Displaying Google Image URL doesn't work on some devices

[jmable]

Hi,

I have URL fields that link to Google Drive images that I have shared to a client. He is getting the error below when trying to view the image on his iPhone but on his iPad he doesn't get the error and when I log in as him on my own iPad or iPhone I don't get an error.

What would cause a google image access error through Appsheet ONLY on specific devices?

Any idea why this would be happening? He's closed/reopened, removed/re-installed to no avail.

Image error

[Steve]

What is the URL?

If you send the client the URL, can they access it directly?

[jmable]

Actually, no, they get the same error when accessing the link directly. So must be a Google Drive issue. 😞

[SkrOYC]

I don't know if this is a issue or not, maybe it's just not what you expect.

AppSheet need public urls to show the content, like this one:

[jmable]

Ya, the issue is just certain devices aren't working so that makes me think it's the device and not an issue with the link itself...

[jmable]

Turns out if you clear the cache on your device it works again. 🙄

[jmable]

Looks like that doesn't work for everyone so now all my apps that use Google Drive to store and view images won't preview. 😥

[Steve]

I imagine the app is going to access a Google Drive URL as the user logged into the phone, not as the user logged in to the app. If the two are different, that may account for the inconsistent behavior.

[jmable]

Everyone is using the same google/gmail acct. I can verify it by seeing
their profile picture in the top right corner of the preview error message.
And again, some of these people have been working for over 2 years and no
issues at all and all of a sudden in the last few days multiple clients
can’t preview images so something has changed. 😞 If I log on as them on my
phone I have no issues seeing the images… so far. I wish I did so I could
troubleshoot on my own device!

[Steve]

Could the devices be running low on memory or storage? Try clearing the cache and/or the app's storage. If that doesn't work, try reinstalling the app.

Does your data reference a lot of images and/or files? If the app is configured to allow offline use, AppSheet tries to download nearly all files and images the data references. It will also try to download the images in multiple sizes to accommodate different views. If your app uses columns of type Address and/or LatLong, the app will also try to download maps for the surrounding areas. Given all this, it's a good idea to use security filters to limit the number of images, files, addresses, and locations the app sees.

[jmable]

I've got them to clear the cache and for one user it worked but not for any of the others. 😞

It mostly uses URL's but that's good to know! I'll go update a few things for sure!