commons-app
[Bug]: crash when attempting to take picture on nearby without Internet
Summary
app crashes when trying to take picture in Nearby when Internet is not present.
Steps to reproduce
- open the app
- go to Nearby tab
- click on the location
- disable Internet in phone testing (or, in real life, have flaky internet connection)
- click on
+and choose camera to take picture - confirm picture with
OK - app crashes
Expected behaviour
app would not crash in step 7, instead it would ask me to proceed (i.e. type description etc. - of course it would complain when trying to add categories and depicts which need Internet connection, so I would have to wait for them to work again, but I would not lose work and could continue with uploading picuture later when Internet access become available)
Actual behaviour
app crashes, losing picture
Device name
Samsung Galaxy S23+
Android version
Android 15 (stock Samsung ROM, but degooglified, i.e. no GMS)
Commons app version
6.0.2~a283ffe2b (latest F-droid)
Device logs
USER_COMMENT=trying to add camera picture to object in Nearby with no internet connection.
APP_VERSION_CODE=1058
APP_VERSION_NAME=6.0.2
ANDROID_VERSION=15
PHONE_MODEL=SM-S916B
STACK_TRACE=java.lang.NullPointerException: Attempt to invoke virtual method 'double fr.free.nrw.commons.location.LatLng.getLatitude()' on a null object reference
at fr.free.nrw.commons.nearby.PlacesLocalDataSource.fetchPlaces(PlacesLocalDataSource.java:60)
at fr.free.nrw.commons.nearby.PlacesRepository.fetchPlaces(PlacesRepository.java:51)
at fr.free.nrw.commons.nearby.presenter.NearbyParentFragmentPresenter$handleMapScrolled$2.invokeSuspend(NearbyParentFragmentPresenter.kt:573)
at kotlin.coroutines.jvm.internal.BaseContinuationImpl.resumeWith(ContinuationImpl.kt:33)
at kotlinx.coroutines.DispatchedTask.run(DispatchedTask.kt:104)
at kotlinx.coroutines.internal.LimitedDispatcher$Worker.run(LimitedDispatcher.kt:111)
at kotlinx.coroutines.scheduling.TaskImpl.run(Tasks.kt:99)
at kotlinx.coroutines.scheduling.CoroutineScheduler.runSafely(CoroutineScheduler.kt:585)
at kotlinx.coroutines.scheduling.CoroutineScheduler$Worker.executeTask(CoroutineScheduler.kt:802)
at kotlinx.coroutines.scheduling.CoroutineScheduler$Worker.runWorker(CoroutineScheduler.kt:706)
at kotlinx.coroutines.scheduling.CoroutineScheduler$Worker.run(CoroutineScheduler.kt:693)
Suppressed: kotlinx.coroutines.internal.DiagnosticCoroutineContextException: [StandaloneCoroutine{Cancelling}@3b9e738, Dispatchers.IO]
IS_SILENT=false
USER_CRASH_DATE=2025-10-09T17:38:21.804+02:00
REPORT_ID=52b63fbe-5a6d-41f6-8217-1118e5007953
USER_EMAIL=
Screen-shots
https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/e033e014-1619-437f-a286-d420bc95f5af
Would you like to work on the issue?
None
invoke virtual method 'double fr.free.nrw.commons.location.LatLng.getLatitude()' on a null object reference sounds like it might be possibly related to Commons app not having GPS (maybe due to https://github.com/commons-app/apps-android-commons/issues/6468 and Stock Samsung Camera having disabled recording GPS to EXIF), but if I have Internet available when I take picture, the app does not crash immediately, so perhaps unrelated.
App should not crash in any case 🥲
Also, if I try to add a picture via Contributions tab and + without Internet connection; it takes a picture, and correctly opens a dialog saying "Connection Error / The upload process requires active internet access. Please check your network connection. / CANCEL UPLOAD / OK" (instead of crashing). It should work like that for images taken via Nearby tab too.
At first, two times:
❌ I cannot reproduce using 6.0.2~a283ffe2b with both location enabled and disabled.
I do get the dialog saying "Connection Error / The upload process requires active internet access. Please check your network connection. / CANCEL UPLOAD / OK".
And then, two other times:
✔️ I can reproduce using 6.0.2~a283ffe2b with both location enabled and disabled.
I don't get the dialog saying "Connection Error / The upload process requires active internet access. Please check your network connection. / CANCEL UPLOAD / OK". The app crashes instead.
Sooo, yeah!
As you said, the app doesn't immediately crash when Internet is on, so I don't think this is related to the GPS being enabled or not.
I think it's related to getting the Latitude and the Longitude of the point on the map, and not the actual user position. For me, this refers to a request being done to the OpenStreetMap API in order to get the coordinates of the object.
The two behaviours have occured to me several times, at maybe a 50% ratio and I couldn't find a reason whether or not it would work.
Hi @PetitPotiron, are you working on this issue?
Hi @rohit9625. No, unfortunately, I have nearly zero knowledge in android development. And I have no time to learn for now.
It is yours if you want!
Hi @Kota-Jagadeesh, thanks for asking. Actually, I started working on this issue and reached the code causing the issue. But I didn't get enough time to continue working on a fix. If you have time and are willing to fix this issue, then I can link the code here, so that you can continue the work from there. Otherwise, I'll be able to work on this after Tuesday.
Let me know :)
Hi @Kota-Jagadeesh, thanks for asking. Actually, I started working on this issue and reached the code causing the issue. But I didn't get enough time to continue working on a fix. If you have time and are willing to fix this issue, then I can link the code here, so that you can continue the work from there. Otherwise, I'll be able to work on this after Tuesday.
Let me know :)
Hi @rohit9625, Thanks for the update! No worries about the time, I actually went ahead and implemented a fix for this issue. I have opened the PR related to this issue : ) Thanks again!
That's good @Kota-Jagadeesh. But, I'll suggest that you get the issue assigned to you first from the next time. I hope you understand :)
That's good @Kota-Jagadeesh. But, I'll suggest that you get the issue assigned to you first from the next time. I hope you understand :)
Yeah, Sure 👍🏻