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Article Photo Upload Fails When File Size Exceeds 10MB

Summary: Photo uploads fail silently when individual files exceed the 10MB server-side limit, with no error message displayed to the technician.

Symptoms

  • Photos appear to upload successfully in the mobile app
  • Thumbnail remains visible in the work order
  • Full-resolution image is not retrievable from the web dashboard
  • No error message or warning is presented to the user
  • Issue affects both iOS and Android platforms

Affected Versions

FieldPulse Mobile 3.0.0 – 3.1.2 (current)
iOS 15+ | Android 11+

Cause

The mobile client does not validate file size before initiating upload. When the server rejects oversized files, the client interprets this as a successful upload completion and caches the local thumbnail, creating the appearance of success.

Workaround

See Workaround: Compressed Photo Upload for Slow Connections for immediate mitigation steps, including in-app compression settings and camera configuration recommendations.

Status

Fix targeted for 3.2. The product team has implemented client-side validation with user-facing error messaging. Currently in beta testing.

Related Articles

  • Workaround: Compressed Photo Upload for Slow Connections
  • Photos Upload Slowly on Weak or Spotty Connections
  • Photo Annotation Tools Added to Field Documentation

  • Yeah this one tripped me up too when I first looked at it — the silent failure is rough. For anyone building against the API, the upload endpoint does return a 413 when the file is too large, so if you're doing custom integrations you can catch it there:

    HTTP/1.1 413 Payload Too Large
Content-Type: application/json

{"error": "file_size_exceeded", "max_bytes": 10485760}

    The mobile app just wasn't surfacing that to users. Edge case worth noting: if you're batch uploading multiple photos and one fails, the whole batch currently reports success. That's also being fixed in 3.2.

  • Pro tip: If you're not seeing this fix in 3.2 beta yet, you can also set your phone camera to save at 'High Efficiency' (HEIC/HEIF) instead of 'Most Compatible' — the files are smaller and usually stay under the 10MB line even at full resolution. iPhone users: Settings > Camera > Formats > High Efficiency.