Drag-and-drop on blocks does not work reliably on some Android devices

Describe the bug
On some Android devices, draging-and-dropping blocks after the changes made in Anytype Android 0.6.0 does not work reliably. Before the drag-and-drop changes, the functionality worked, albeit with too much sensitivity.

One cause for this issue I suspect is modifying the “Long press duration” value in Android’s Accessibility settings from the default 500ms. I’ve changed mine to 200ms, but I’m unsure as to how this affects the drag-and-drop, but changing it back to the default 500ms also did not resolve the issue.

If the developer wants to test the issue, please consider changing the Accessibility “Long press duration” from the default value to see if that is the cause.

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

  1. [On an affected device/installation] Long-press on a movable block, and try to use the drag-and-drop gesture to move the block.
  2. If the device is affected, it will not work.

Expected behavior
I expected drag-and-drop to work on all Android devices, even those with modifications.

System Information:

  • OS: Android 12, One UI 4.1, July 2022 manufacturer patch, June 2022 Google Play patch
  • Device Manufacturer/Model: Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra (SM-N986N)
  • Anytype Version: 0.8.2

Additional Information
Here’s a screen recording of the drag-and-drop feature not working on Android. I’ve enabled “Show taps”, but, if requested, I can film another video with my finger visible on camera.

Interestingly, I can feel the vibration when trying to drag-and-drop certain types of blocks, but I’m unable to drag it after.

3 Likes

Im also unable to get the drag and drop to work. Samsung s20, Android 12. Anytype 0.9.0

The working of drag and drop on Android seems to be undocumented:

A tap allows you to edit or interact with the block. A semi-long press allows you to start drag and drop. A longer press results in selection. Unfortunately, there is no feedback when you have pressed long enough to end up with the desired state.

Edit: @edwards shall we turn this bug report into a feature request to have feedback on when the two different touch and hold modes are activated? Or do you actually see this as a (separate) issue?

1 Like

I think this should be considered as an issue, as the “semi-long press” to start drag-and-drop doesn’t seem to work on my device at all after 0.6.0 no matter how hard I try - the feedback to distinguish between the two types would be very helpful but that doesn’t really tackle the core issue of drag-and-drop not working.

On a side note, perhaps the long-press to select could be made a bit more discoverable for new users? Drag-and-drop should be intuitive for most users, but long-press to select is harder to discover - which is a shame as it’s extremely useful for bulk operations.

2 Likes

I agree, let’s see what the Anytype team has in mind about this issue (/future feature request :wink: )

1 Like

Hey @edwards, did it get better for you on 0.14.0?