Dash 3D Graph Camera Resets on Mobile Despite uirevision – Fixes & Workarounds

Working with interactive 3D graphs using Dash and Plotly can be engaging. You build an intuitive web app, fine-tune the visuals, and lock the camera angle perfectly. Everything feels smooth—until you test on mobile. Suddenly, your perfectly adjusted camera angle starts resetting unexpectedly, ignoring the carefully set uirevision=”lock”.

Mobile devices handle interactions differently, and ensuring your Dash 3D graph behaves consistently everywhere is crucial. Thankfully, there are some practical fixes and workarounds that can help solve the notorious Dash camera reset issue on mobile platforms.

The Setup—A Typical Dash 3D App Scenario

Let’s say you’re building a Dash app to visualize complex datasets. Your application includes a 3D scatter plot built using Dash’s handy dcc.Graph component. Plotly’s plotly.graph_objs makes creating these interactive visualizations straightforward and intuitive.

For example, maybe you’re plotting sensor data points in three dimensions to visualize patterns. To enrich the user experience, you’ve incorporated cool interactive features—like cube overlays for spatial reference and drop-down filters for specific point selections. These make your graph interactive and more informative.

Everything looks good in the browser preview. You lock the camera view intelligently using Plotly’s handy feature, uirevision:

dcc.Graph(
    id='my-3d-graph',
    figure={
        'data': my_3d_data,
        'layout': {
            'uirevision': 'lock',
            'scene': {
                'camera': initial_camera_setup
            }
        }
    }
)

This setting should ideally preserve the user’s camera angle between updates. On desktops, it usually does just fine. Your users enjoy a smooth visual experience, and everyone’s happy.

The Problem—Unexpected Camera Reset on Mobile

But then you grab your phone and run a quick check, and frustration sets in. Despite setting uirevision=”lock”, the moment you trigger any interaction (such as filtering data or changing a selection), the 3D graph’s camera angle suddenly jumps back to the original default position, losing the user’s preferred view angle.

Interestingly, on desktop, the viewpoint persists perfectly. Mobile browsers (like Chrome or Safari) seem to ignore your carefully engineered camera angle preservation. Why does this happen?

The issue stems from how mobile browsers and Plotly/Dash handle interactions, especially touch gestures and state retention. Mobile browsers often manage state differently than desktop counterparts, causing unexpected resets.

Building the Layout—Attempts to Preserve the Camera Angle

Initially, you might think robustly handling user interactions with Dash callbacks and relayoutData would suffice. For instance, you might try to capture and reuse the camera position, like this:

app.layout = html.Div([
    dcc.Graph(
        id='my-3d-graph',
        figure=create_figure(),
        config={'responsive': True}
    ),
    dcc.Store(id='camera-store')
])

@app.callback(
    Output('camera-store', 'data'),
    Input('my-3d-graph', 'relayoutData'),
    State('camera-store', 'data')
)
def capture_camera(relayout_data, current_camera):
    if relayout_data and 'scene.camera' in relayout_data:
        return relayout_data['scene.camera']
    return current_camera

@app.callback(
    Output('my-3d-graph', 'figure'),
    Input('some-interactive-component', 'value'),
    State('camera-store', 'data')
)
def update_figure(selection, camera_data):
    fig = create_figure(selection)
    if camera_data:
        fig['layout']['scene']['camera'] = camera_data
    fig['layout']['uirevision'] = 'lock'
    return fig

This approach sounds logical. Capture the user’s camera manipulation with relayoutData, store the values in Dash’s State store, and reapply them with each update. On desktops, this approach often works well, but on mobile devices, it commonly fails or behaves inconsistently.

Troubleshooting—Challenges and Discovery

When exploring this further, you’ll notice a couple of consistent problems:

• Mobile browsers tend to reset the graph state more aggressively between callbacks.
• relayoutData events, particularly touch-based zoom or rotate gestures, may be prone to incomplete or delayed updates on mobile.

Investigating further, developers often report this issue on forums like Stack Overflow and GitHub. The consensus? Mobile-centric interaction nuances make persistent camera angles tricky.

Typically attempted methods to solve this issue include:

• Using combined states and custom logic to catch camera inputs more aggressively.
• Ensuring figure updates explicitly pass camera states each time the graph updates.
• Testing different mobile browsers (Chrome, Safari, Firefox mobile variants) for differing behaviors.

None of these always provide 100% consistency across all devices, but certain tweaks can greatly improve reliability.

Known Limitations of Plotly/Dash on Mobile & Recommended Solutions

Dash and Plotly acknowledge some limitations presenting consistent experiences across different devices and browser engines. Mobile interactions present some known complexities especially for 3D plots due to different touch-based events compared to desktop pointer or mouse-based events.

Here are reliable strategies developers commonly adopt for a smoother mobile experience:

• Explicitly manage camera data in Dash Stores: While relayoutData alone may not suffice, capturing every camera movement explicitly into a Dash Store helps persist user states between callbacks more reliably.
• Customize uirevision treatments: Instead of generic terms, dynamically assign uirevision based on detailed interaction states. For instance, changing the uirevision upon every slight modification can more effectively persist camera movement.
• Reduce unnecessary callbacks: Rearrange interactive elements to minimize triggering figure resets frequently on mobile devices. Group interactions logically or delay callbacks slightly to avoid abrupt resets.
• Consider mobile-responsive design early: Develop mobile-friendly interaction guidelines, like limiting extensive zoom or rotation gestures or offering camera preset buttons. Proactively offering simple viewpoint-presets can help mitigate frustration.
• Testing on multiple devices regularly: Regular cross-platform tests across different mobiles (Android, iOS) and browsers ensure adjustments proactively deal with platform-dependent quirks early.

In some scenarios, clearly communicating limitations via your Dash app’s UI can help manage user expectations.

A Quick Fix Example—Dynamic uirevision Implementation

One helpful approach is leveraging state identifiers dynamically:

@app.callback(
    Output('my-3d-graph', 'figure'),
    [Input('dropdown-filter', 'value')],
    State('camera-store', 'data')
)
def update_graph(selected_value, camera_state):
    fig = create_figure(selected_value)
    fig.update_layout(uirevision=str(selected_value))  # dynamic uirevision based on interaction
    if camera_state:
        fig.layout.scene.camera = camera_state
    return fig

Here, linking the uirevision explicitly to something that changes infrequently (like a dropdown selection) greatly improves camera persistence on mobile.

Optimizing 3D Graphs—Key Recommendations

Ultimately, mobile optimization is about ensuring seamless interactions across screens and browsers. Keep these tips in mind:

• Pare down interaction complexity for mobile—simpler is often better.
• Explicit management of camera settings via Dash Stores paired with strategically set uirevision codes often yields the best results.
• Keep JavaScript updates minimal and straightforward, especially if you customize Dash with client-side callbacks.

Camera reset issues on mobile with Dash’s 3D graphs can be challenging, but careful implementation of the solutions above can significantly improve your users’ experience.

Have you faced similar issues with Dash visualizations on mobile devices? Let us hear about your workarounds or discoveries in the comments below!