Hi Lenore,
I act as trap.nz support to members of our project. I’m getting a number of users, including myself, that lose access to assigned traps on the phone app map occasionally. By losing access I mean the traps ‘disappear’ from the map. I advise them that the usual way to ‘fix’ this is to log off the app and then log on again, However in some cases this doesn’t work and a deinstall/reinstall of the app is required.
I looked on my phone (android) for a less drastic way to fix this and under settings/apps/trap.nz/storage
there is a Clear data and Clear cache option (Is this new? I’m on V 6.3.321 of trap.nz).
A couple of issues.
Is this a known problem and if so is anyone working on a fix?
If logging off then on doesn’t fix the problem then what’s the next thing to try? ‘Clear Data’ seems to be similar to a deinstall/reinstall in that logging in again results in the same queries as a fresh install.
Would just ‘Clear cache’ be better to try first?
Thanks, John
Kia ora @jaybee thanks for telling us about this. We hadn’t heard about it before. I do suggest you check the app store for the latest version of the app this may help with the issues you are encountering.
Also if anyone has moved an installation on the app this retires the original one and creates a clone with the same code. In this situation the assigned members are no longer assigned to it, and will need an administrator to assign the installation to them or they won’t appear on the map.
@jaybee is this the issue where you open the app and see just a blank map with no traps/installations on it at all? If so, my usual workaround is to switch to another project, wait for those traps to load, then switch back again - the second time has always worked so far. Admittedly trappers who are members in just one project won’t be able to use this option.
@lenore-admin, if it’s the same issue, I first noticed it on 11 April 2025 (memorable as it disrupted an event with a major trap donor). Still happens occasionally but due to having found an easy workaround I haven’t really noticed it.
My app’s definitely the latest version, and when I lose trap visibility it affects all installations in the project (both assigned and non-assigned), i.e. a completely blank map despite my being an admin on most of my projects. Can’t remember if project boundaries and lines load on the map or not, sorry, I usually just reload as soon as I see that the installations aren’t there.
I’ve seen this occasionally myself. It’s usually been a spotty Internet connection, and switching network then manually synchronizing data solved it.
Not sure why previously synced data didn’t show though
Hi Lenore,
and thanks to the others who have responded. I am running the latest version of trap.nz.
This mainly occurs when the app is first opened and no traps appear on the map. My users have Advanced trapper access and don’t see traps assigned to them, most only have access to our project, so they don’t have the option to swap to another. I have Admin access and don’t see any traps assigned or otherwise when it occurs to me, also in my case this has happened after starting trapping on a line and the traps disappear part way through checking, this is rare though. In most cases logging off and on again to the app brings back the traps on the map.
Another point, I often use ‘walk line’ when trapping so don’t always look at the map. When this has happened after commencing trapping, I can still update the traps as they appear on my list however they don’t appear on the map.
Also, Lenore regards the point about members losing access to ‘retired’ traps. I am aware of this, but this doesn’t apply in this case. None of the traps have been retired. Members are losing visibility to all traps they are assigned. Logging off/on returns the visibility.
Are there any diagnostics, such as logs that can be provided when this happens again?
@jaybee An advanced trapper can only see and service the installations they have either added or been assigned on the app (they can see them on the website which is confusing) The logs don’t appear in trap.nz until they synchronise. However, if there are failed records (they have a yellow icon with and exclamation mark beside them) we do ask you to export us the debug log and we can sometimes find the reason for the issues that have occurred.
Thanks Lenore.
I’ve not had to work with the debug log before, is that something I have to turn on or is it always running?
Iis always running, You really only need to worry about it if there is an error in the logs (yellow icon)
We have experienced this issue a number of times across different groups - a few different options to fix that have worked for us;
- When in a location with coverage click the cloud symbol on the app and then select “Synchronise Now” once the synchronise is complete most times the traps all reappear
- If this doesn’t work then go to settings, advanced, and run a Soft Reset
- If this doesn’t work then run a hard reset
Running the reset may cause you to lose data if you haven’t synched. We download our data monthly so that we have a backup record, just in case…
Cheers Richard
@rshaw it’s important if running a hard reset that you are in connectivity or your project won’t load again. Also you wouldn’t lose data unless there are any unsync’d logs (they will show with a cloud icon). If you have unsync’d logs export these as a debug log to ensure they are not lost.
I get a blank screen from time to time on my iphone app. My fix is to close the App then unload it from memory. (I might be using the wrong term here but I swipe up and to the right and can then swipe up on the Apps which are still in memory). If I have a connection, the traps and bait stations appear soon after opening the App again. I think that it occurs more frequently when I’m using the phone camera between logging data in the App.
Hi again Lenore,
One of my trappers had another instance of this issue. In this case he lost visibility to only one of his assigned traps, this was not due to the trap being retired. I asked him to logoff/on and if this failed to fix the issue try deinstall/reinstall. Unfortunately, he was not experienced with the app and couldn’t navigate to the sign off option, so he went ahead and did a deinstall/reinstall. After logon again the trap reappeared on his map.
Personally, I don’t think this has anything to do with connectivity rather a possible storage corruption issue and if that’s the case how and why is this occurring? The only problem I see with that explanation is why swapping to a different project and back again would result in fixing the trap visibility, unless this
action would result in clearing cache.
This is happening reasonably frequently, and I would appreciate this be investigated as a defect in the app. What can I do to help investigate this? Would supplying the debug log when it happens help? Is there any other diagnostic information that can be provided?
Thanks, and regards, John
Thanks everyone for the feedback.
There has been an issue with this happening in marginal network conditions. We have a fix for this in testing now and it should be live in the next few weeks.
If anyone is happy to beta test this for us we would appreciate it. Please let us know if you can, and we will send details.
Andy
Hi Andy,
I’m happy to beta test the fix.
Cheers, John