All scanned tests and certificates erased

[7u771e]

Avoid duplicates

• [X] Bug is not mentioned in the FAQ
• [X] Bug is specific for iOS only, for general issues / questions that apply to iOS and Android please raise them in the documentation repository
• [X] Bug is not already reported in another issue

Technical details

• Device name: iPhone SE MXD22ZD/A A2296 128GB
• iOS version: 15.2.1 (19C63)
• App version: 2.16.2 (0)
• Backup to iCloud is on, iCloud storage is availabe
• App offloading is on
• Active Region Germany, Notification, Exposure Sharing and Travel Status On

Describe the bug

When opening the app for the first time the day, it/the phone prompted me to give permission for exposure notifications, which I already did long ago. All my tests and vaccination-certificates are gone. The Journal is empty. It looks like a fresh installation without any data.

Steps to reproduce the issue

Not reproducible, the app is empty now, except from the test I entered today.

Expected behaviour

• As a user I expect Certificates and tests saved in the CWA to always be available, whether my device is online or offline or the storage is full. The status offline/full may happen at any time at the most inconvenient situation and the CWA is the tool I rely on to present my certificates.
  The information may be recreatable in theory by re-scanning the original codes, but those codes are usually not at hand when the CWA is used.
• As a user I expect to have continuous exposure tracking when using the CWA. It is not clear to me now whether the prompt to reauthorize CWA for exposure tracking means that there is a gap in my data. As a user I can't see the period logged from within the app, so I can't know if the prompt was "just a glitch" or if it means that my exposure data of two weeks is not used anymore.

Possible Fix

• I feels as if the data of the CWA either was purged or damaged or deleted by a transient low space situation of iOS. Maybe it is in parts not marked properly according to paragraph 4 of https://developer.apple.com/icloud/documentation/data-storage/
  From what I read data can be at the same time excluded from backup but save from purging.
• The period of exposure data the CWA is referring to should be visible to the user. Instead of "no exposures" "no exposures between datefirst and datelast" would be a useful message on the second screen of the exposure Info (the green/red panel). (Ah, feels like a feature)

Additional context

In the night before my iPhone briefly showed a warning concerning insufficient storage but it "fixed itself" - I guess by cleaning up volatile data or by App offloading. However I don't remember that CWA was offloaded and reinstalled this morning!

The exposure Log of the phone still contains continuous records for two weeks. Vaccination status for 3 vaccinations was lost, the information was entered many weeks and months ago. Multiple rapid tests had been entered and deleted within the period.

I have been using the CWA on iOS since the first versions. I have been using it in Austria and Switzerland, too, with the options that were available at that time.

---

Internal Tracking ID: EXPOSUREAPP-11600

[Ein-Tim]

There was a similar report from @Pelikan3857 back in mid-2021: https://github.com/corona-warn-app/cwa-app-ios/issues/1521

Both issues have in common that the device ran out of space.

[dsarkar]

@7u771e Thanks for the report. Do you know if this happened in context with an update to CWA 2.16.2 or maybe with an iOS update?

Best wishes, DS

---

Corona-Warn-App Open Source Team

[7u771e]

@dsarkar While the iPhone is on auto-update, it is still on 15.2.1 and my CWA has been updated on 2022-01-22. So it does not seems as if there was a nightly update involved.

[larswmh]

We have created an internal ticket for your issue and will raise this topic internally. Internal Tracking ID: EXPOSUREAPP-11600

---

Corona-Warn-App Open Source Team

[dsarkar]

@7u771e Thanks for your feedback.

[ndegendogo]

Just a question. The OP mentioned app offloading. Does cwa support such a scenario? It means that all data be "off-loadable" and then of course restorable again - right? As far as I understand, not even all cwa data are included in a backup - is this still the case, or is my understanding outdated?

Does iOS provide some API or similar interface so that an app can prevent being off-loaded (e.g. if this is not supported by the app)?

[Ein-Tim]

Is there any updater on this issue available?