In-app camera fails to record location information sometimes

[RitikaPahwa4444]

Summary

The in-app camera fails to record location information sometimes, especially during the first run due to GPS initialisation delay. Since the in-app camera uses the default camera application on the device (which in turn undergoes the same GPS initialisation process), pictures lose location information despite having all the necessary conditions satisfied. This may be a bit surprising for users who turn their location on but still get a "No location found" popup in the upload wizard.

Please refer to this comment for more details about the GPS initialisation process.

Some brilliant ideas have been suggested here by @kartikaykaushik14 that may be undertaken to educate our users about the delay required to record picture location.

Steps to reproduce

1. Open the in-app camera in the Contribution/Nearby fragment (on a fresh installation mostly)
2. Allow the app to record location for the in-app shot (this step is subject to PR 5196: Fix in-app camera location loss #5249 getting merged but the issue still remains for the default camera application used in subsequent steps)
3. Click a picture
4. Proceed to the upload wizard and fill the caption and description
5. Tap on Next

Expected behaviour

"Location not found" popup should not be shown. The picture should have location information either in its EXIF or the app should use the current location of the user.

Actual behaviour

"Location not found" popup is displayed. Neither the picture, nor the app has recorded location information.

Device name

Redmi 5A

Android version

8.1.0

Commons app version

master and prodDebug

Device logs

No response

Screen-shots

No response

Would you like to work on the issue?

None

[rohit9625]

Is this still happening with the updated main branch? I just tried reproducing this issue, but it works fine on my device.
When was the last you encountered this problem @RitikaPahwa4444?

[RitikaPahwa4444]

Hi @rohit9625, I experienced it while working on my GSoC task last year. Is the default camera app on your device able to access location? And is the app able to retrieve that later? This issue is device dependent.

[rohit9625]

Yes, on my device the in-app camera able to access location when it is turned on and app is able to retrieve that location in Upload Wizard.
I am using Samsung A14 with API 34.

[RitikaPahwa4444]

By default camera app, I mean the camera app you have on your Samsung handset that you've set to be used by other applications. We use an intent to trigger the default camera application to send the captured image to us.

[rohit9625]

Yes I am also talking about the default camera app which is used by commons.

[RitikaPahwa4444]

Could you please check with the Commons app closed once? Just capture an image and check the coordinates in your gallery. If the coordinates exist, then your camera is recording them. You may try blocking the access to location for that camera app to reproduce this issue.

[rohit9625]

The location is not available on the photo I clicked in both cases, i.e.,

1. When location is allowed from settings
2. When not allowed