I don’t see any alert data?

If you don’t see any alerts in your area of interest, check GFW to see if there is data for that location in the selected timeframe. If there are no recent deforestation or VIIRS active fire alerts, it’s likely there has been no recent forest change activity. Consider using the annual tree cover loss contextual layer to find older loss alerts, which could still inform an investigation or field visit.

The app crashes?

If the app crashes, open it again. If it crashes multiple times, please email forestwatcher@wri.org and include information about your device model, what you were doing in the app when it crashed, which app version you are using (found at the bottom of the Settings page) and any relevant screen captures.

I can’t see the compass/my location?

The location and navigation features rely on your device’s internal GPS. Check that the GPS (often called “location services”) is turned on in your device settings. The GPS signal can be weak indoors, so if you are inside or under a roof, try going outside. If it still doesn’t work, please email forestwatcher@wri.org telling us what device model you are using and which app version (found at the bottom of the Settings page). Cell phone GPS are usually not as accurate as standalone GPS devices, so you may also want to input the coordinates of the alert into a GPS device as backup if you have one available.

I want to complete a report later?

If you begin a report and then exit the report, your work thus far and the GPS coordinates of the location where your report was initiated will automatically save. You can return to your draft report later on the Reports page. You can also take a photo using your device’s camera, then upload it to a report later.

Alerts are not loading?

When you first set up Forest Watcher, it can take anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes for the app to completely download relevant data depending on the speed of your Internet connection. If you have weak or slow Internet connection, the download will take longer. Keep the app open to allow the download to complete. After the initial set up, new alert data will download every time you connect to the Internet and the download time will vary depending on how many alerts have occurred. If you want to see if new alerts are available, pull the home screen downward to refresh.

My team and/or I have low bandwidth?

If you have low bandwidth, rather than redownload app content across multiple devices, you could share app content with another device while offline (alerts, areas, routes, reports, contextual layers, basemap tiles or all app content). This process will help reduce bandwidth demands.

I run out of memory on my device?

Forest Watcher contains a lot of data and can take up significant memory on your device, depending on how many areas of interest you have, their size and the number of alerts. The fewer and smaller areas of interest you set up, the less data will need to be downloaded onto your device. We recommend having at least 1 GB of internal storage on your device so that you can use other apps in addition to Forest Watcher, though 4 GB or more is preferred.

I want to customize the reports that I or my team fill out when investigating an area?

You can use Forest Watcher Web to create a custom report template for your team to use when collecting data. You can also add notes in the final section of the form.