Students failing college AP test due to unsupported HEIC iPhone photo format

High school students are failing their college entry exams when uploading photos shot with an iPhone or iPad and photos saved in HEIC format, forcing many students to retake the exams.

For all the ways technology makes our lives better, occasionally it ends up being the core cause of our problems. Recently, thousands of college students have found themselves failing their college AP exams when attempting to upload images from iPhones and iPads produced from 2017 onward.

The Verge reported the story of Nick Bryner, a high school senior in California. Bryner had chosen to take a picture of his handwritten answer and upload it to College Board's — the administrator of the AP exam — website.

Unfortunately for Bryner — and thousands of other students — the upload would timeout. Once the test timer reached zero, students would auto-fail, and were told they could retake the test in three weeks.

As it turns out, the problem is the iPhone — and some newer Android phones as well. The issue arises when a student attempts to upload an image that has been captured in HEIC, a high-efficiency format, to College Board's site.

HEICs are smaller than comparable image formats, which enables users to store more images on their phone or in the cloud. The downside is that HEIC photos aren't widely supported.

College Board only accepts JPG, JPEGs, and PNG images. Additionally, their site does not attempt to convert HEICs to a compatible file format automatically.

College Board is now working with students to help them submit their answers without fear of automatically failing. They've opened up additional support for those who have issues uploading their answers. They also point out that less than one percent of students have had this particular issue.

Of course, all of this can be avoided by simply changing the photo format your iPhone uses. This process can be done in a few seconds.

How to change the default iPhone photo format

Open the Settings app
Scroll down and tap on Camera
Tap Formats
Tap "Most Compatible"

The Most Compatible setting tells your iPhone to use a JPEG setting, rather than the default HEIC. It's a helpful tip not only for test-takers but anyone who has routinely had issues uploading images from their phone to a website that hasn't updated to the format first introduced to the iPhone and iPad with iOS 11 in 2017.

43 Comments

Eric_WVGG 8 Years · 969 comments

About 4 years ago

> As it turns out, the problem is the iPhone — and some newer Android phones as well.

NO. It is absolutely the responsibility of the test makers to continually evaluate new devices for ongoing functionality. It is ludicrous to expect Apple or Google or Microsoft to test ongoing compatibility with the hundreds of millions of apps in the world, just impossible, so the burden sadly must be on app makers to stay current with this shit.

Lots of students are probably angry at Apple right now. That anger is displaced. This is on the test makers and the notoriously poor education tech sector.

To re-iterate: the problem is a test maker that hasn't bothered two check if their web app works with iPhones for three years. Period.

elijahg 18 Years · 2842 comments

About 4 years ago

Eric_WVGG said:

> As it turns out, the problem is the iPhone — and some newer Android phones as well.

NO. It is absolutely the responsibility of the test makers to continually evaluate new devices for ongoing functionality. It is ludicrous to expect Apple or Google or Microsoft to test ongoing compatibility with the hundreds of millions of apps in the world, just impossible, so the burden sadly must be on app makers to stay current with this shit.

Lots of students are probably angry at Apple right now. That anger is displaced. This is on the test makers and the notoriously poor education tech sector.

To re-iterate: the problem is a test maker that hasn't bothered two check if their web app works with iPhones for three years. Period.

Well what would be most sensible is if Apple changed the iOS/Safari HTTP upload function to actually read the filetypes that are accepted, and convert the photo accordingly. There is already a standard way of telling browsers the accepted file types.
<input type="file" accept=".heic,.jpg,.png" />
If it detects .heic, all well and good. If it doesn't, then convert to .jpg. In fact .jpg should really be default anyway, since iOS converts the format to .jpg when sending to something that isn't an iOS device or a Mac as it is, but apparently not in Safari.

andyring 10 Years · 54 comments

About 4 years ago

Wrong, Eric.

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.

lkrupp 19 Years · 10521 comments

About 4 years ago

Eric_WVGG said:

> As it turns out, the problem is the iPhone — and some newer Android phones as well.

NO. It is absolutely the responsibility of the test makers to continually evaluate new devices for ongoing functionality. It is ludicrous to expect Apple or Google or Microsoft to test ongoing compatibility with the hundreds of millions of apps in the world, just impossible, so the burden sadly must be on app makers to stay current with this shit.

Lots of students are probably angry at Apple right now. That anger is displaced. This is on the test makers and the notoriously poor education tech sector.

To re-iterate: the problem is a test maker that hasn't bothered two check if their web app works with iPhones for three years. Period.

All true but when this hits the evening news it will be presented as exclusively an Apple deficiency.

GeorgeBMac 8 Years · 11421 comments

About 4 years ago

Speaking in generalities, "THAT" is one of the strengths -- and the weaknesses of Windows as well as one of both the strengths -- and the weaknesses of iOS. Specifically,

From the earliest days Jobs imposed a simplicity about Apple's software that he picked up from Atari games where the instruction manual was clear but less than fully complete: "Avoid Klingons".

More specifically, in this case, I have no friggin idea what format Apple is using to store my photos and no idea how to find out. That lack of detail helps to make iOS a very simple, non-technical chunk of software that doesn't overwhelm non-technical users with "needless technical minutia" -- while Microsoft has historically stuck to its history of software rooted in technical detail -- like the "C:" thingee: 'What the hell's that? And why is it different from the D: thingee". And, "What's a JPEG and why should I care?"

In the case of iOS: When it works, it works really well and smoothly. But, when it fails, it falls hard. And, in this case, with potentially life changing effects.

As iPadOS expands out into more hardcore computing I think we will see these kind of issues become more common.

Ultimately, it seems, the devil is always in the details.

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