Arghh! Sync Problems

[HappyTapper]

Read through the threads about sync issues on the first two pages. They don’t apply (I don’t think) to the problem I’m having.

Starting today, I called up the TF app on the iPhone, knowing that my iPad had sent up data to the cloud. I expected that after a few seconds I’d see the sync messages. Not seeing anything, I went into setting and saw that somehow, the option for iCloud Sync had been turned off.

I turned it on, exited the app, went back into settings and sync was turned off again. I then reset the sync and TF on the iPhone doesn’t see the iPad as a registered device. Tried this a few times and sync keeps turning itself off and the iPad never shows up.

On the iPad, I see both devices.

Any ideas?

Thanks

[Brendan]

Hi HappyTapper,

Please reboot your iPhone. Sometimes iCloud needs a kick in the pants. Do a complete “slide to power off” and then turn it back on again.

Thanks!

Brendan

[HappyTapper]

After a while, the iPhone started to see the iPad again and both devices were listed in the TF sync window and sync worked…for a bit.

I’ve powered up and down both devices (iPad and iPhone) and the iPhone has the latest version of the form. I’ve pushed the form to the cloud but the iPad won’t download the changes.

When I go into the sync settings screen on the iPad, it sees the iPhone, see the time stamp later than the version on the iPad but nothing happens.

Any ideas>

[HappyTapper]

I’ve solved my own problem. For others that this may help, here’s what I did:

1) Make a backup copy of the database to Dropbox from the device that has the most recent version (call this the master).
2) Turn off sync on all devices
3) Download the Dropbox backup to the device that’s out of sync
4) Install the backup file and close Tap Forms
5) Go to the device that had the master version, turn on sync
6) Tap the sync button
7) Wait 15-20 minutes
8) Load Tap Forms on the other device. If iCloud is working, it will start the sync process within the first 60 seconds.

This problem was likely caused by iCloud and then when the sync finally happened, both databases had changes and TF was unable to reconcile. In my case, I was able to get sync to well…sync but the records in the database were not the same. This solved the problem and demonstrates that iOS/iCloud is not yet robust enough to handle a multi-user database.

[Larry]

I am also having iCloud sync problems. I have Version 1.5 (227) on my Mac and Version 3.5.2 (129) on my iPhone. Both devices show up as registered devices on both devices. If I make a change on the Mac and hit the sync button on the Mac, the iPhone, within seconds, downloads the change and syncs the update. However if I make a change on the iPhone and then hit the sync button on the iPhone the change never appears on the Mac.

I have tried the suggestions here, including rebooting, turning sync on and off, HappyTapper’s suggestion of copying the backup file, etc. I also tried turning off the firewall on my Mac. All to no avail.

I am a new user of Tap Form and so far, aside from this one issue, find it to be an exceptional product. I came here from Bento. Had no trouble importing my Bento data. And I have found TF better engineered — showing faster response time for large sets of data. I can see that much effort was put into the database side of the product — including appropriate indexing. Bento seems to want to read in the entire database while starting up, which always aggravated me while I was waiting! I really appreciate the efforts put into this product and hope to solve this iCloud problem, added icing to the cake.

Any ideas?

[Larry]

I did a little more experimentation and have concluded that some of the problems I am seeing with iCloud sync may be self-inflicted. It seems to be much more reliable if I make a change in one device while the app in the other device is closed. Then sync. Then wait ….. Then open the app in the other device and the update is synced (most of the time). This actually is a more realistic test — the way I will actually be using the app. I’m not going to update the iPhone while I’m sitting at my Mac! There may be timing issues associated with rapidly going from one device to the other.

I don’t know if this is related to the problems others are seeing, but for now I will give it some time and see if works correctly in actual use.

[HappyTapper]

What lp is saying makes sense. It seems that Apple’s iCloud is hit and miss on the amount of time it takes to pull the local file and move it to the cloud. A source of frustration to many app developers I’m sure. It’s likely the reason why many of the apps I have that sync between devices don’t use iCloud and use their own solution.

I think for now, it’s best to think of one device as the “master” and try to push all changes from that one device.

You are correct, this is by far the best database for out there for most of us without the need for complex, multi-user solutions.

[Author]

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