Commons talk:Mobile app

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Caption editing deletes the entire contents of the page

Please see the evidence in edit 1 and the discussion in edit 2, ongoing at COM:FILTERT#Report by Jonathanischoice.   — 🇺🇦Jeff G. ツ please ping or talk to me🇺🇦 07:25, 26 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the report, @Jeff G. Apologies for the inconvenience caused due to this bug.
We're tracking this as an issue in our repository. Here's the link to the issue.
We'll look into fixing this as soon as we can. Kaartic [talk] 04:00, 9 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@Kaartic: Thanks. @Jonathanischoice: FYI.   — 🇺🇦Jeff G. ツ please ping or talk to me🇺🇦 12:09, 9 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Feedback process

Can anyone comment on the feedback processes (see also: https://github.com/commons-app/apps-android-commons/issues/5509) Molgreen (talk) 06:19, 4 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

App broken

@Kaartic, I used to use the Commons app (on Android, Google Pixel 7) all the time, but a few months ago every image I tried to upload failed. Is this a known issue, or is there any info I could provide to help you troubleshoot? {{u|Sdkb}} talk 05:57, 6 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@Sdkb, ein paar Dinge, die mir dazu einfallen:
Viel Erfolg und viele Grüße Molgreen (talk) 15:35, 6 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Password: Commons:Mobile app/Feedback#Feedback from Molgreen for version 4.2.1~14b6c455b 6 Molgreen (talk) 15:41, 6 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for the reply, Molgreen! I did enable 2FA at some point, so I'm trying logging out and in again to see if that fixes it. Will update if that (or reinstalling the app) works. A better error message is certainly needed. {{u|Sdkb}} talk 16:00, 6 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you for your feedback and good luck. I am curious Molgreen (talk) 16:09, 6 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]
That worked! I guess I should have had more faith that the turn it off and on again approach would work haha. Thanks for the help! {{u|Sdkb}} talk 20:41, 6 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you for your feedback. One question: what do you think really helped in the end? Logging out and logging in again or uninstalling and reinstalling? Or was it really just a reboot that helped? (In German it rhymes: "reboot tut gut" (reboot does good) :-) Molgreen (talk) 05:09, 7 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Logging out and in was the issue, as I didn't have to go to the reinstalling step. I'm guessing that enabling 2FA was probably the cause, but I forget if the timeline matches up quite right. {{u|Sdkb}} talk 05:42, 7 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@Sdkb: https://github.com/commons-app/apps-android-commons/issues/5522 Molgreen (talk) 05:39, 8 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you for the report, @Sdkb Apologies for the inconvenience caused due to the current flow.
Thank you for the assistance and capturing this as an issue in our issue tracker, @Molgreen !
Just for an update, there's a proposed change that should fix this issue soon :-) Kaartic [talk] 14:17, 13 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Reference to mobile app/feedback

Shouldn't there be a reference to Mobile app/Feedback and github.com (commons-app) on the project page? Molgreen (talk) 19:06, 6 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Commons:Mobile_app&diff=next&oldid=854576090
Checkmark This section is resolved and can be archived. If you disagree, replace this template with your comment. Molgreen (talk) 05:26, 23 February 2024 (UTC)

App Content must be rated 18+

The App bring nude and sex movies and images from here, so the content must be ratted as adult only 18+. حبيشان (talk) 17:02, 19 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for bringing this up @حبيشان! I've opened an issue in our issue tracker to discuss this. Feel free to share your thoughts here or on the issue. :-) Kaartic [talk] 04:24, 26 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I'm not sure 18+ is the right approach. Sure, the Commons app can fetch sensitive content from Commons, but the user needs to search for it deliberately. Automatic suggestions e.g. geolocation won't fetch sensitive content. For comparison the Wikipedia app is rated all-ages; most web browser apps are rated all-ages. Deryck Chan (talk) 13:30, 2 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]
That is not true. I don't like to repeat myself but again one can come across such images and videos in totally unexpected searches and categories such as children's games, software, or specific foods. What you said is probably true for the Wikipedia app but I'm actually surprised the WMC app is in the PlayStore without any issues despite of these issues. I had proposed that at least nude people media should only be in "Nude people" subcategories and that these get NSFW tags so these could be excluded in searches with a toggle or blurred by default depending on settings. Again, I don't have a problem with bizarre nude people media on WMC despite the "realistic educational use" scope policy, but I do think there is a problem with such, unlike on all other large websites, showing up in unexpected searches – for example this could come with various problems to WMC overall that is still used (browsed, known, search engine indexed, linked, etc) way too little. Prototyperspective (talk) 12:09, 10 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]
This seems surprising. Which children's games, software, or foods? Either way, they should also be in a category that specifies nudity, and we could in theory have a switch that filters based on that. grendel|khan 15:34, 10 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I think we have, for example, photographs by a Russian photographer who depicts nude women as artistic representations of certain elements of programming languages, so these photographs are sorted in the respective categories - but always in categories that specify nudity, too. Gestumblindi (talk) 10:08, 11 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Examples: ducktales, Super Mario, adblock, captcha, egg cooking, fake news, dualsense, finger, chatgpt (and last time I checked things were shown at the very top). Note that this is not limited to photos by that one photographer which the community apparently finds produces "realistically educational" photos while at the same deleting lots of unique nonmundanely-valuable things. Yes, one way would be setting a tag based on whether at least one subcategory of Nude people is set (that can then be enabled or disabled or automatically disabled when clearly searching for something NSFW) but I think it would be best if that was done at WMC, not (only) any external apps for it. Prototyperspective (talk) 13:09, 12 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

App shows error, when dispalying stats

App shows no stats

How can I fix it? Alex Blokha (talk) 23:08, 21 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Alex Blokha! Apologies for the inconvenience caused. This is indeed a problem with the production version of the app. We've fixed this at our end and will release a new version soon. Kaartic [talk] 03:41, 26 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I have the same problem with the latest version. I reported a bug that the app crashes when viewing user profiles. Now it shows them but doesn't show the first two tabs (Achievements and Leaderboard). Also I have to tab view user twice because the first time it shows a "session expired, please log in again" (I'm not logged in) error. Prototyperspective (talk) 10:52, 1 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
That's strange. This isn't how the fix should work. Is it possible for your to list down the steps that you use for facing this trouble? A screen recording would be helpful too.
This is also the "I need to click a tab twice" to open issue. Steps and screen recording would help with identifying the problem you face. -- Kaartic [talk][kindly ping me] 17:16, 2 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
There isn't really more to say than what I did already: 1) launch the app (latest version 5.0.1) 2) tab on any image e.g. the first 3) tab on the three dots in the upper right and select show user page 4) a small error "Session expire. Please log in again" pops up twice (at least the app doesn't crash anymore) 5) repeat step 3 6) it just loads with a neverending circle animation at the top but no data is loaded into niveau and the statistics 7) going to the leaderboard tab it only shows a neverending circle animation 8) going to contributions it shows other images uploaded by the user 9) if I go to the leaderboard tab after the contributions page it shows this session expired error again and brings me back to the image where I tapped the three dots.
  • Another thing I wanted to ask is where this leaderboard data comes from and if it could be added to WMC instead of being only viewable in the app.
Prototyperspective (talk) 17:52, 2 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Hi @Prototyperspective! Thank you for the elaboration. I could understand the problem you are facing now. It seems like the app didn't really provide the ability the ability to view to view another user's profile/leaderboard when a user is not logged in. I've opened an issue to explore the feasiblity of providing the ability to view the same. Right now, it should work fine if you log in to the app.
Another thing I wanted to ask is where this leaderboard data comes from and if it could be added to WMC instead of being only viewable in the app.
Yeah. Right now the leaderboard data is only available via toolforge (AFAIR). I think that's because there isn't a way to host such information directly from Wikimedia Commons. Could you let us know if you're aware of a possible way to do so?
-- Kaartic [talk][kindly ping me] 08:55, 9 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks a lot for creating the issue!
If it's available on toolforge, it should also be accessible on desktop – could you provide a link?
It would be best if you could also add that link (or the specific requested one for the specific user) to the app so people know where to find it? I don't know where it is and I think there should also be a well-visible page on WMC about it, but maybe such exists already and I'd need a link to check. Migrating it from toolforge into WMC directly so all users can easily readily access it would be a separate later step and if nobody else does/did so, I'd create a phab issue about that. Prototyperspective (talk) 16:33, 24 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Yeah, the tool is accessible via desktop too but unfortunately doesn't have a web version of a dashboard that shows the leaderboard neatly. The API to access the leaderboard would look something like this:
https://commons-android-app.toolforge.org/tool-commons-android-app/leaderboard.py?user=USERNAME&duration=weekly&category=used
... where you would replace USERNAME with your username. We don't link it much as the data is basically only accessible via an API endpoint right now. If there's a decent interest for it, it would be good to have a web frontend though.
There's some documentation about the tool here and the phab ticket about the initial project about leaderboard could be found here. I'm not sure how this could be captured within Commons itself but feel free to initiate a discussion about it. We'll see how it goes :-) -- Kaartic [talk][kindly ping me] 01:54, 8 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]
It could be captured on Commons for example like this: User:Fæ/Userlist. There I added a link to this functional API, thanks for the link.
I subscribed to the code issue but it's only about the Commons app, not the site, so it may be good to create a new issue for that if you don't know how or need help / a volunteer dev to implement this. Sadly, it seems to calculate "rank" only by number of edits and does not display the number of edits. It would be better if it displayed more things like, for example, number of files uploaded, number of uploaded files used on Wikipedia, number of used self-created files, total pageviews of the user's created categories, etc as well as the number of edits per user. Does it calculate the rank by number of edits and what does category - Can be upload or used or nearby mean? A documentation shouldn't be this unclear, please clarify. Maybe it should be removed again from the userlist.
A script/bot could update a table on Commons using this tool that would be the most straightforward way. I think there is a decent interest, at least some users asked about updates to the linked list and such stats can be insightful as well as a motivator for contributors (in regards to the latter again it would be better if more than mere edit counts or number of created categories were displayed). It's interesting, thanks a lot! Prototyperspective (talk) 12:27, 8 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]
GitHub repo issue here Prototyperspective (talk) 20:54, 14 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]
So, is the new fixed version available? Alex Blokha (talk) 23:29, 1 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Hi @Alex Blokha! Yes. The fix is available in v5.0.1 version that's available via Play store and F-droid. :-) -- Kaartic [talk][kindly ping me] 17:17, 2 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Wikimania poster submission - Explore the world with the "Nearby" feature

I'm making a poster submission for Wikimania 2024 about the "Nearby" feature. Comments welcome! (Tag Kaartic, Misaochan for the encouragement) Deryck Chan (talk) 23:03, 27 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Editing depicts using app removes structured data

When depicts is being edited using the Commons Android app, the new set of depicts are reflected in the site correctly. The other structured data such as author, caption etc. seem to be removed.

This has been filed as an issue in the app's bug tracker. Noting it here for reference :-) Kaartic [talk] 14:23, 16 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Can I publish screenshots of the Commons app on Commons?

Hello @Kaartic, hello @Syced, I would like to publish screenshots of the Commons app on Commons. However, I would like to coordinate this with you beforehand. I will send you a link to the images I would like to publish by e-mail. Best regards Molgreen (talk) 05:26, 1 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@Syced Thank you for your feedback. Which code should I use for the license?
When I upload via the app, the following occurs:
== {{int:license-header}} ==
{{self|cc-by-sa-4.0}}
Which source code should I submit to mention the Apache 2 License of the UI? Molgreen (talk) 07:30, 1 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for opening this thread, Molgreen! I think you could feel free to upload it. Regarding the license, I think you could feel free to use CC-BY-SA-4.0. The Apache 2.0 license applies to the source code. I don't know how it applies to the screenshot of the app rendered using the source code. Hope that helps -- Kaartic [talk][kindly ping me] 09:34, 1 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Hello @Kaartic, hello @Syced, thank you both very much for your feedback (here and via email). I have just uploaded the screenshots. Regarding the license, I hope I have found a good solution. see also --Molgreen (talk) 04:56, 2 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Checkmark This section is resolved and can be archived. If you disagree, replace this template with your comment. Molgreen (talk) 16:46, 2 June 2024 (UTC)

Help

Why is the app 18+? As opposed to Wikipedia which is unrestricted. ToadetteEdit (talk) 13:46, 31 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Where is it 18+? Also see this thread above, for example search for "slow motion" or "Money Heist". Prototyperspective (talk) 20:08, 31 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The app is marked as 18+ in its play store listing. The reasoning for the same can be found here. Multiple people have found the 18+ rating surprising and even the WMF staff reached out regarding the same. They mentioned they'll mention their final thoughts after discussion but have not yet got back to us. I'll try nudging them regarding this -- Kaartic [talk][kindly ping me] 16:10, 4 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Some feedback

I downloaded the app today briefly and I have some thoughts. Make of them what you will. It's not immediately obvious what levels are supposed to mean and it says 81/80 images of mine are being used (see File:Commons app rank statistics.png). I've uploaded more than a hundred files so I have no idea how these statistics are produced. I think it should also be clearer that when it asks you to write a caption (File:Commons app upload wizard.png like in this image), what it's actually asking is for you to create a file name. I also think that the popup about adding location data should include a disclaimer about exif data like the normal upload wizard does because this might not be immediately obvious to the average person. All that said, I'm not trying to barge in here and tell you everything is terrible! I'm very pro-mobile editing generally and I just wanted to share my brief experience because hopefully it'll improve the experience for everyone. Someone told me that this entire app is built by volunteers and I appreciate that there's probably a lot of effort that went into it. I'll likely stick to continuing to edit on desktop mode through my phone for now, though. Clovermoss (talk) 04:00, 29 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Quite right; the app's UI is very unclear in many respects. When it says Uploaded Images, far as I see, it means the ones uploaded via the app. At least, those are the ones I see; uploads that went by the standard Wizard are not seen. Labeling the filename as "Caption" also confused me at first. The failure to mention that the picture already has coords in EXIF never bothered me, and the use of the phone's GPS is one of the important reasons I don't use my real camera so much anymore. Also you have the good fortune to have only started using the app after the crashes became rare. One more thing, the app no longer suggests categories to me. I suspect this is connected to some failure in my own phone but have no idea what. Still, despite all the problems, the Commons App has still uploaded the majority of my pictures this year and last, because going straight from the apps map to the camera, or from Google Photos to the app, is so much simpler than camera to card to computer to upload. Jim.henderson (talk) 12:13, 31 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@Clovermoss I also really appreciate the app. I now use it more often than Upload Wizzard. Both variants have their advantages. The app is unbeatable with its “desired images/nearby” function. This way I can help to add missing images to the Wikiverse in a targeted manner.
On the other hand, with the Commons app, for example, it is more complicated to find the desired category if it is not suggested (which often works well) or if you don't know the exact name of the desired category.
It would also be nice if the original file name could be used optionally (as a supplement). Molgreen (talk) 12:56, 31 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I agree, that is an absolutely fantastic feature and I just used it successfully today and it added the photo to Wikidata 🤩 So9q (talk) 12:18, 21 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I agree that the app is a bit unclear. Has anyone checked if we have UI issues for each of these points? So9q (talk) 12:16, 21 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Proposal to put this on the Main Page of Commons?

Hey @Molgreen: the quality of the app has gotten significantly better in the last two years. Have you considered trying to get a link to it added to the front page? So that when people arrive there, they know they can participate via the app? (That or the siderbar?). I would be happy to write the proposal, but I want your buyin first, Sadads (talk) 23:30, 21 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Oh, that's a great idea! I would certainly support it. Ainali (talk) 07:15, 22 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I meant to propose this as well but think it's better to wait until two main issues with the app are solved so as to hold off the influx of new users of the app until the app is ready for it. Otherwise, people just install the app and then either be disappointed or stop using it after a few short openings.
Two other related things I mean to propose are that when opening an image or video on Wikipedia there is a link to the app somewhere in a corner and that when opening an image in the Wikipedia app and selecting "go to file page" (or at least "file page on Wikimedia Commons" on that page) it automatically opens it in the Commons app if that app is installed (like for most other apps).
I think getting more people to learn about and install this app is counterproductive before very basic key functionality is added. The two key missing things that I think need to be implemented before raising awareness to ensure success and that people keep it installed & using it are:
  • A home Explore feed (like in the Wikipedia Android app; exists in virtually every comparable app; likely the place where most users would spend most of the time; extensible) – Issue here
  • Enabling playing audio files and videos (large key parts of Commons; audio files include spoken Wikipedia; lots of videos on WMC; many open source Java video players to choose from)
Putting it on the Main page before that would be counterproductive even if it raises users because many of them will not keep using the app and decide to not use the app again. Prototyperspective (talk) 09:59, 22 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I think it's a great idea too and would like to support it.
For people who have a mobile but not a laptop, it makes it easier for them to make valuable contributions. The app also has a more user-friendly interface for new wikimedians and the explore tab serves its purpose: to feed users' curiosity about what they can find in the repository.
Sure, there's always room for the app to develop further and add new features. But, in order to know what the community needs, the app has to be widely used.
Finally, many thanks to @Molgreen for the development of this tool that I hope will reach the visibility it deserves and we need to integrate new contributors. --Paula (WDU) (talk) 14:01, 22 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Note: there is no explore feed but only a feed of recently featured pictures (looking random photos seems like sth that is interesting for 5 minutes or so). Currently, when searching for categories or trying to see subcategories of a category opened from a file page it just displays a blank page (seems like it will be fixed in the next release). I don't think many people reinstall an app they previously found not useful/boring again at a later point so these would be 'lost potential users' (except for very-active Commons users for which there are probably other ways to make this app used more). Prototyperspective (talk) 15:33, 22 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you @Sadads for asking me that. However, I am just a simple user (not a developer) who really appreciates this app and now uses it almost exclusively for uploading. Regardless of that, I support your suggestion! As for your actual question, we should let @Syced answer it. As far as I understand it, he is the coordinator of the app's development.
On the question of further development: The best place to report bugs and submit suggestions is here: https://github.com/commons-app/apps-android-commons (In my experience, this here is not the place that developers prefer to watch.) Molgreen (talk) 18:20, 22 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I think the main argument against promoting the app more visible is that 30% of the users can not use the app as the app is not available for iOS. GPSLeo (talk) 19:02, 22 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Those users would not be 'lost potential users', they would simply not click on the button that says e.g. 'Commons app for Android' or some FDroid/PlayStore button. I don't think it's an argument for not promoting the app, especially not the main one (at least if 'promoting' refers to the community putting a link to it on the Main page). Prototyperspective (talk) 19:09, 22 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
They are not lost but they might be disappointed. And I would not say that this problem outweighs the all pro arguments. GPSLeo (talk) 19:28, 22 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
How often did you install an app, found it not useful and then reinstalled in at a random later point? What are the pros for adding it *right now* instead of a later point when e.g. playing videos is possible in the app? Not all but many of them will be lost potential users as they will uninstall soon after or not use the app (to likely uninstall later). I think a Pro for adding the link right now may be more potential Commons contributors but those who see this link already know about Commons anyway and phone camera photo uploads aren't exactly the kind of media that is missing. I think those two functionalities would not necessarily take long to implement and it's well worth waiting a bit longer (it's been ~9 years). Prototyperspective (talk) 22:09, 22 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@Prototyperspective-- I don't think either of this are strong arguments for not sharing the app with potential users -- Commons is clearly not primarily a video and audio location and unlikely to be so any time in the near future -- only Wikimedians rely on it for those. As for the second objection: the current home feed is a pretty good example of some of the best content on Commons -- building out new features is always complex, especially on Websites like Commons where it was not designed for or assumed to be part of a web + app ecosystem. In this case: I think most people seeking an App for commons would not be disappointed: the home page is not a primary feature of users, rather the high quality media (which is already being highlighted). Sadads (talk) 11:31, 25 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@GPSLeo Unfortunately you are right . . . (see also https://github.com/commons-app/apps-android-commons/issues/5828 ) best regards Molgreen (talk) 19:10, 22 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Sivaraam is the current app maintainer. :-) Sivaraam obviously has a Commons user but I don't remember it now sorry, feel free to add if you find it. Personally I would totally support a link shown only to Android users, but is that doable? While not perfect, I think the currently released app is great, much more reliable than the mobile web uploading UI. The next versions will probably be good enough too. I think many users would use the app for uploads, we don't have to wait for other features (such as home explore, video playback, URL preemption, etc) because letting contributors know. By the way my philosophy is that upload gains a lot with an app (for instance getting EXIF from pictures taken shortly before/after is only doable in a native app), while for non-upload features (exploring, searching, viewing) a native app does not have much advantages to offer over a mobile website. Syced (talk) 01:45, 23 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you @Syced for your feedback.
For me, the key advantages of the app are that:
• I can upload a photo immediately after taking it (I don't have to load the image onto my computer at home and upload it from there.)
• I can concentrate on the photos that are really needed (Wikidata, Wikipedia, etc.) (Commons APP "Nearby" function)
• I have free tools on my smartphone ("eraser", "optimizer", "equalizer", etc.) that I would have to buy on my desktop
• The Commons app allows me to publish images anywhere and at any time.
And yes, the Commons app is not perfect, but in my opinion it is worth being mentioned on the main page of Commons! (As @Paula (WDU) writes, we will certainly be able to reach other potential developers this way.)
PS: I'm trying to contact @Kaartic by email.
Molgreen (talk) 06:08, 23 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@Molgreen I thought since you were responding, you were one of the main maintainers, sorry for misunderstanding, Sadads (talk) 11:26, 25 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
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