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What the queue is telling you, what to try, and what never to clear.
You finish a check, put the phone down, and a number on the screen says photos are still waiting. Most of the time that is just the dock's signal. Sometimes it is something you can fix. This is how to tell which, and what to do. If you want the background on how photos and answers are saved first and sent later, start with using YachtGrade with no signal. This article is for when it seems stuck.
Two places show you what is still on the phone.
A photo that sends late is still dated when it was taken. Waiting for signal changes when it arrives, not what it is evidence of.
Photos send while YachtGrade is open. The app tries again when signal returns, when you bring it back to the front, and every thirty seconds. If the phone puts the app to sleep in your pocket, the photos stay saved and wait. Open the app, leave it on the screen with signal and give it a few minutes. For a visit with dozens of photos, it takes a while, because they go one at a time.
This is the one that fools people. A phone can be joined to the marina's Wi-Fi and have no internet at all. The phone thinks it is online, so the badge does not say offline, but the uploads cannot get through. You will see photos failing and retrying instead of waiting for signal.
Each photo in the queue also has Save, which puts it on your phone's own photos or files. Use that on any photo you cannot afford to lose. On the finishing screen, Save this visit's photos to my phone does it for the whole visit at once.
Photos waiting to send live in the phone's browser storage. These will lose them:
Every queue row has a small cross that removes the photo. It asks you to tap twice, because it deletes the photo for good. Only use it on one you know you do not need.
If the app will not open or the photos will not move, there is a plain page that does not depend on the app. In the browser you use for YachtGrade, type the app's address followed by /rescue.html. It is titled "Get the photos off this phone". Tap Find the photos on this phone, then Save them all as one zip. It reads the phone's storage, needs no signal, uploads nothing and deletes nothing. You can then send the photos to someone however you like. Open it in the same browser or home screen app you used for the check, because each one keeps its own storage.
Why does the number of photos waiting not go down?
Either there is no real connection, which includes Wi-Fi with no internet, or the app is closed or asleep. Open it, keep it on the screen, and tap Try sending now in the badge. Read any reason shown next to a photo.
Are my photos lost if they say waiting to upload?
No. They are saved on the phone and stay there until they send. They are lost only if you clear the browser's data or delete the app first.
Can I delete the app or clear the browser to fix an upload problem?
No, not while photos are waiting. Both remove the photos from the phone. Let them send, or save them to the phone first.
Do old photos show as taken today when they finally upload?
No. Every photo keeps the time it was taken, separate from the time it uploaded.
How do I get the photos off the phone if nothing works?
Use the Save button on a photo in the queue, the finishing screen's Save this visit's photos to my phone, or the rescue page at /rescue.html, which gives you one zip file.
YachtGrade was designed by a USCG 100-ton captain who spent five years managing, detailing, running and selling boats in South Florida, after four years building IT systems for businesses. Who built it →
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