New Software Update January 2021
My phone app changed today. Many many of the old pics I've deleted have now reappeared. Not a huge problem, but inconvenient.
The big problem seems to be that my hunting partners who are "guests" on the app can no longer delete pics. This can't be the way it works right? So they will continue to accumulate pics on their phone forever? I deleted as the administrator and the pics still show up on the guest apps. Can someone please provide some guidance? If this is considered an upgrade, it is actually a downgrade.
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My app updated today and added several old pics from last few days on one camera that had not been available before and another camera that has taken 50-100 pics a day for several weeks has not taken a single pic today (or at least hasn’t sent me any). Doesn’t appear the update helped anything
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Did y’all get the email explaining how the new app works? If you didn’t, please check your SPAM folder. If it’s not there, please sign up to receive the new emails. The email explains the changes.
First thing is that it’s best not to delete photos in the first place. Use purge days in the app to “disappear” anything you haven’t saved after a certain number of days. Default is 30. I use 7.
Second thing is that when you delete a picture from the app, that picture is now deleted from the portal, as well. Some people will like that, others won’t. You probably don’t want your guests deleting photos from the portal, though. Get them to use purge days.
Third thing is that the updated app has no effect whatsoever on camera performance. Some of us testers have been running various versions of the beta app for weeks now. I’m running over 30 cameras on my app and I’ve been getting pictures as expected all day. Please check the portal and see if the photos are there. You may have to uninstall/reinstall and it won’t hurt to restart your phone.
Fourth thing is that this new version of the app downloads pictures MUCH faster than the old app. If you don’t have a lot of cameras, you may not have noticed the stutter when scrolling on the home page or waiting for each photo to download one at a time, but those of us with several cameras definitely did. I dreaded having to uninstall and reinstall the old app (we beta testers have to do that fairly frequently) because it would sometimes take hours to download over 1500 photos. That’s not the case any more. Your photos are there in a blink now.
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Drew,
Did you not get the email that explains the changes? That’s really the only way that Spartan can communicate. If you have suggestions for other or better ways, please make them. (I have three email addresses on file with Spartan and I got the email on all three accounts, FWIW.)
”Won’t answer the phone” is a bit harsh. You should get voice mail if no one is available to answer the phone, but perhaps you did not. Hours are 9 AM-6 PM Eastern M-F, but it’s possible they are in a meeting this morning.
if you want to make your complaints/concerns heard, you can email feedback@spartancamera.com or support@spartancamera.com. (We can report things but that may not be as effective as you making contact yourself.
The app is always under development both to resolve issues and to change features.
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The way I see this new app working is that if the person that is listed as an admin deletes pictures from “camera A” people that are listed as admin or guest that have not already viewed those photos will not be able to view them. If this is the case the new app is not going to be practical although it does have new superior features. If this problem can be addressed and corrected it would be much appreciated. The issue with customer service not returning calls is also a problem. I’m my opinion Spartan should establish a time period that photos will be stored on server then purge them themselves. Nobody needs the pictures stored for an extended period of time.
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Not trying to be harsh. I've always had great service from Spartan, they seem like great folks. However, over the past month or so I've tried calling over and over and over. Never an answer. Just a automated message. I'm a little frustrated with the changes and I never received any emails. I just checked again. If you didn't receive the emails, didn't see any information on the website and no one will answer the phone, you might be frustrated too.
Since you asked, here's a few suggestions: It would be great to put a notice on the website and a link with information about a change that impacts all users. Maybe some FAQs too. Also, it would be great it if was intuitive to find a way to get on the email list for these notices. I've looked at the website and it's not obvious how to do that.
Any chance you can email me the information about the software change please: drewnielsen68@gmail.com.
Again, I really like Spartan and the people that I've talked to there. I want them to be successful. To do that, they must keep an acute focus on their customers and how to be sure they help them adequately informed and supported. I hope this helps and is not perceived as derogatory.
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Once the pictures are downloaded to a device they should be stored (cached) on that device so the admin deleting them should not remove them. If this is not what you are experiencing then let me know and I will relay that to tech. There's really no need delete the pictures, just set your purge days and they will be deleted automatically. The maximum amount of days the pictures and videos are stored (unless you save them) is and has been 30 days.
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I searched again and found the update email buried in the junk box. It provided some basic information and was reasonably helpful. There's still questions about how the deleting of pics impacts guest users. I called again and got voicemail. That's the 4th or 5th time in 24 hours that I've called. I left a voicemail. Hope they call back.
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Wayne,
One thing I’ve noticed with the new app on my iPads is that in gallery view (page of thumbnails for one camera), the HD marker in the upper left corner of the photo is very visible. However, on the actual photo, the HD marker is tiny and mostly hidden by the upper left corner of the photo. Also, you have to double tap on the photo in order to be able to zoom. I don’t know if any of this has anything to do with your not seeing HD photos.
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Thanks for the reply. I’ve looked at the photos on both phone and iPad and the HD marker doesn’t show and I’ve gone through all the photos I requested HD and none had come through. also I looked a the command history status report it shows where I asked for HD photos but it says complete timed out after a 24hr period. Just for instance A photo they requested on one 1/10-21 at 1802 37
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Timed out means that it tried but couldn’t. I suspect you have a flaky SD card.
On the portal, did you happen to notice whether there is anything strange about the numbers on the names of the pictures? They should be consecutive if it’s picture only or every other number for photo + video. If they’re all the same number, you definitely have a bad SD card. If the format command is available from the status report page in the app, please try it. You may end up having to replace the SD card, but formatting may take care of the problem.
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