why can't i upload pictures anymore?

I've been using my samsung galaxy siii phone to post my daily log and have had no problem attaching pictures to my posts for the first month or so I've been here. On the mobile site, I just tap the "add another file" button down below the text box and until maybe a week ago, it prompted me to select files to attach. But now, no matter how much I tap that button, nothing happens. When I try the full, non mobile site, I used to be able to tap the attachments tab and it would allow me to select files, but now when I tap the attachments tab, nothing happens.

I was able to work around this issue by uploading pics to my wordpress and then embedding them, but now I'm having trouble with that too...

Very frustrating.

I've been talking to the programming team about this and from what we can make out it's only you having trouble, so I guess the phone might need resetting in some way?

I have no idea whether a power cycle or a device reset will solve your problem (usually a power cycle is all I need in the IOS world) but there are some really good instructions for the full reset (wipes all your data!) here:

Reset A Galaxy S3 <<<== DRASTIC MEASURE

If you're not in the habit of power cycling your phone (internet tells me you just need to hold down the power button for 15 seconds on an S3) it's like rebooting a computer, it frequently fixes all sort of obscure problems and there shouldn't be any risk of data loss. (It's the first thing I do whenever my iPhone is acting slow and wonky, which is often, because my device lags a couple of generations behind the operating system.)

Evan - your thread is getting really pic heavy. Is it possible that you are running into a limit on the total number of images? Can you post in other threads?

Evan,

Can you easily email photos? It may be an issue with the photo. The web gets funny with image filenames for example.

If you send me a moosage, I will share my email address, and you could email me one of the pics that isn't working to see if it works for my from my galaxy phone.

My guess would be the photo file is the culprit if WordPress is also having problems.

I haven't started doing anything differently than the way I did things the first month, at least as far as I can tell.

Not just my thread, same issue with other threads too.

And my issues with wordpress are twofold and seem intermittent. Sometimes it just won't load any wordpress anything and claims to not be able to make a secure connection, and sometimes it lets me get as far as selecting a file to upload before just not recognizing it.

Tried the power cycling thing and it didn't seem to do anything. Maybe I did it wrong. Haven't done the full reset yet, but it's looking more and more like the only option.

Before you go factory resetting your phone, see if someone else, Gapper, Paul, Ant, Passing Stranger has a phone you can borrow and use to make a post with pictures...

If it works, it's your phone, If it doesn't work on someone elses phone either, it's the cows getting tired of holding the pictures up to the computer screens and going on strike. ref: https://permies.com/t/47292/tnk/fun-stuff-cows-tired

Evan - I don't think this is user error.

I had an S3 and upgraded to an s4 about a year ago, so I feel your pain. Both phones have/had a tendency to upgrade themselves, sometimes with notification, and sometimes without. After an upgrade, things would often be different.

For example, the camera software might have changed the file naming convention, or the internet browser options/settings may have changed, so now a website that worked for months, stops working without explanation. Android phones are much more customizable/flexible than iphones, but they are also much fussier.

Once it is light outside, I will take a pic on my phone and try to post it and see if I have the same issues on my s4. The s3 and s4 are very similar.

One item you could try self-service is to install a different internet browser app and see if that fixes the issue.

We have a laptop available for evan and a few others to use. Of course, this means that to upload an image, evan has to ride his bicycle down here, fire up the laptop, transfer files from his phone to the laptop, then log in, upload files, shut down the laptop and put it away, and then ride his bike back to ant village.

That could take a LOT of time from a day. And if you add that up seven times a week, that could have a serious impact on velocity.

It sounds like the problem is evan's phone.

If anybody out there is a bit of a phone expert, I have four smart phones on my desk that aren't doing anything and are, supposedly, in perfectly good working order. Three are "brigadier" (apparently an indestructable phone from verizon). If these can be of help, I would be glad to donate it to the cause - no strings attached.

Test photo from an s4...

Evan - below are the first few screens on my s4 when I attached photos to a post. Wldo my screens match yours? If so, which step is the problem?

To takes a screens shot on your phone, hit the home/bottom button at the same time as the top right button. The screen hot will be saved to your phone.

Screenshot is saved here...

Hi Evan -

Sorry this situation is such a pain for you!

What day did this start to be a problem?

To me, it looks like 5/20/15. I see 2 of your posts in evan ant village log thread, that day. In the first of your 5/20/15 posts (Day 42) , it appears that the photos are stored at permies. In the second one (Day 43), it appears they are stored some other way.
link to page of evan ant village log thread, with day 42 and 43 posts in it, for easy reference

Is this the day you started to have the problem and first started embedding photos, using your wordpress site?

Thanks!
Mariamne

Edit Update: Sheesh - fail! Disregard. I was a year off on this. Sorry if I caused any confusion to anyone...

Hi Evan -

Also, who is your cel carrier?
I ask, because I am seeing evidence of some upgrade pushes to your model, by some carriers in this timeframe.*

Thanks,
Mariamne

* e.g.: Sprint update

OK you're trying to rule out the site and the device so far. While that's ongoing try also to rule out your account. Make a second account and see if that allows you to upload.

After trying 3 alternative browsers, I'm now using chrome and it seems to work. Thanks everybody for the help and advice. I should be back to rocking my 3ish photos a day.

If someone on the staff could put my 2 or 3 posts with embedded photos on probation so I can edit them and maintain stylistic coherence by uploading directly to permies, that would be awesome. There's also one post, from two days ago, that doesn't have any photos at all, and being able to edit that one as well will solve all my current technical frustrations. Thanks again!

I think I got them all. Hit the report button on any I missed.

Thanks for editing those Evan, that looks much better !!