Survey123 Sept 2021 iOS update lags and crashes when retrieving drafts and uploading surveys

SimonNigh · ‎09-22-2021

Since the release of version 3.13.229 for iOS. we have been experiencing serious performance issues when trying to access surveys saved to draft or when uploading completed surveys. In both cases it takes approximately 5 mins from selecting the draft folder, to gaining access to the list of saved surveys. Once selected the app becomes unresponsive or crashes (closes). When sending surveys the app attempts upload for approximately 5 mins before crashing. Successful upload sometimes occurs but only if the screen is kept active by pressing on it. Data is not sent. Tested on iPad gen 5 and gen 6, iPhone 7, iPhone SE gen 2, iPhone XR. iPhone 7 also causes app to crash when trying to take a photo in the app. Reported back in 2020 and still not fixed.

Anonymous User · ‎09-22-2021

Hi @SimonNigh,

You say since the 3.13 release you are having this issue, but also mention you reported this back in 2020 and it is still not fixed? Can you confirm you see the same issue with 3.12 or 3.11, and it is not new in 3.13, or is this new issue only in 3.13?

Have you reported this to Esri Support, back in 2020 or recently, if so what is the case numebr or BUG number?

Can you share your XLSForm (xlsx file and any files in media folder) so we can take a closer look? Also provide any repro steps, such as the workflow to cause the issue? Which questions need to be answered, attach images, do you use Inbox or editing data before saving to drafts etc?

Also, can you provide the Diagnostic Logs from the device when the issue occurs. Enable logging before following the workflow to create the issue. And the save the logs and send. Thanks.

Regards,

Phil.

SimonNigh · ‎09-22-2021

Hi Phil,

We reported crashing when taking photos with an iPhone 7 back in 2020 after the August release. An official bug was raised. I’ll get it off my Esri when I get to the office later. The instability with accessing drafts and sending surveys is new with 3.13.229. Again a ticket has been raised on my Esri with Esri uk. All the files you mention have been uploaded there, but I can share again here if required later today.

SimonNigh · ‎09-23-2021

Following on from my reply the issues we have encountered has since the latest release of the app are documented in the support ticket #02896128 in My Esri. All the error logs and survey templates are accessible as part of this ticket.

The Survey is hosted on our enterprise portal running 10.7.1. From our perspective it appears there is an issue reading the data stored on the device - possibly when interacting with the SQLite DB?

Due to the nature of the information captured we cannot make the survey public.

BUG-000133776 ArcGIS Survey123 crashes when taking a picture with a complex survey with the older iO...

Anonymous User · ‎09-23-2021

Hi @SimonNigh,

Thanks for the above information. Once the support ticket #02896128 and associated data are available to the dev team we will take a look and get back to you.

As for BUG-000133776, the reported issue was related to using complex, large surveys on older iOS devices that have a slower processor and limited memory. With the 3.13 release, the minimum supported version of iOS is now 13, meaning the iPhone 6, early iPad Minis, early iPad Airs and some other iOS devices are no longer supported, as they only support up to iOS 12.

We will look into the new issue you have logged with 3.13, and get back to you shortly.

Regards,

Phil.

SimonNigh · ‎09-23-2021

Thanks @Anonymous User, Regarding the original Bug report , FYI this problem is still happening with iPhone 7's running IOS 14.7.1 specifically model A1778.

SimonNigh · ‎09-27-2021

Hi @Anonymous User I just thought I would update you on BUG-000133776 and a workaround we have found today. Whilst working with the Windows desktop version of Survey123, we found that Windows wouldn't recognise images captured from a iPhone as it didn't recognise the file extension. The iPhone image format is set to "High Efficiency" by default. Changing this to "Most Compatible" allows Survey123 to read the image. We made the same changes in Settings / Camera / Formats in iPhone 7 running IOS 14, and tried to take a photo in the survey again. This time it worked without the app crashing. The camera app was accessible via the Survey123 application and allowed me to take photos that saved to the attachment table.

Anonymous User · ‎09-27-2021

Hi @SimonNigh,

The HEIC format is not supported by ArcGIS Online and Enterprise. Also some versions of Windows and other Windows based applications do not support HEIC unless they have been updated recently. In Survey123 we convert HEIC images to JPEG on iOS before they are attached to the survey and uploaded. If you are selecting HEIC images from the gallery, it is possible that this conversion process consumes more memory if you are converting a lot of images in same app session and therefore leads to the crash. Having the "Most Compatible" option selected uses JPEG by defualt and means there is no conversion needed and the app uses less memory. So this would be the best option on older, slower devices or ones with less memory. Also refer to:

https://doc.arcgis.com/en/survey123/faq/faqgeneral.htm#anchor11

https://community.esri.com/t5/arcgis-online-ideas/support-heic-files-as-feature-attachments-in/idi-p...

Regards,

Phil.

SimonNigh · ‎09-27-2021

@Anonymous User Good Morning, I asked Esri UK to give you access to the support ticket and files. Do you have an update to this issue. We have over 1700 assets to inspect in the next two weeks and this issue is seriously impacting our business. Please can you respond to this question.

Regards

Simon

Anonymous User · ‎09-27-2021

Hi @SimonNigh,

I was able to find the attachment (XLSForm data) in the support case via Salesforce using the case number you provided. Note that this support ticket has yet to be converted to an official BUG number via Support.

I am looking into the issue now. This may take some time due to the complexity of this type of issue, and will require further discussions with our developers. I can see this is a very large survey, with 1182 controls, 1106 bindings, 528 expressions and 349 itemsets. All of these types adds time to the survey loading and the opening of the survey folders and database being accessed.

I will let you know if I have any further questions.

Regards,

Phil.