Mapillary iOS app camera improvements
The goal of this update is to:
- Introduce additional power saving features to minimize device overheating allowing users to capture longer
- Improve camera usability for all users
Performance improvements
The biggest impact of this update is performance improvements that decrease battery usage and minimize device overheating.
Capturing is very resource demanding as it uses your phone’s compass and GPS with maximum precision, plus the camera to take photos at a high frequency, all while processing and writing the images to disk, displaying captures on the map in real-time, and downloading map data.
The biggest strain on your device is when capturing with the map maximized while connected to a charger. In the table below you can see the time it takes to reach different thermal states before and after this update:
| Thermal state | Camera 2.0 | Camera 3.0 |
| Fair | 5 min | 48 min |
| Serious | 9 min | Never* |
| Critical | > 60 min | Never* |
* All tests were performed on an iPhone 11 Pro connected to a charger in our test environment with a temperature of 23°C (73°F) with an one hour long capture resulting in approximately 3000 images. The same GPX route was used in both tests. Screen dimming was disabled.
If you are in a car in the summer, these thermal states might be reached sooner, but the results above illustrate the improvements. The thermal state ‘Critical’ happens when the device is about to shut down due to overheating.
Note that the test results above are applicable for iOS only—numbers for Android will differ.
New and updated features
Time counter
At the top of the camera screen there is now a time counter so you can see that capture is in progress and how long you have been capturing.
“North” mode on camera map
We have added a button to the full-screen map to toggle how the map is rotated. If set to “north”, the map will not rotate, otherwise the map will rotate in the direction of travel like before.
Updated map styling
The capture that is in progress is now displayed in bright red with a thicker line, to make it stand out more from existing captures.
Screenshot showing the new time counter, the new compass button, and the new map styling.
Settings shortcut in camera
Capture settings are now directly accessible from the camera screen. There is also a new battery saving section.
Screenshots showing the new Settings shortcut.
Overheating prevention
If your phone reaches the thermal state ‘serious’, this alert will be displayed and the live map will be disabled and replaced with a static image to preserve battery life. You can still open the full-screen map by tapping the map image. Capture is not interrupted and the alert will auto dismiss by itself.
Screenshot showing the new overheating message.
Unplug charger reminder
If you are capturing and your phone is charging, the phone can overheat easier. If you open the camera while your phone is charging and the phone battery is >80%, we now show a snackbar to remind you of this.
Screenshot showing the new charging message.
There are some other small improvements in this update, but these are the highlights. Please let us know what you think about this update in the Forum!
/Anders, iOS developer, on behalf of the whole Mapillary team