This page walks you through recording a new survey in the app. You can do this with or without mobile signal, as long as you've installed the project first (see Installing a Project on Your Device).

Starting a New Survey#

On the home screen, tap your project.
Tap the type of survey you want to record, for example Riverfly Surveys.
Tap Add at the top right of the survey list. A blank survey form opens, titled New ….

If there's no Add button, your account doesn't have permission to add surveys in this project. Ask your project coordinator.

The survey list also has a search box and a filter row above the surveys. See Browsing Surveys in the App for how to use them.

Filling In the Form#

Work through the form from top to bottom. See Tips on Completing Forms in the App, Locations and Map Fields in the App and Adding Photos in the App for help with particular kinds of question.

Longer forms are split into pages. The page number and title appear in a strip at the top of the form, with a badge showing how many problems the page has:

Tap Page 2 (and so on) at the bottom of a page to move to the next one, or use the arrows either side of the page title.
Tap the page title to open Jump to page, which lists every page and how many problems each one has.

The app saves your work on your device as you go, including when you change page or switch to another app. If your phone runs out of battery or the app closes, your answers will still be there when you reopen the survey.

Red Errors and Blue Hints#

The app checks your answers as you go, in the same way as the web site (see Tips on Completing Survey Forms). A banner at the top of each page counts what it has found:

Red errors are things the app can't accept: a required question left blank, text in a number field, or a value outside the allowed range. A brand-new form shows a red banner straight away, such as There are 9 errors to review below, because every required question is still empty. The count falls as you fill them in. You can't save the survey while any errors remain.
Blue hints are things the app thinks you may have missed, but can't be sure about. They're shown in a blue banner, such as There are 13 hints to review below. You can ignore them and save as usual.

On a multi-page form, Jump to page shows the error and hint counts for every page.

Saving the Survey#

When you've finished, tap Done at the top right.
The app asks how you want to save it. The status the survey already has is marked (Current):
- Save as Draft — you haven't finished and want to come back to it later.
- Save as Complete — you've finished and want to submit the survey for approval by a coordinator.
You return to the survey list, where your new survey appears in bold until it has been uploaded.

If you have permission to approve surveys, you'll also see Save as Approved, Save for Review and Save as Rejected. See Survey Approval and QA for what each status means.

If you're online, the app starts uploading the survey straight away. If you're working offline, it waits until you switch Work Offline off. See Checking Uploads and Sync Status.

"Cannot Save"#

The app won't let you save if:

The form contains errors. Pages with problems show a red message at the top, such as There are 2 errors to review below. Fix them, then tap Done again. Blue hints are only advice and don't stop you saving (see above).
The survey has already been approved or rejected. Ask a coordinator to change its status on the web site if it needs editing.

Abandoning a Survey#

Tap Cancel at the top left. If you've made changes, the app asks whether you want to Abandon Changes. For a new survey this throws it away; for an existing survey it puts the survey back as it was before you opened it.

Editing an Existing Survey#

Tap a survey in the survey list to open it. Make your changes and tap Done as above. The app uploads the new version next time it's online.

If someone else changes the same survey on the web site, the app shows their version the next time you open it, unless you have changes of your own waiting to upload. If you both make changes, whichever version is uploaded last wins.