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Nuances between the Fulcrum Android and iOS Apps.
Nuances between the Fulcrum Android and iOS Apps.

Details on the differences between the Fulcrum for Android and Fulcrum for iOS mobile apps.

Mike Meesseman avatar
Written by Mike Meesseman
Updated over a week ago

While you can do the same actions (feature parity) between the two Fulcrum mobile apps, there are some differences between them. 

The Fulcrum mobile apps are written in the operating systems native language (Objective-C for iOS and Java for Android) and, as a result, there are some differences between the apps. These differences could be due to the nuances between the two operating systems or what is considered to be a standard operation within that operating system's environment.  

App Layout

One of the more notable differences is the menu bar layout between the two apps. These differences are due to the nuances between the operating systems.

Android

  • On Android, there are top and bottom menu bars. Starting at the left, you have the apps list which is used to select the app/form that you are currently accessing. To the right of the app name is the record search button. To the right of the search button is the sync button. Now depending on the screen size\resolution of the device you may see an overflow menu icon. This is a standard button that Android uses when there are no more room on the screen to display buttons.

  • On the bottom menu bar, starting from the left you have the view toggle button which will either have the list view or the map view buttons. In the middle is the record filter button. On the right side is the create new record button, denoted by the + symbol.

iOS

  • On iOS, there are top and bottom menu bars. On the top menu bar, starting at the left, you have the "Apps" button which takes you to the apps list. To the right of that is the name of the current app. Finishing off the top menu bar is the sync button in the far right side.

  • On the bottom menu bar, starting on the left side, you have the button to toggle between the map and list views. Next are the filter and search buttons. The last button in the far right of the bottom menu bar is the create record button.

  • The apps list on iOS is limited to the first 1000 apps in alphabetical order. If you encounter this issue, consider setting some of your apps to inactive or hiding them from the mobile app dashboard

Canceling out of a record

There are times when you will want to cancel out of editing or creating a record. The action to do this is different between the two operating systems. This is mostly due to the standard operations between the two.

Android

  • All Android devices have a row of "hardware buttons", these buttons have traditionally been actual buttons that have be on the device below the screen, but in more recent devices they have moved these buttons to be at the bottom of the screen instead of actual buttons on the device. Additionally, traditionally there have been four buttons, but in more recent devices they have dropped the search button and only have three buttons.

  • The back button is what is used to cancel out of editing a record. This button can be used to cancel out of editing or creating a record. You will see a confirmation message on the screen verifying that you wish to cancel out of the edit or creation event. 

iOS

  • iOS devices do not have hardware buttons, in more recently iOS device releases have eliminated all button from the front of the device.

  • To cancel out of a record on the iOS app you will find a cancel button located in the upper-left corner when you are editing or creating a record. You will see a confirmation message on the screen verifying that you wish to cancel out of the edit or creation event.

Custom Layers

Enabling the custom layers on the mobile apps is slightly different. This will likely change in the future and both apps will access the custom layers in the same location.

Android

  • On Android, the layers picker is found within the settings page. So you will need to tap on the overflow menu in the upper right corner and then navigate to the layer option within the map view section.

iOS

  • On iOS, the layer picker is found within the basemap/layer button in the lower-right part of the map. Tapping the button will take you to a page where you can manage the included basemaps and the custom layers. The buttons to toggle between the basemaps and layers is at the bottom of the screen.

Barcode Scanner

The barcode scanner for the barcode field leverage native operating system functionality. The differences between the two are due to the nuances between the operating systems.

Android

  • On Android you will notice a red line across the screen. This red line needs to match up with the orientation of the barcode that is being scanned.

iOS

  • The barcode scanner on iOS is more forgiving and does not require the barcode to be orientated in any specific way.

External GPS

External GPS units can provide you with more accurate and reliable coordinates for your record locations. However there are some limitations on both platforms that you should be aware of.

Android

  • In order to leverage an external GPS unit you will need to enable mock GPS locations on your Android device. This is an extra step that is not required on iOS devices.

  • Android should share the true accuracy of the coordinates being reported by the external GPS units.

iOS

  • While you do not need to enable any special functionality on iOS devices you do need to make sure that the external GPS unit can be used on iOS devices. Sometimes this requires you to flip a switch or set an option on the device before it can be used on iOS devices.

  • The accuracy data that is reported to Fulcrum from the iOS device will never be less than 5 meters, even if the accuracy being reported by the external GPS unit of the coordinates is lower than that.

List View

The way that you access the record options on the list view page of the Fulcrum Android and iOS apps are different. This is mainly due to the differences between the standard operations between the two operating systems.

Android

  • When you want to open the record options for a record on the list view page you will want to long press on the record. After a few moments a menu will appear allowing you to select one of the options.

iOS

  • On the list view page of the iOS app you will want to swipe the record to the left to reveal two options, more and delete. Delete will delete the record locally on that device. Tapping on more will reveal a pick list allowing you to select one of the other record options.

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