A settings change has not reached a survey in progress

A configuration change made from the portal is live for the next survey a surveyor opens — not necessarily for one they already have open on their device.

What it is

The field app reads its configuration live from the server for each of your organisation’s relevant scopes (organisation-wide, per-member, per-contractor-organisation, per-job) the moment a survey is opened, and keeps listening for changes while it’s open. Whether a mid-survey change is picked up depends on what changed and when the app last actually reconnected to hear it — a device that’s gone offline mid-survey, in particular, is working from whatever it last received before it lost signal.

How to do it

If you need a change to definitely apply to a specific survey, make the change before the surveyor opens it, rather than relying on it reaching one already in progress.
If a surveyor is already mid-survey and needs the new configuration, ask them to close and reopen the survey — this forces a fresh read.
Check the surveyor’s connectivity if a change genuinely doesn’t seem to be landing — an offline device can’t hear a live configuration change until it reconnects.

How it integrates

This is the same layered configuration described in A section is missing or greyed out — organisation defaults, hazard profile, and scoped overrides — just viewed from the timing angle rather than the “why is this hidden” angle. It’s a deliberate design choice, not a bug: a surveyor mid-inspection having a section or field silently change shape under them, without reopening anything, would be more disruptive than a short delay in a change reaching them.

Common problems

I changed a hazard section toggle and a surveyor already in the property doesn’t see it. Ask them to close and reopen the survey — the change is real and will apply on the next open.
A change reached one surveyor but not another doing a similar job. Check whether a per-member or per-contractor scoped override is in play for one of them — a change to the organisation-wide default doesn’t override a more specific scoped setting.
The surveyor is offline and I need this change to apply before they finish. It can’t reach a genuinely offline device — it will apply automatically once they reconnect and reopen the survey, but not before.