We need independent time

[Sentra_Ventures]

We need an independent time reference that AS can use to determine actual time and not the user device time. As it is anyone can fake time that AS posts y simply changing their device time locally. This realization has made my project useless.
I think location can also be fudged this way…

[Steve]

Curious how you’d imagine accomplishing that.

[Sentra_Ventures]

By simply changing their device time locally. AS posts the local device time. I think time verification is crucial to many applications.

[Steve]

How to get an independent time reference?

[Sentra_Ventures]

The UTC function could post a time stamp from a web based timenow for example… I think google sheet does that… I of course wouldn’t know how to direct the actual adjustment, just a feature request…

[Jonathon]

Question: could you not obtain an accurate timestamp by forcing a sync and using either a Google App Script or SQL trigger to populate a server-time column?

Technically speaking, the timestamp would reflect the moment that the sync occurred. So this wouldn’t work offline. It would also require structuring the app such that your users sync after the time-sensitive actions.

[Steve]

Jonathon:

Question: could you not obtain an accurate timestamp by forcing a sync and using either a Google App Script or SQL trigger to populate a server-time column?

You could get the server time with a simple workflow-triggered action to populate a column with NOW(), which would provide the server time.

Jonathon:

Technically speaking, the timestamp would reflect the moment that the sync occurred. So this wouldn’t work offline. It would also require structuring the app such that your users sync after the time-sensitive actions.

All true. AppSheet is designed to both work offline and with delayed sync. There’s no way around that short of a fundamental change to AppSheet.

Sentra_Ventures:

The UTC function could post a time stamp from a web based timenow for example…

That requires an Internet connection, which can’t be guaranteed. It requires the connection to the internet-based time source can be trusted, which can’t be guaranteed.

Ultimately, consumer-grade mobile devices like mobile phones and tablets aren’t designed to provide guaranteed-reliable data so long as the user of the device has control of the device’s configuration. You’d have to lock-down the device so the user couldn’t reconfigure it.

I don’t dispute the value of the feature request. I’m just unaware of a way to accomplish it knowing all the existing obstacles.

[Sentra_Ventures]

Does this mean that the NOW() function returns the server time not the device time?
I now understand that for offline functions AS must rely on local device time. Maybe though we could have an inbuilt option to capture the true (not Device) time that syncs are made. That would at least solve half the problem of dates being posted in advance.
Thanks for the explanation.

[Steve]

Sentra_Ventures:

Does this mean that the NOW() function returns the server time not the device time?

NOW() returns the time of the device from which its run. Workflows run on the server, so NOW() used in a workflow gives the server time.

[Sentra_Ventures]

Thank you for the information.

[Wesley]

Can we retrieve from device and use time since power cycle as an independent time/duration source?

Thanks.

Preventing Timecard Manipulation with Hardware Battery Time since Power Cycle Questions

In the way AppSheet can see a unique device identifier can it receive the device hardware battery time since power cycle? I don’t understand the specifics but the key is the battery time since power cycle being un-changeable in a way system time isn’t, and comparing battery run time before/after successful syncs and when the record is saved. I don’t need this but it seems it may help - key would be the employee in field with no service couldn’t let their phone die between syncs.