There's a technical detail that has not been mentioned here. When iOS uploads .heic photos (as well as .hevc videos), all the EXIF data are striped. The information stored in EXIF includes time and date, GPS coordinates, shutter speed, camera type, etc. This is the behavior only seen on iOS. What if the website would like to use these information to assist verifying students' submissions? Say, the time and geographic location. Then there's no way to do it, even the site supports the .heic format itself. This is a "silent failure" introduced by iOS, which is not mentioned in any Apple documents. This issue has been reported by various websites, such as:
On the MacOS side, fortunately, all the .heic and .hevc EXIF data will be kept when uploaded through Safari.
In the Android world, let's take a look at Samsung. The latest flagship Galaxy S20, .heic format is supported, however, it's not the default mode. And it has a warning of "Some sharing sites might not support this format" if you choose this format. Also, the .heic photos' EXIF will not be striped during web upload.
My personal opinion - I vote for the push of .heic format from Apply as it's the next generation of image format, and this is the right way to go. However, I disagree with iOS's "silent action" of striping the EXIF data if we do a web upload. Because that's an unexpected / incompatible behavior which breaks things without any warning. This could be one of the considerations that prevents some websites from adopting the .heic format.
The iPhone SHOULD default to sending JPG photos any and every time a photo leaves the iPhone, with the sole exception being photos destined for iCloud storage/backup. I hate HEIC, it screws up all kinds of stuff. Apple has a decades-long history of implementing changes like this with a "shoot first and ask questions later" mentality, or removing functionality and labeling it a "feature."
And to say "the problem is a test maker that hasn't bothered to check if their web app works with iPhones for three years. Period." is incredibly disingenuous and, quite frankly, shows your blatant ignorance. This is happening in large part due to the COVID garbage.
I know it's 2 years later, but that doesn't change my response. You're wrong, sorry. As technology evolves, implementors of technology need to ebb and flow with the changes. Defaulting to a decades old format is like saying that we should stay on leaded gasoline forever and ever. Heck, why aren't we still using candles for lighting? Because things change... and we must adapt with those changes. Period.
They failed to test the website app with current iPhones. Simple as that.
The iPhone SHOULD default to sending JPG photos any and every time a photo leaves the iPhone, with the sole exception being photos destined for iCloud storage/backup. I hate HEIC, it screws up all kinds of stuff. Apple has a decades-long history of implementing changes like this with a "shoot first and ask questions later" mentality, or removing functionality and labeling it a "feature."
And to say "the problem is a test maker that hasn't bothered to check if their web app works with iPhones for three years. Period." is incredibly disingenuous and, quite frankly, shows your blatant ignorance. This is happening in large part due to the COVID garbage.
I know it's 2 years later, but that doesn't change my response. You're wrong, sorry. As technology evolves, implementors of technology need to ebb and flow with the changes. Defaulting to a decades old format is like saying that we should stay on leaded gasoline forever and ever. Heck, why aren't we still using candles for lighting? Because things change... and we must adapt with those changes. Period.
They failed to test the website app with current iPhones. Simple as that.
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