Photo Requirements for IngressFS Online Events

This guide is for Online events. If you have an Onsite event, please see the Photo Requirements for Onsite Events.

Virtual IFS Photo Requirements

Virtual IFS Photos are screenshots of your Virtual IFS Meeting or a collage of photos taken during the FS Online Meeting that let us know how much of a wonderful time you had meeting with your fellow Agents. To be valid, your submission has to:

• Be posted on a public social media platform.
  • Some of the most popular so far have been Twitter, Reddit, Facebook, and even the Ingress Community Forum. 
  • We are NOT accepting photo links to Google Photo, Google Drive, Telegram, and any limited posting.
• Show your event complied with the minimum agent requirements.
  • You must have at least 1 photo that clearly shows 10 Agents on it (don’t forget that you still need a minimum of 3 Agents per faction). 
  • In some Virtual Meeting platforms, a single screenshot may not show all 10 Agents at once, so you may set up a collage of multiple screenshots to show that the meeting fulfilled this requirement.
  • Popular platforms such as Jitsi, Zoom and Google Meet will save you the hassle, though, as they can show more than 10 participants on any single screenshot.
• Show your Agents holding Ingress related items:
  • Your photo is required to clearly have a minimum of 10 Agents displaying an item related to Ingress.
  • The displayed items must be family friendly.
  • The agent scanner is a valid item everyone of us have at hand, but below we have listed other items you may want to use.
• Be from the Virtual IFS Meeting. Do not reuse photos!

Details on the Social Media Platform

A Public Social Media platform is one that can make public posts, do not require the viewer to log in or to have an account on the platform to be able to see the post.

• Not allowed: Sites that do not allow people to look at posts without an account, such as MeWe, Telegram and Cloud Storage platforms.
• Allowed: Sites such as Twitter, Reddit, VK and Facebook are valid, as long as the accounts are set for public viewing and are not restricted in a way that only friends can see. (Update: Since May 2021 Instagram no longer works.)
  • Reddit does not have a privacy option on accounts, so everything that is posted there is public.
  • Twitter has no way to post publicly if it’s set up as private so if you plan to use these platforms the accounts need to be public.
  • Facebook and VK allow you to have a private personal profile and still make public events or communities that anyone can see without logging in. When creating an Event on Facebook it has to start as a public event. When creating a Community/Event in VK it has to be an Open event. Take into account that you will have to make them public from the start and submit the right link.
• Tip: If you are unsure about whether or not your post is public and can be seen correctly, you can always check by opening an incognito window and looking from there.

Details on Ingress Items

It is very simple for people to photoshop these types of photos so in order to prevent abuse one of the requirements is that 10 or more Agents hold or display an Ingress item in their photos.

Please keep the items family friendly! These items can be one of the following;

• Your scanner. All of us have it.
• Ingress themed swag such Biocards, Pins, Shirts, Stickers.
• Your own Ingress Art or Printed Ingress logos (here’s some art for you to print, thanks to @Yellowlightning).
• Images of your favorite portal or screenshots from your big Operations as virtual backgrounds.

Examples of Accepted Photo Submissions

When you fill out the score-submission form, we need you to share the public social media post link to see when you shared your group photo and for which event it is actually for. Below are what we need to be able to see with your submissions. These links are easy to get through your laptop, computer, tablet, or phone browsers and can be checked on whether or not they are public by using an incognito browser.

	A screenshot of your Virtual IFS Meeting! Make sure it shows 10 or more Agents who are holding or displaying Ingress themed items, and it should be approved! Tip: Jitsi, Zoom and Google Meet can show more than 10 participants on any single screenshot. Assign a timeframe to take the photo and take at least one screenshot.
	You can always make a collage of photos taken during the Virtual IFS Meeting! As long as there is a minimum of 10 Agents holding or displaying an item related to Ingress, it should be accepted! Tip: There are free apps and websites that can help you stitch the pictures together (or you can paste them and order them in PowerPoint).

These are some examples of the public social media posts we’ll be able to verify as a correct photo submission.

Tip: You can easily get these types of links through your laptop, computer, tablet, or phone browsers and you can check on whether or not they are public by using an incognito browser.

Why was my submission denied?

If your submission was denied, please check if you complied with the requirements. Here’s some questions that will help you check where it could have gone wrong.

	Was it posted on public social media? A Public Social Media platform is one that can make public posts, do not require the viewer to log in or to have an account on the platform to be able to see the post. You can verify if your post is public and can be seen correctly, by opening an incognito window and looking from there.
	Was your Picture a Direct Link? Direct Photo links are just that, direct photo links. They give us no details of the event, when the event was, where it was, etc. Direct link photos are normally shared by sharing the image link instead of the post link.
	Was your Picture an Event Link instead of a photo post link? This problem is seen more with Facebook. When you make an event on Facebook you need to be sure to share the photo post link and not the event link because the event link does not always show us your photo. Sometimes it can be seen in the discussion but other times it can not be seen at all, so the best bet to get your photo approved is to give us the photo post link. You can check if you are giving us the correct link by checking your link in incognito mode. Here are examples of the wrong and right links and how they look to us when we attempt to verify your event.
	Was your Picture part of a Google Photos, Google Drive, Telegram or other Exclusive Link? We do not accept Google Photos, Google Drive, Telegram or other exclusive links for the same reason we don’t accept direct image links and chat links. They are not public social media platforms, are exclusive to only those who have the links, and therefore can not be used.
	Were there enough people?  If you do not have 10 agents in your photo submission it will not be accepted.

Is your photo missing Ingress Items?

It is very simple for people to photoshop these types of photos, so in order to prevent abuse one of the requirements is that a minimum of 10 agents displaying an Ingress item in their photos. Ingress items can be anything family friendly that is Ingress specific. The one we all have available is our Scanner, but you can also use swag, a printed picture of your faction or even artwork you’ve done that is Ingress themed. Please look in the above Ingress Items section for more details.

Is your photo from this month’s FS Event?

FS Online Photos are screenshots of your video call or a collage of photos taken during the Online event. Events that reuse photos from past events will not be verified.