Problem
When importing photos for a dive on Android, the app auto-scans the device gallery using a 30-minute timestamp buffer around the dive time. This picks up all images on the phone within that window —
WhatsApp memes, browser downloads, screenshots, etc. — making it hard to find the actual dive photos.
The permission dialog offers "limited" or "full" access, but there is no way to browse a specific folder (e.g. DCIM/GoPro/exports) to select photos manually.
On desktop (Windows/Linux), the file picker already allows navigating to any folder, so this is an Android/iOS-only gap.
Suggested improvements
-
Add album/folder filtering — photo_manager already supports listing albums via PhotoManager.getAssetPathList(). Add a dropdown or sidebar to filter by album (Camera, GoPro, Downloads,
etc.) instead of showing everything flat.
-
Add a "Browse files" option — alongside the gallery picker, offer a file-based picker (e.g. file_picker package) that lets users navigate to a specific directory.
-
Combine both — keep timestamp auto-match for convenience, but add album filtering and a manual file browse option.
Current behavior
PhotoPickerServiceMobile uses photo_manager to fetch all photos within the time window
- No folder/album filtering is available in
PhotoPickerPage
- Desktop already uses
image_picker with folder navigation
Relevant files
lib/features/media/data/services/photo_picker_service_mobile.dart
lib/features/media/presentation/pages/photo_picker_page.dart
lib/features/media/presentation/providers/photo_picker_providers.dart
Problem
When importing photos for a dive on Android, the app auto-scans the device gallery using a 30-minute timestamp buffer around the dive time. This picks up all images on the phone within that window —
WhatsApp memes, browser downloads, screenshots, etc. — making it hard to find the actual dive photos.
The permission dialog offers "limited" or "full" access, but there is no way to browse a specific folder (e.g.
DCIM/GoPro/exports) to select photos manually.On desktop (Windows/Linux), the file picker already allows navigating to any folder, so this is an Android/iOS-only gap.
Suggested improvements
Add album/folder filtering —
photo_manageralready supports listing albums viaPhotoManager.getAssetPathList(). Add a dropdown or sidebar to filter by album (Camera, GoPro, Downloads,etc.) instead of showing everything flat.
Add a "Browse files" option — alongside the gallery picker, offer a file-based picker (e.g.
file_pickerpackage) that lets users navigate to a specific directory.Combine both — keep timestamp auto-match for convenience, but add album filtering and a manual file browse option.
Current behavior
PhotoPickerServiceMobileusesphoto_managerto fetch all photos within the time windowPhotoPickerPageimage_pickerwith folder navigationRelevant files
lib/features/media/data/services/photo_picker_service_mobile.dartlib/features/media/presentation/pages/photo_picker_page.dartlib/features/media/presentation/providers/photo_picker_providers.dart