Observation Mode cannot be switched off

[dontyetknowmyusername]

I've got 3 Apple devices:

• iPhone SE
• iPad mini
• iPad Pro

I downloaded the latest Critical-Maps-App (V. 4.2.1, Build 230607) from the Apple App Store onto all 3 devices and started the app.

On a Windows-PC I opened Firefox and went to https://www.criticalmaps.net/map and zoomed in to my location. I saw 3 markers, one for each of my Apple devices.

On each device I then went into settings and switched on the Observation Mode.

On the PC I refreshed the page (Shift + Refresh) and also waited several minutes, but the markers were still visible.

I then switched Observation Mode off and on several times and refreshed the map in Firefox and also waited several minutes, but the markers were still visible.

Only when I closed the apps on the Apple devices, the markers would stop showing on the map.

[mltbnz]

Hi. Thanks for bringing this up.

When the observation mode is switched on the app should not send any new locations to the server.

If a location was sent to the server it will be cached for some time and I would think that is why you see them after enabling observation mode.

It takes around 5 minutes

[dontyetknowmyusername]

Hi, thanks for replying :-)

Unfortunately, the location sharing seems to stop altogether after around 5 minutes, no matter, wether Observation Mode is turned on or off. I discovered this while playing with the settings for the Observation Mode. The only way to turn location sharing back on seems to be closing and re-opening the app -- and then again, after ca. 5 minutes, the markers disappear from the map (the map is also shown in a browser - firefox - on a different machine, not only in the apps on my 3 devices).

BTW, which part caches the location? The server or the app? Because closing the app results in nearly immediately vanishing markers from the map.

[mltbnz]

The server caches a sent location if no new location with the same id is sent.

It's correct that the location will disappear after around 5 minutes anyways since the app only will send a new location to the backend if the app generates a new one and that only happens if the user moves for roughly 200 meters.

Maybe it would be better to base sending a new location on a timer to like fetching other locations though since people sometimes need to wait.

I think I'll prototype that behavior and see if that doesn't increase the traffic too much

[mltbnz]

Please check the latest build from yesterday. Should resolve the issue

[dontyetknowmyusername]

I just downloaded the app on all 3 of my devices (2 iPads, 1 iPhone), tried it and it seems to work. Thank you so much! Now I can express my solidarity even if I can't participate myself.