Release Date: February 19, 2025
Version: 1.5.3
Drop Rig Tracking
The headline feature of this release is support for unattended drop rig recordings. Field recordists can now track equipment deployed in remote locations with specific extra toggles and visual indicators.
Two-Stage Toggle System
Drop rig tracking uses a simple two-toggle approach:
- Drop Rig toggle marks a take as associated with drop rig equipment
- Currently Dropped toggle (appears when Drop Rig is enabled) indicates the rig is actively deployed in the field
When you mark a rig as “Currently Dropped,” the start time represents deployment, and toggling it off automatically sets the stop time to mark retrieval.
This keeps it simple in that it doesn’t need to have kits setup, keeps things on a per take basis.
Visual Indicators
Active drop rigs are immediately identifiable throughout the app:
- Orange card backgrounds with orange borders in the take list
- Orange map markers instead of the standard green markers
- Time Dropped counter showing elapsed time (e.g., “2d 5h”, “14h”) on take details
- Warning badge displaying “⚠️ Drop Rig • Time Dropped: Xh” between time and technical specifications
Everything should use contrasting elements in light and dark modes, so things should pop out well.
Map pins are also shown in a contrasting orangey color, so if you cover a diverse area it should make it quick to head back to retrieve things.
One thing I didn’t do was make the dropped rigs stick to the top, things still stay in chronological order. If anyone feels strongly on this feature one way or another, please reach out!
Enhanced Tag Handling
Tag handling in takes has also been improved:
Multi-Line Tag Support
Tags now properly wrap to multiple lines within take cards instead of extending off the right edge of the screen. This was a bug that I somehow didn’t catch before.
Space-Friendly Tags
User-created tags can now include spaces. Only commas separate individual tags, allowing for more descriptive tags like “ambient morning”, “traffic noise”, or “why did i wake up this early”.
Smoother Loading States
The take detail loading experience has been completely refactored to eliminate the “Take not found” flash that could appear when opening a take to edit.
What Changed
The previous implementation had a race condition between state updates and UI rendering. The new approach:
- Uses a proper loading state with animated indicator
- Shows a subtle pulsing “Loading…” text optimized for fast database loads
- Only displays “Take not found” after confirming the take doesn’t exist
- Eliminates all redundant state tracking for cleaner, more maintainable code
The loading animation uses a smooth fade pulse (30% to 100% opacity) that looks intentional even for sub-second loads, replacing the circular progress indicator that would only show as a dot on fast operations.
Map Interaction Improvements
Quick Edit from Map
When viewing take details from a map marker, you can now directly edit the take without returning to the main list. An “Edit” button appears on the left side of the dialog (opposite the “Close” button), opening the full take edit screen.
This streamlines the workflow when reviewing takes on the map and needing to make quick updates to metadata or settings.
Looking Forward
Having not done much unattended recordings myself, this is something that I need to test out to see how it works. Please reach out if you find these features useful or have anything you’d like to see added/changed!
I will continue to focus on features that matter most to field recordists while maintaining a clean, distraction-free interface.
FieldLog is available for Android devices running Android 8.0 (API 26) and higher.