Summary: Photo uploads stall, fail, or retry multiple times on weak cellular connections because the app attempts full-res uploads without adaptive compression.
What You'll See
- Upload spinner sits at 0% or stalls mid-progress
- Same photos retry 3–5 times before failing
- Battery drain spikes during upload attempts
- Work order marked "sync pending" for hours
When This Happens
Most common on 1–2 bar LTE, rural/remote sites, or congested networks (stadiums, industrial facilities). Full-resolution images from newer phones (12MP+) are 3–5MB each; the app doesn't downscale before upload.
Immediate Workaround
Pro tip: Force the app to compress before upload. In Settings > Sync & Upload, toggle Compress photos over 2MB. This cuts upload size by 60–70% with minimal visible quality loss on mobile screens.
If you're already stuck with pending uploads:
- Connect to WiFi (even briefly) — queued uploads resume automatically
- Or: Settings > Sync & Upload > Upload on WiFi only — prevents cellular drain, defers until you're back at base
Field-Level Fix
Some of our crews carry a cheap mobile hotspot dedicated to uploads. Pull over, hotspot to the van's WiFi, batch uploads clear in 30 seconds. Beats fighting a single bar of Verizon in a basement mechanical room.
Also: if you're shooting documentation photos, switch to Medium resolution in your phone's camera settings. FieldPulse doesn't need poster-print quality for before/after shots.
Long-Term
I've raised this with FieldPulse support — adaptive compression based on detected bandwidth would solve it properly. No ETA, but the settings workaround above has kept our 14-person crew moving without upload headaches.
Related: Photo Upload Fails When File Size Exceeds 10MB for hard size limits, and Compressed Photo Upload Workaround if you want a deeper dive on the compression toggle.
