Inspecting on a tablet or phone
Documentation
There is no separate app to install. The product runs in the browser and is built to be used on the device you actually carry.
Part of the inspector's track. See Writing an inspection report for the editor itself.
What to work on
A tablet in landscape is the target. The editor's three panes — sections, items, detail — all fit, which is what makes it feel like an app rather than a website squeezed sideways.
On a phone the panes stack, and the item you are on takes the screen. It works; it is slower for a full inspection and quicker for a couple of corrections.
Install it to the home screen. It is a progressive web app: added to the home screen it opens without browser chrome, which is both more screen and one less thing to fumble on a ladder.
Capturing as you go
Photos attach to the item you are on, so the ordering problem — matching a camera roll to findings afterwards — never arises.
Burst capture is there for the pass where you photograph a lot and sort it out later: it takes a run of frames and lets you keep the ones worth keeping, rather than tapping the shutter each time.
Video works the same way where your workspace has it enabled.
The habit that pays: photograph from the item, not from the camera app. A picture taken outside the product is a picture you will be re-attaching in the evening.
When the signal drops
This is the part worth knowing before it happens, because the answer is counter-intuitive: keep working.
- Your edits keep going. They are held on the device and merge back when the connection returns.
- Photos queue. They are stored on the device and upload on their own once there is a connection — on reconnect, and again whenever the editor resynchronises. You do not have to remember to trigger anything.
- The queue survives the app closing. It lives in the browser's own storage, not in the page.
What to avoid while offline:
- Do not publish. Publishing needs the server: it writes a version, seals it and sends notifications.
- Do not count on a colleague seeing your edits. Two people can work one inspection at once, but that merge happens through the connection you currently do not have. Offline, you are the only one holding your changes.
- Do not clear the browser's site data, which is where the queue is. That is the one action that loses queued photos.
Before leaving the site, get back into signal for a moment and watch the photos drain. It takes seconds and turns "I think it saved" into "I saw it save".
Battery and upload habits
A full inspection is a long session with the screen on and the camera in use. Three habits avoid the bad afternoon:
- Charge in the car, not at the property. The device should arrive full.
- Let photos upload as you go where there is signal, instead of arriving home with 300 queued.
- Finish on a laptop if the report needs long text. The editor is the same editor; a keyboard is a keyboard, and the whole point of the browser approach is that this is a device change and nothing else.
What is not the field's job
Publishing, invoicing and sending the report are all better done afterwards, where you have signal and a keyboard. The field's job is the record.