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In the mobile app: the report editor → open a comment → the camera, video and library buttons.

Every comment in the report editor can hold photos and videos. Take them with the Hive camera or add them from your phone’s library, then draw on them to point out what matters.

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Add photos and videos to a comment

Open the comment. The six buttons under its name are: Press and hold any of them to see its name. The camera and library buttons on a folded comment card do the same as the first and fourth. The open defect Downspouts Drain Near House: the camera button on its card shows 2, then six media buttons (camera, video camera, location pin, photo library, video library, flag), two photo thumbnails each with a red x, and the Description A comment holds up to 150 photos and 10 videos. Adding one turns the comment on. Under the buttons, each photo and video shows as a thumbnail:
  • Tap a photo to open it for annotating.
  • Tap a video to play it. You can add a caption and location tags, then tap Save.
  • Press and drag a thumbnail to change the order. The report uses the same order.
  • Tap the red x to remove one. The app asks “Remove Media: Are you sure you want to remove this item?”
  • A thumbnail can show Pending (waiting to upload), Syncing… or Processing… (a video being prepared). Photos upload when the report syncs.

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The Hive camera

The camera opens full screen: On a tablet the controls sit in a column on the right, and you can drag a second, floating shutter button wherever is easiest to reach. Your camera defaults (aspect ratio, flash, grid, locking the orientation to portrait or landscape, a date and time stamp on each photo, shutter sound and Voice Shutter) are in My Profile → Camera Settings. With Voice Shutter on, say “capture”, “shoot” or “cheese” to take a photo; tap the microphone in the camera to pause it.

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After you tap Done

  1. If your company has Show Multi-Image Preview on, you see your photos first. Remove any you don’t want, then tap Confirm, or Back to Camera to take more.
  2. If your company asks for annotations on this kind of comment, each photo opens for annotating. Defects ask by default; Information and Limitations don’t. Tap Skip All to skip.
  3. The photos are added to the comment.
These options are in My Profile → Annotation Settings and apply to your whole company. See Photo and annotation settings.
Photos you take with the Hive camera are also saved to your phone’s photo library, in an album named after the property address, so you have a backup until they sync. You can turn this off in My Profile → Gallery Save Settings, but it’s safer to leave it on.

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Annotate a photo

Tap a photo’s thumbnail. The annotation screen opens: The annotation screen, titled Edit 1 of 2, with an X button and a greyed-out Clear button. The photo of a downspout fills the middle, with left and right arrow buttons and a blue tick button. Below it the caption Upper downspout empties onto the lower roof, and two rows of tools: brightness, rotate left, rotate right, crop and loupe; then arrow, circle, box (selected), line, Aa text, a blue colour swatch and a location pin

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The drawing tools

The same photo with a blue box drawn around the end of the downspout. The Clear button is now active The tool you start with, and the starting colour, come from your company’s Annotation Settings. Without a default colour, each comment type gets its own: green for Information, mustard for Limitations, and blue, orange or red for each defect category. The Add Text Annotation window: a text box with Extend downspout, 84 characters remaining, a Preview showing Extend downspout in blue, and Cancel and Add Text buttons, above the keyboard

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Change or delete an annotation

Tap an annotation to select it. Drag it to move it, use the handles to resize or turn it, or tap the red trash button to delete it. Double-press a text label to change its text. Clear at the top removes every annotation on the photo, after you confirm. The photo with a blue box around the downspout and the selected text label Extend downspout, showing a red trash button, a green rotate handle, an orange resize handle and a blue move handle

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Colour

Tap the coloured square to pick a colour: green, mustard yellow, blue, orange, red, yellow, white or black. The palette button below them opens Custom Color, where you type any colour code, such as #1E40AF. The Select Annotation Color window with eight colour circles (green, mustard, blue with a tick, orange, red, yellow, white and black), a palette button for a custom colour, and the text Selected: Blue

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Crop, rotate and brightness

The crop view: the photo with a white crop frame, corner handles and grid lines, the caption below, preset buttons Free (selected), 1:1, 4:3 and 16:9, and Cancel and Apply buttons The brightness panel under the annotated photo: a slider from a moon icon, 0%, and Reset and Apply buttons
Rotating or cropping removes the arrows, shapes and text on the photo. The app warns you first. Location tags are kept. Crop and rotate first, then annotate.

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Caption and location tags

  • Type a caption in the box under the photo. It shows under the photo in the report.
  • Tap the location pin to tag where the photo was taken. Tap tags to add them, or type your own in Current Tags, then tap Done. The tags show on the photo.
The Select Location Tags screen: Current Tags (editable) reads Basement Rear, with a Clear button. Three columns of tags: Group 1 (Basement, Crawlspace, 1st Floor, 2nd Floor, Attic, Garage), Group 2 (Front, Rear, Left Side, Right Side, North, South, East, West) and Group 3 (Kitchen, Living Room, Dining Room, Primary Bedroom, Bedroom, Bathroom, Laundry, Hallway). Cancel and Done buttons at the bottom Your company sets the tag lists in My Profile → Location Tags or on the dashboard. The same screen opens from the location pin on a comment, to tag the whole comment.

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Save or leave

  • Tap the blue tick to save the photo with your annotations.
  • The left and right arrows move to the other photos on the comment. Your changes to the current photo are kept when you move.
  • X leaves. If you changed something, the app asks “Unsaved Changes: Save changes before closing?” Tap Save & Close or Discard.
The Unsaved Changes message over the annotated photo: Save changes before closing? Buttons Discard and Save & Close When you annotate photos straight after taking them, the title reads Annotate 1 of 3 and Skip All skips the rest. Closing there asks “Cancel Annotation: Discard all annotations and return?” The original photo is kept. Annotations are drawn on top and can be changed later, in the app or on the dashboard. Thumbnails in the app show a small copy of the annotations, so you can see at a glance which photos are marked up.

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Common questions

Your company asks for annotations on that kind of comment. Defects ask by default. Change it in My Profile → Annotation Settings (it applies to everyone in your company), or tap Skip All.
In My Profile → Annotation Settings: Default Shape and Default Annotation Color. They apply to your whole company.
Rotating or cropping removes annotations. Rotate and crop first, then draw.
The app saves them on the phone straight away, and the Hive camera also saves a copy to your photo library unless you turned Save Captured Photos off. Sync as soon as you have signal. See Syncing and offline use.

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Where to go next

Last modified on October 25, 2026