Take and attach photos
By the end of this article you’ll know how to attach a before or after photo to a job, and what the app does with it once you’ve taken it.
Photos are how the office and the customer see what you saw. Take a Before shot when you arrive and an After shot when you’re done — the rest is one tap each.
Take a photo
- Open the job. In the bar at the bottom, tap Photo.
- An Add photo sheet asks which kind: Before photo or After photo. Tap one.
- If the job covers more than one vehicle, the app asks Which vehicle is this photo for? and lists them by name or plate. Tap the right one. A single-vehicle job skips this step and tags the photo for you.
- Your phone’s camera opens. Take the shot and accept it.
- A toast confirms it: Photo uploaded. when you have signal, or Saved. It’ll upload when you reconnect. when you don’t.
The photo appears on the page in a Photos card with a Before or After badge. Repeat for as many as you need — the Photo button is grayed only while a photo is still on its way up.
Backing out of the camera isn’t an error; nothing is saved and nothing is said.
What the app does with the photo
- It shrinks it. A 12-megapixel shot becomes a few hundred kilobytes before a byte leaves the phone, so an upload over a weak signal takes seconds, not minutes.
- It strips the location. Your phone stamps every picture with where it was taken. The app removes that and every other hidden tag, so a photo never says where the customer lives or which phone shot it.
- It’s camera only. There’s no picking from your gallery — the photo has to be taken on the job, which is what makes it evidence.
- It’s yours or the crew’s. Anyone on the job can take photos, not just the lead.
Without signal
A photo taken offline is saved on the phone and sent on the next sync — you’ll see Saved. It’ll upload when you reconnect. The sync bar at the top counts it among the changes pending. Keep the app installed and signed in until it’s gone up; the photos and the changes waiting with them live on this phone until then.
How many a job can hold
The limit depends on your company’s plan and counts before and after together: 5 on Starter, 20 on Pro, no limit on Business. Past it, the toast says This job has reached its photo limit. Upgrade your plan to add more. and the photo isn’t saved — it’s a hard limit, so there’s no point retrying. The office chooses the plan.
If the camera won’t open
- Camera access is off. Turn it on for Wax Stak in your device settings, then try again. — you declined the camera permission when the app first asked. Open your phone’s settings, find the app, and allow the camera. See Permissions the app asks for.
- No camera is available on this device. — the app can’t reach a camera at all. On a phone that’s rare; on a tablet without a rear camera it’s expected.
- Couldn’t upload the photo. Please try again. — the capture itself failed. Try once more; if it keeps failing, restart the app.
Good to know
- The Photos card shows the photos you’ve taken on this visit. Earlier visits’ photos, and ones a teammate took, are in the office, not on the phone.
- A photo can’t be deleted from the phone. If you took the wrong one, tell the office.
- Photos don’t have to be taken while the job is In Progress — before you start and after you complete both work.