and field crews are too busy to work with ESRI on a ticket, especially for an issue happens very intermittently.

I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced this and determined what is causing the problem? 

In two of the cases, the users were prompted to log in again when opening Survey123, so I wonder if that is a factor. Cell service tend to be very poor where they are surveying, but users should be in airplane mode. Devices where we saw this issue include Samsung Galaxy Tab Active 3, iPad mini and iPhone. Everyone is on the latest version of Survey123.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts on this!

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1 Reply
Leena_Abdulqader
by
Frequent Contributor
‎08-05-2025 08:30 PM

Hey @Strahanjen, this is very tricky! 

I can think of a couple of ways that would happen:

  • Login Session Expiry / Forced Logout(session timeout), if the survey123 crashes and the app logs the user out, that means when they log in, they won't receive that prompt 
  • Old mid-tier devices like Tab Active 3 or low-memory devices tend to crash, especially with complex surveys or heavy media usage. 
  • If the app crashes before autosave or draft save, recovery won't work. Typically, Survey123 saves responses to a draft.db, but if that process is interrupted, recovery fails silently

 

My recommendations would be:

  • Train field staff to manually tap "Save as Draft" periodically on longer surveys, especially before switching apps, locking the screen, or walking to a new site.

  • Ensure "Keep me signed in" is selected when logging in.

  • Disable battery optimization for Survey123: Settings > Apps > Survey123 > Battery > Unrestricted on Android. And on iOS, avoid using Low Power Mode, which can also trigger unexpected app closures.

 

 

Hope that helps! 

 

Best,

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