Image Column - Do Not Store Photos Locally

[mykrobinson]

Came across an interesting boggle today. The hospital rounding app i've been working on is in use for internal testing and will still take some time to get perfected. The Patients table has a "Photo" column that is obviously an Image column type. The providers, with the patient's consent, take a picture of the patient so that it shows in the app and makes it just a lil' bit easier to confirm in the future that you have the right person in front of you.

What we have learned is that AppSheet is keeping a copy of that picture on the provider's phone, which is likely a violation of some regulations. We have Google Workspace for the practice, and I notice that if we take a picture from Google Chat, for example, the picture is attached to the conversation thread but it is NOT viewable in the users photo gallery on the phone. With AppSheet, however, if I take a picture of myself from AppSheet and attach it to a fake patient i added, that photo is indeed on my phone.

Is there a way to have AppSheet not store that photo locally?

[WillowMobileSys]

In the device settings for the AppSheet app, there should be a camera setting you can turn off.  On the iphone this setting is called "Save photos to camera roll".  If you have Android it should be similar.  

[mykrobinson]

You know, now that you say that, i checked my own phone and the picture that i took this morning is not in my gallery. I'll check permissions on the doctor's phone and see what he has. He had previously created some apps and may have enabled the "files" permission.

Thanks

[mykrobinson]

Strange, i am wondering if this issue is specific to certain phones. He has a Galaxy S-something or other and his permissions on the phone app appear to be the same as mine (OnePlus 8T). I'll have him test with another provider's iPhone and see what happens there,

[Steve]

If you're in the US, note carefully that AppSheet is not HIPPA compliant (as I understand it).

[mykrobinson]

I should look more into that probably. The Dr claims we're okay because of the use of Google Workspace and a BA with Google. The data is encrypted in transit and on devices as well. Even so, this is a valid point. While there are no actual medical records in the app, peoples names and birthdates are.

[Steve]

I do not BELIEVE that BA covers AppSheet, but that's well outside my domain. I STRONGLY encourage you to talk with your Google account rep about all of this.

Again, all of this is well outside my area of expertise, but I do not believe it is possible to construct a HIPPA-compliant app with AppSheet. I am not a HIPPA expert.