Annotating a photo: circle it, point at it, explain it
Draw freehand on a photo before attaching it to a task, a structure or a message.
A wide shot of the undergrowth shows nothing. The same frame with a red circle around the break and an arrow pointing at it becomes an instruction.
That's all this tool does: draw freehand on a photo, on the phone, before attaching it.
Where: mobile app, on any photo you've already added — tap it to open the editor.
Where it works
Everywhere you add a photo from the mobile app:
- a task, when creating and when editing — to-dos included;
- a structure and an inspection report;
- a discussion message, as long as it hasn't been sent yet.
The gesture is the same everywhere: tap a photo already added in the media list. The editor opens over it, full screen and black.
This is a mobile-only feature. On the web you add photos, you don't annotate them.
The editor
The annotation editor.
- 1Undo and redo, next to the title.
- 2Five colours, plus a swatch to pick your own.
- 3Three stroke widths.
There's only one gesture: your finger draws. No ready-made shapes, no text, no automatic arrows — a pen, and that's it. That's deliberate: on a phone, with gloves on, a pen is faster than a tool menu.
The settings are down to the essentials:
- five colours — red, yellow, blue, white, black — plus a swatch that opens a full picker if none of them fits;
- three stroke widths;
- undo and redo, stroke by stroke.
Red and yellow are the two that carry on a forest photo. White and black are for very dark or very bright shots — a white stroke on wet bark reads better than a red one.
The tick at the top right stays disabled until you've drawn something: nothing to save, nothing to do.
Replace or copy
The choice on save.
- 1The choice only appears when the photo is already attached to an existing record.
When you confirm, the app flattens your drawing and the photo into a single new JPEG. The strokes are now part of the image: they can't be edited again.
Depending on where you came from, two behaviours:
| Where you are | What happens |
|---|---|
| A record you are editing | You're asked: replace the original or create a copy |
| A record being created, or a discussion message | The annotated photo replaces the original, no question asked |
Create a copy is the right choice when the photo is evidence. You keep the raw state of the site — useful if someone disputes it, or for an insurance file — and the annotated version sits beside it as the instruction.
An annotation can't be undone after the fact. If you replaced and you regret it, you have to take the photo again.
Three pieces of advice
Annotate before sending, not after. In a discussion, the tool is only available on photos still in the composer. Once the message is out, the photo is fixed.
A circle beats a paragraph. "The broken plank is the third one from the left" has to be read twice. A red circle doesn't.
Keep the original when the photo documents an incident. For a condition record, a damage claim or an insurance file, the annotated copy adds to the evidence — it shouldn't replace it.