We’re looking into improving the image management features of BG Stats. The information on this page might be out of date at some points. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us.

We all like to add a photo to our play notation, to savour the moment. With Board Game Stats you can easily do that, directly while editing a Play, or afterwards, when viewing it.

All these photos do get stored locally, so might end up taking lots of space on your device. Therefor, version 1.7 of Board Game Stats for iOS introduces some Image Management settings.

The Android version of Board Game Stats stores all images in your device’s Gallery, and not in app-specific folders. When you delete an item from the Gallery, Board Game Stats will no longer have that image for your play. 

In-app image storage vs. Photo library storage

Until version 1.6.x Board Game Stats for iOS always stored all images in-app, i.e. locally in the app itself. This happened when taking a photo from within the app, but also when selecting an existing image from your photo library. The downside was the size of the app grows, without showing where this space is used.

Starting from version 1.7 images selected from the photo library are not copied into the app by default, but only linked to. This means no additional storage is used when selecting images from the photo library.

Starting from version 1.7 taking new photos can be configured to store the new picture in the photo library instead of inside the app. The photo is placed in an album named ‘Board Game Stats’ if possible. The new image is then linked to like described above.

You can see how much space images in your app take by going to the Setttings screen (from the Overview screen),  and choosing Image handling Settings. If any image are stored inside your app, the number and size of them are listing just below the setting ‘Save new Photos in Library’.

Pros and Cons

In-app storage pros:

  • all your Board Game Stats data is kept in one place;
  • moving images around in your photo library, or removing them from your photo library does not sever the link with the play.

In-app storage cons:

  • the size of the app grows, and it will show up on top of your storage usage list on your device;
  • you cannot edit the image, nor are they many sharing options inside the app;
  • there is currently no easy way to view all images in a gallery-like format.

Photo library storage pros:

  • all your photos are kept in one place;
  • you can make backups like you’re used to, and use iCloud photo library and photostream features;
  • you can edit an image, the edited version will appear in Board Game Stats;
  • you can share the image using all available methods;
  • photos taken from within the app or moved from the app to the photo library are kept in an album named ‘Board Game Stats’.

Photo library storage cons:

  • in the photo library itself you have no direct link to the corresponding play;
  • you could easily delete an image, or move it in such a way that Board Game Stats can no longer find it;
  • if your image is removed from the device and then re-added via iCloud photo library, Board Game Stats can probably not find it;
  • if you remove an image from inside the app, the image remains in the Photo library;
  • if you remove an image from the Photo library, an missing image icon will appear in the app where the image used to be.

Which storage method fits you best, is up to you! The version 1.7 defaults are:

  • New photos taken from within the app, are saved inside the app.
  • Images added to a Play by selecting them from the Photo library are not copied but only linked to.

You can see where a specific image resides by press-and-holding on an image. The text in the action sheet that appears describes where the image is located. If the image is stored in-app you’ll also get the option to move that image to the Photo library instead.

Explanation of the Settings

Save new Photos in Library:

  • off (default): when taking a photo from within the app, the photo is stored in-app and added to the Play.
  • on: when taking a photo from within the app, the new photo is stored in your Photo library in an album named ‘Board Game Stats’ and linked to from the Play.
    If you have turned this setting on and there are still images inside the app, an option appears to Move images to the Photo library (see below for explanation).

Copy Library images to app:

  • off (default): when adding an image to a Play by selecting an existing image in your Photo library, the image is kept where it is, and only linked from the Play.
  • on: when adding an image to a Play by selecting an existing image in your Photo library, the images is copied (duplicated) inside the app, and added to the Play.

Marks Plays with images: if enabled, an image icon appears in lists of Plays for Plays that have one or more images.

To show a list of Plays that have images, choose ‘Show Plays with images’ on the Image handling Settings screen.

Moving in-app images to the Photo library

If you have enabled the setting ‘Save new Photos in Library’ and there are existing images stored in-app, an option appears named ‘Move images to Photo Library…’.

If you selection the option ‘Move images to Photo Library’ you’ll get a confirmation dialog, after which Board Game Stats will one by one move images that are stored inside the app to the Photo library. The link to the corresponding Plays remains intact. The images are placed inside an album named ‘Board Game Stats’ if possible.

Moving of a lot of images can take up a lot of time, please make sure to keep the app in the front and don’t lock your phone during this process, or it will be paused or aborted.

You can also move individual images that are stored in-app to the Photo library. Just press-and-hold on an image, and if it is stored in-app you’ll get an option to move it to the Photo library.