Stamped photos from Maliru's camera

Some clients want every site photo to show when and where it was taken, written on the picture itself. In the iPhone and Android apps, Maliru's own camera does that: the date, time, place and anything else you choose are burnt into each photo the moment it is taken.

Two settings switch it on, and neither changes the other:

• Stamp camera photos on a form, for that form's photo questions. See Switch it on for a form below.
• Evidence photo stamp in Global settings, for photos taken as evidence everywhere else: through Capture, on a job's Evidence tab, on a vehicle spot check and on an issue report. See Evidence photos below.

Switch it on for a form

Open the form in the builder, choose Settings and switch on Stamp camera photos. It is off until you do. Choose Apply, then Save the form. Changing a form needs Manage forms.

The form needs a photo question. Without one, the setting says "Add a photo question to use this."

The date and time are always on the stamp. Below the switch, choose what else goes on it:

• Address: the street address where the photo is taken. Looking it up needs signal; with none, the line is left off rather than showing an old address.
• Position: Latitude and longitude (the default), Eastings and northings, or None. Eastings and northings use the Irish grid on the island of Ireland and the British National Grid in Great Britain; anywhere else the stamp shows latitude and longitude instead. They are worked out on the phone, so they need no signal.
• GPS accuracy (±m): how close the phone's fix is, for example ±6 m, after the position. It isn't offered when Position is None.
• Record (job, vehicle, site or asset): the name of the record the form is filled against, as the stamp's title.
• Workspace logo: your logo, on a small white card in the bottom-right corner. Like the logo on your PDFs, it appears on Team plans and above. Set it under Global settings › Branding.
• Let staff add a note: lets whoever takes the photo type a short note onto it.
• Also save to the phone's photos: "A copy the crew keep if the app or the upload fails."

Every line starts ticked except Let staff add a note.

Switching the stamp on also ticks Location stamp capture on the form's photo questions, so each photo's time and position are stored with it as well as drawn on it.

On a form with Confidential responses on, photos are never saved to the phone. The settings say "Photos on a confidential form are never saved to the phone's photos."

Taking stamped photos

On the phone, tap the photo question and choose Take a photo. A question set to Camera only opens the camera straight away. Maliru's camera opens, with the Maliru M at the top so it is plain that this isn't the phone's own camera. The stamp is drawn live over the picture: the clock ticks and the address and position follow you, so what you see is what is saved.

• Tap the shutter for each photo. The camera stays open, so take as many as you need, then tap Done, or the last photo in the corner. Going back keeps the photos too.
• Pinch to zoom. Switch camera changes between the back and front cameras.
• Each photo is stamped as it is taken, and only the stamped photo is kept. There is no unstamped copy.
• With Also save to the phone's photos on, each photo goes into the phone's photos straight away, before anything is uploaded: the camera roll on an iPhone, an album called Maliru on Android. If the app, the upload or the phone lets you down, you still have every photo to upload by hand. If the phone doesn't allow it, the camera says "Photos are not being saved to your phone. Allow Maliru to add photos in your phone's settings." The photos still go on the form.
• The photos then send with the form like any other photo, straight away or once there is signal. See Working with no signal.

The first time, the phone asks you to let Maliru use the camera, then your location. Maliru reads your position only while the camera is open, for the stamp, and stops when it closes. If the camera can't start, it says "The camera could not start. Check that Maliru is allowed to use the camera in your phone's settings."

Choose the record first

When the stamp carries the record, choose what the form is for before you take any photos, because the name is burnt into every one. Tapping the photo question first shows "Choose what this form is for first. It goes on every photo's stamp." A form opened from a job, vehicle or site already has its record.

Notes

With Let staff add a note on, the camera has a Note button. Type up to 80 characters, for example Trench 2, before backfill, and choose Save. The note goes on every photo you take until you change it, including the next time you open the camera while filling in the same form. Clear removes it. The button turns amber while a note is set.

The note is kept as text too: it shows under the photo on the submission and in its PDF.

At night or in poor light

• Flash steps through off, auto, on and torch. The torch stays lit while you frame the shot, like a work light. The phone remembers your choice for next time.
• Tap the picture to focus there. A Brightness slider appears beside it for a few seconds: slide up to lighten the photo, down to darken it.

Without a location

If location is off, or Maliru isn't allowed to use it, the camera says "Location is off, so photos are stamped without a position." and the stamp reads No location where the position would be. While the phone is still finding you, it says "Finding your location…". A position more than two minutes old isn't used. Maliru never guesses where a photo was taken.

Evidence photos

A form's setting covers that form alone. Every other camera photo taken as evidence is stamped by one setting for the whole workspace. Open Global settings from the account menu (your avatar, top right) and find the Evidence photo stamp card, below Branding. Switch on Stamp camera photos, choose the lines, then Save. It is off until you do. Changing it needs Manage settings. Without it, the card is read-only and says "Only people who can manage settings can change this."

The lines are the same as a form's: Address, Position, GPS accuracy (±m), Record (job, vehicle, site or asset), Workspace logo, Let staff add a note and Also save to the phone's photos. Every line starts ticked except Let staff add a note. A form never uses this setting, and switching it on changes no form.

With it on, these open Maliru's camera in the iPhone and Android apps:

Where	Button	The record on the stamp
Capture → Photo or file	Take a photo	The record you're capturing against, such as the job or vehicle
A job's Evidence tab	Take a photo	The job
A vehicle's Spot check	Camera, on a defect	The vehicle's registration
An issue report	Take a photo	The issue's subject

It is the same camera forms use (see Taking stamped photos above). For evidence:

• Each photo you take before Done is saved as its own piece of evidence. A spot check takes up to 8 photos per defect, and an issue report up to 5 files.
• A note typed in the camera carries on to your next evidence photos until you change or clear it.
• On an issue report, when the stamp carries the record, choose the Subject before you take any photos, because it is burnt into every one. Tapping Take a photo first says "Pick the subject first. It goes on every photo's stamp." A General issue has no record to name, and an issue reported from a record already has its subject.
• With the setting off, Take a photo and Camera use the phone's own camera, one photo at a time.

The phone keeps the setting with the rest of the workspace, so photos are stamped with no signal too, and they send later like any other capture. A change to the setting reaches a phone the next time it is online.

What isn't stamped

• Photos chosen from the gallery, and photos uploaded in a web browser, including Field view on a computer. They are added exactly as before. A photo already stamped by Maliru's camera keeps its stamp if you upload it again from the gallery, because the stamp is part of the picture.
• Videos, files and signatures.
• Evidence photos while Evidence photo stamp is off, and a form's photos while its own Stamp camera photos is off. One doesn't switch on the other.
• Photos that aren't evidence: receipts for fuel, bills and expenses, photos in chat, profile pictures and the photo taken during an induction.
• Photos taken on an older version of the app, which uses the phone's ordinary camera. See Updating Maliru.

There is no what3words on the stamp. Use latitude and longitude, or eastings and northings.

What the stamp looks like

The words sit straight on the photo, bottom left, in white with a thin dark edge so they stay readable over sky or tarmac:

1. the record, in bold;
2. beside an amber bar: the date, time and time zone, then the address, then the position and its accuracy;
3. the note, in a light box;
4. the logo, bottom right.

The time is the phone's own clock and time zone, for example 8 Oct 2026 14:02:31 BST. Latitude and longitude show to five decimal places, and eastings and northings in whole metres, for example E 498752 N 175316.

In the office

A stamped form photo arrives on the submission like any other photo, with its stamp burnt in. Its time and place are stored with it as well, so the submission and the PDF show them under the photo, with the note if there is one. See Reviewing submissions and AI review and PDF reports.

A stamped evidence photo arrives in the record's Evidence like any other capture, with its stamp burnt in. Its time is the moment it was taken, not when it was uploaded, and its position is kept with it, so Location in Evidence & audit opens where it was taken. See Evidence and the audit trail.