Hey There,
So today I pulled the trigger on releasing Tap Forms for iOS version 4.0.
Here's What's New:
Tap Forms now supports the Apple Watch!
• Use Tap Forms on your iPhone to decide which forms you want to view on your Apple Watch.
• Get quick access to read your most important form data right on your wrist.
Additional New Features:
• Sync via Dropbox or iCloud
• Specify colours for Pick List values. The colour will display next to the selected value and also on the row in the records list view.
• Website field can contain variable substitutions to inject values into the address from other fields.
• Multi-currency support for Number and Calculation fields.
• New yyyyMMdd Date format.
• Add to Calendar button on the Date & Time field. This will add an event to your Calendar for the specified date & time.
If you find Tap Forms enjoyable to use, please consider writing a nice review. Every positive review really helps. Even if you've done one before, updating your review makes a huge difference to the future development of Tap Forms.
Thanks!
Brendan
Hello,
how to switch syncing from iCloud to Dropbox?
Thanks,
Vaclav
On iOS it’s right there on the Sync Settings screen. On the Mac version (available from the Mac Trial download for now), it’s in the Preferences under the new Sync screen. But the direct Mac download doesn’t support iCloud, so you may want to wait for the version from the Mac App Store. It’s just waiting for Apple to review and approve it.
The iPhone version 4 is blocked on my device (6 Plus) after tempting a synchronisation with iCloud. How can I solve this problem?
Try rebooting your iPhone 6+ and try enabling iCloud sync again.
Nothing happens. Tap form is blocked.
Luigi
What do you mean that it’s blocked and nothing happens? Could you give me some more details please?
It means that it was impossible to use the application, the screen is blocked and nothing happens tapping and scrolling. After one day, miraculously, all is working fine.
Hi Luigi,
Ah ok. It could have just been uploading and/or downloading files at that moment and was blocking the main thread.
Thanks,
Brendan
Brendan,
I upgraded to the new version using iCloud & I’m getting multiple versions of my registered devices ie 2 iPads, 2 iPhones. What should I do?
Thx
Hi Jon,
Press the Reset Sync button to clear that up. Then re-enable sync on each device.
Thanks!
Brendan
Is there any advantage to using Dropbox over iCloud? I’ve been using iCloud but it is flakey at times.
I like using Dropbox sync better because Dropbox will display a notification on the Mac whenever a file is uploaded or updated. It lets me know things are working. Plus I find Dropbox syncs more quickly between devices than iCloud does. The other advantage is you could share the same Dropbox account with someone else for sync purposes without having to both share the same iCloud account.
Yes! This is what I have been waiting for! The iCloud sync was so buggy it rendered the entire app useless for me. But now it’s all working great again! I will be changing my review once again to 5 stars on the app store! Now I’m just waiting for the desktop version to come through the app store. And way to be on the cutting edge with Apple Watch support!
Question: Will apple watch support adding new entries (with voice-to-text) or editing at least like check boxes? Or is it read-only access to the data?
Hi Tim,
Apple Watch support for now is read-only. But I do plan on allowing you to tap on checkmark fields eventually. It would make having a ToDo list quite nice like that.
Apple hasn’t reviewed the Mac update unfortunately. I would normally have released them at the same time, but there was a crash on the iPad version with iOS 8.3 and I wanted to get it out. Plus I wanted to support the Apple Watch from day one.
Thanks!
Brendan
hello,
since the upgrade to version 4 iOS synchronization is no longer functional with my Mac despite multiple resetting sync. Am I the only one with this problem? a Mac version 4 is she coming?
Thanks
Hi Vivien,
Version 3.5 for Mac was rejected today by Apple. I made the small change they wanted and re-submitted. Now I wait again another week probably for another review.
Sync should still work though as long as you’re still using iCloud. Perhaps try the Reset Sync procedure on each device, re-enable iCloud sync on each device, then press the upload to iCloud button on one device. See if the other devices auto-sync.
Also try rebooting all your devices too.
Thanks,
Brendan
I was really looking forward to ver 3.5 being released so I can use dropbox again, and was sad to read it’s been rejected. As a stop gap I am using the trial version which seems to be working without issue. Fingers crossed the app store version is released before the trial runs out.
Brendan great work as usual. :-)
Many thanks
Andy
Hi Andy,
The rejection was for something very small too. Not even anything wrong with my app. Just that I had Maps entitlements selected in the configuration for the Xcode project. Since I don’t use Apple Maps, I didn’t need that. But I had that turned on because I got rejected before for NOT having it turned on. Hopefully they won’t make me turn it back on and re-submit again or find some other issue to reject.
But if the demo version expires on you, let me know and I’ll show you how to activate it without paying again. Anyone who already purchased from the Mac App Store is entitled to a free copy of the direct download version.
Thanks,
Brendan
Brenden, I have purchased the mac store version and I have been anxiously awaiting the approval of the app in the mac store. Can you please provide me with a direct download link to the full version? That would be much appreciated, thanks!
Tim, you can just download it from the “Download the Mac Trial” button on my home page.
ok, and then how do I get rid of the trial part? Maybe you can e-mail me privately.
If you just use the trial for now, once the Mac App Store version is available, upgrade to that and launch it once. Then when you launch the Trail version after that, you will be told that since you already purchased the MAS version, you can register the trial version license for free. That’s the easiest way to do it. Otherwise there’s some receipt file extraction and copying and MAC address information to get and it’s rather complicated. The MAS update will take care of that for you and then let you unlock the trial version.
Got it, it’s all working great now! Very exciting! I’m loving the dropbox sync. Thanks again for all your hard work! I am a happy camper over here! :)
I’m trying to run TapForms 4.0 for iPhone on my iPad and I can’t turn on iCloud Sync. I ended up deleting the app, reinstalling and it’s still not working! I turned the device on and off and it’s not working. What did you do? Everything worked just fine before.
Hi Kent,
Did you select iCloud as the Sync Service? You have to do that and then you can turn on iCloud sync again.
Thanks,
Brendan
Hi Brendan,
Please can you advise, In iOS I have created a form to include a photo field.
When adding a record I click to choose camera, Tapforms activates the camera function on the iPad to a black screen….the shoot button is there but no picture visible to take. The other option to choose existing photo from album seems to work ok .
Also need some advise on how to remove or delete a photo from a photo field
Thanks Anthony
You need to grant permission to Tap Forms to access your camera. Go to the Privacy settings in the Settings app and check to make sure that Tap Forms has permission to use your camera. To delete a photo from a Photo field, tap on the action menu button and then tap on the “Delete Photo” command.
Many thanks for your prompt response, loving TapForms.
Only been using OSX and IOS for a few months, TapForms has helped me in moving a shed full of data from an old MS access database, so I’m a happy bunny now that all the info is synced on my iMac and iPad.
First used TapForms on Mac, missing the custom views in IOS version, hope it in the pipeline
Cheers Anthony
Well, perhaps I spoke too soon about being a happy camper lol. After a couple days of using, dropbox sync seems to be completely messed up. Everything is out of sync now. The mac app won’t update with records I’ve added from my iPhone, etc. I could be wrong, but I think this might have to do with the fact that the sync only seems to push the latest changes, and if you have more than 2 devices syncing (iPhone, iPad, mac, etc.) then it seems that one device eventually misses the latest changes that were pushed at one point and therefore gets out of sync. I really wish that there was at least an option to sync the whole database not just the latest changes. It’s really easy to get the database out of sync with this approach. Please can you fix this? I’ve tried resetting the sync on all devices, restarting the apps, etc. etc. and I cannot get everything to go back in sync again. :(
*I really with that there was at least an option to always sync the whole database not just the latest changes.
Imagine a 500 MB database file to sync? Could take a very long time if you only made a small change. When you perform a reset, that does sync the entire database file already.
Some databases are small, some are big. Giving the user the option to sync the whole thing if they have a small DB instead of forcing them to do what would only be best for large DBs is definitely the way to go if you ask me.
After you reset sync, are you pressing the upload button on ONE device at a time, waiting for the other devices to auto-sync the changes? If you do that, then they should all get back in sync again.
I believe that’s what I’ve been doing, but I will try it again.
Ok I tried it again and it worked at first but not once again it is out of sync. I think I have figured out the flaw in the current syncing model as I’ve alluded to already. This syncing model might work well for syncing between two devices, but as soon as you add a third device, it all falls apart. Device A and B send each other the latest updates no problem, but could it be that Device C misses out on updates that Device A made to the DB because Device B already received them? I don’t know if that’s how you coded it or if there’s an easy way to fix it, but that seems to be how it’s acting for me anyhow.
*but now once again…
No, Device C should also get the changes you made on Device A irrespective of whether or not Device B has received the changes. Basically each device keeps track of what was the last sync file that it processed. It only ignores its own sync files, but processes the sync files from all other devices. If you press the upload to cloud button on Device A, then watch Device B and Device C, they should both get the updates from Device A. But there may be an issue if you start pressing the upload buttons on Device B and Device C before they’ve updated the data from Device A. Remember, you never have to press the upload button to receive an update. Only to send the updates from that device to the other devices.
Ok, it’s helpful to know how you’ve programmed things. So then, what do I do if I’ve pushed the upload button on device A, but the updates are not coming through on Device B or C? Most apps I’ve used that have dropbox sync have a way to pull the latest data by hitting a “sync” button not an “upload” button, so this is a bit unconventional. I can upload the latest changes but have no way to trigger the other devices to download? I try opening, closing, restarting, etc. to no avail. The apps remain outdated.
And just for clarity, the sync seems to be working great so far between iOS devices. It’s just the Mac that seems to lag or simply never update. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t. Or it will update some entries but not all entries.
This is a very good application. The problem is that its very expensive cost for all computers, iPhones and iPads
Hi Eric,
It’s actually cheaper than Bento was when it was around. Bento was $49.99 USD for the Mac app and $6.99 for the iPhone and I think $9.99 for the iPad version. I could be wrong about the iOS version prices, but even still it comes out to more money than Tap Forms.
Thanks!
Brendan
I can’t access the 3 forms I have on Tap Forms database on my Apple Watch. The Watch app on my iPhone doesn’t show any of the forms, only the option to show Tap Forms on my watch.
Hi Richard,
There’s a new “Show on Watch” function on the Edit Form screen you’ll need to enable to see your forms on your watch.
Thanks!
Brendan
How do you get the forms onto the apple watch.
never mind finally found it
Hi John,
You just have to tap on the “Show on Watch” setting on the Edit Form screen.
Thanks!
Brendan
I can’t find the Edit Form Screen on my Tap Forms on my iPhone. Where is it?
Hi Gary,
Tap on any form, then tap on the action menu button. Then tap on Customize Form. The title of that view is Edit Form. Customize Form was too long to fit up there.
Hello,
the Watch-App is incredible useful! But it takes up to 30 seconds to show a selected db (22 entries, short text only) how can I speed up the Watch-App?
Thanks!
Uli
Hi Uli,
I’m sure there’s more room for optimization. I’l have to do some more tests with it. There is a bug with the current 4.0 version which causes the records list not to always display. I’ve fixed that in version 4.0.1 which I’ve sent to Apple for review already.
Thanks!
I’ve also discovered today that with the Apple Watch 1.0.1 update, all third party apps launch and behave more quickly than they did before.
Apple Watch application is very cool. However, it is not going to be very useful until you can enter data into one or two fields.
True, but gotta start small :-) I didn’t want to overly complicate things for my first Apple Watch app. Plus it’s kinda hard to type on a small screen like that. The next thing to do would be to allow tapping on checkmark fields to toggle them, especially on the records list view. Then you could have a nice little to-do app there.
The TapForms Apple Watch app will open my form, but then nothing happens. It is a big database, so I wouldn’t be surprised it is slow, but is not just slow, nothing happens, nor is there any indication that it is making any attempt to do anything.
Displaying the first few records would be a start.
What is the Search button supposed to do? Again nothing happens, all I see is the word “Cancel” on the screen.
What is the Voice button supposed to do? Again nothing happens, all I see is the word “Cancel” on the screen.
Some visual indication that something is happening is essential.
You should be able to select saved searchies but these don’t even appear.
At present the app is sadly totally disfunctional.
I did some experimenting and found that by setting the Watch to bring up the previous app rather than the clock face when you move your wrist, it seems to give the app enough time to do something and it actually brings up some records, and lists saved searches. It does however take time to bring search results up and during that time there is no spinning indicator of actively, this takes some getting used to.
Hi Chris,
Have you updated to version 4.0.1 of Tap Forms? There was an issue with version 4.0 that caused the records list not to display always. But I fixed that in 4.0.1 which was released yesterday.
Thanks,
Brendan
Hello,
I Just got my apple watch and am not able to see my forms. Any resources on troubleshooting this? Love it on my mac and phone. The dialog on the watch says to edit tap forms on your iPhone and show on watch which I have. Do I have to erase all content and settings on my watch to have tap forms work? I am happy to review any resources you may have. Thank you!
Hi Matt. There’s a switch on the Customize Form screen in the iOS version of Tap Forms which you can turn on. The switch is called “Show on Watch”. You should see it there when customizing your form template. Just turn it on and instantly it will display that form on your watch.
Thanks,
Brendan
Thank you Brendan! Worked like a charm. I appreciate your quick response. Thank you!
I have been unable to get any pictures to show up on my apple watch. Do you have any suggestions on how I can fix this issue? or is it a bug?
One issue with the photos in Tap Forms is you have to view the photos on the iPhone first. That’ll create a preview of the photo which is what the watch is using to display.
Tried the Tap Forms for Apple watch, but only one DB showed up. Unfortunately, it is the least needed. I have a rather large DB I’d like to have on the watch. Is there any way to communicate which DB will show up on the watch? Please advise. Thanks