iCloud Sync – iPhone does not see all devices

[Partha.Baral]

I’m using Tap Forms on my iPhone 4S and MacBook Pro. The iCloud Sync is on both devices. The MacBook Pro sees both devices when I go to the “iCloud Sync” screen. But the iPhone does not – it just sees itself.

Tried already the following:
a) turning off and on the iCloud Sync in the Tap Forms application in iPhone.
b) turing the “Documents & Data” settings in the iCloud Settings off and then on.
c) turning the iCloud sync altogether on the iPhone (Settings->iCloud: Delete Account).

I have other applications (Reminders, iCal Meeting Invites) that are syncing between the Mac Book Pro and iPhone through iCloud. These are working fine !

Not sure what to do next :(

[rleathen]

Brendan I do appreciate the work that you have put into this product and truly believe it to be one of the best. Having said that the fact that you have changed the way the app registers with icloud has done nothing but made life a living hell for me.

I am running the most current version of the app on my iphone, my wifes iphone, our ipad and my imac. While I can understand that syncing between the imac and the ios devices is a problem, I can’t even get all of my ios devices to sync (2 iphones and ipad).

It is getting to the point that the app is becoming unusable to me which is a big problem since I have 20 different forms and more then 300 different records that I should be able to access on all of my devices but can’t.

Can you at least provide me the necessary steps to foillow to ensure that at least the 2 iphones and the ipad can sync properly and see all of the icloud data (I can wait for the imac to ios syncing to be fixed once Apple approves your latest imac app changes).

I really love this app but the headaches of late with syncing are starting to make me think otherwise.

Thanks in advance.

Rob

[janet114]

I need this too — so that my husband and I can update a single database. We’re on different icloud ids. And we need that for most things. But for a specific database, I’d like to specify which icloud id and password to sync this database too.

Or allow syncing via dropbox (??) since dropbox folders can be shared and let them control it. Just allow me to specify my dropbox account and password, and what folder to use for syncing.

Anyway, this is just one more ‘me to’ for allowing multiple people to sync to a single database. And, it’s something I would pay more for if that helps.

Thanks
Janet

[Brendan]

The iPhone and iPad should sync properly to each other. I’m still waiting for Apple to approve the Mac update unfortunately. They’re taking an awful long time to review my app.

Have you tried the Reset iCloud Sync function on your iPhone and iPad? Try that, then turn on iCloud on your iPhone. Then wait for it to appear on your iPad. Then turn on iCloud Sync on your iPad. Wait for the iPad to appear on your iPhone. Then tap the Sync button on your iPad. Wait for that to finish and then also wait for the automatic sync to finish on your iPhone. Once the iPhone has finished syncing tap on the Sync button on your iPhone. Wait for the iPad to finish the automatic sync from the iPhone’s data.

You should be in sync now.

Thanks,

Brendan

[Brendan]

As for syncing via Dropbox, the recent changes I made to the iOS and Mac versions for syncing will make it possible for me to add Dropbox sync to a future update. I’ve been contemplating this for a while. The app is still tied into the iCloud notification system though. I’m not sure if Dropbox provides anything like that. iCloud tells my app when there’s new files to process. With Dropbox I may have to manually poll their servers to find out if there’s anything new. That’s how the automatic sync on the receiving end works. iCloud sends out a notification telling me there’s a new file that can be processed that has completely finished downloading to the device. At that point I can start processing the file and merging the changes into the database.

[Partha.Baral]

Bendan, Thank you for the update. So, for iPhone and Mac sync, I guess we will have to wait for Apple to approve the MAC update version. Is that correct? Is there a workaround in the meantime? I have tried resetting iCloud Sync, turning it off and on iPhone …. no luck.

[Arash]

Hi Brendan,

Just want to add to the discussion. I’m also having the same syncing issues that I hope will be addressed by the Mac client update.

My situation:

1. Tapforms on iPhone 4S (AT&T) with latest iOS 6 update, and MBP Retina with 10.8.2.

2. I’ve only got one custom form with one record in the Mac client, so very little data. I’ve also moved the pre-made forms into one big group in the sidebar.

3. I see the iPhone in the Mac client’s iCloud preferences.

4. There is no change to the iPhone client’s data after syncing, although the iPhone’s iCloud preferences do indicate that it is linked to a file on iCloud. No custom form, no grouping of pre-made forms.

5. I’ve tried all the options to reset, the directions in the iaWriter website, and even deleting the app from the iPhone, resetting iCloud, and downloading and setting up the app again. (And yes, I’ve rebooted the phone a few times ;)

I’ll definitely try out the new Mac client update when it lands, but thought I’d furnish this info as well. If there’s any other data I can provide, please let me know.

Thanks!

[Brendan]

Ya, it won’t work without the update to the Mac version. If the iPhone can’t see the Mac in the list of registered devices, it just won’t update. One of the checks I do in the code is to prevent syncing from a sync file that came from a device which isn’t registered. A just in case some straggler files got into the SyncDocuments folder in iCloud somehow.

So you’ll have to wait for the Mac update.

If you look in this folder on your Mac: ~/Library/Mobile Documents/FXLPHZS84D~com~clickspace~tapforms

You’ll see a SyncDocuments folder there. Inside that you’ll see various files. The TF-SyncDevice files are the device registration files. They’re really just plist files containing information about the device and it’s sync state. Right now the version of Tap Forms Mac you have isn’t creating one of those files. Tap Forms for iOS is looking for those files to know which devices are registered.

Tap Forms for Mac is updating the iCloud key/value store with that same information. It’s kind of like a hidden database in the sky. But a lot of users had troubles getting that to work so I changed to storing that information in files. Files should get synced fine between all devices. Although I have seen them sometimes take 5 minutes or more to sync between all my devices. But that part is out of my control. Once I write the file to disk, it’s up to the operating system to sync the file. So it sometimes seems like Tap Forms isn’t syncing, but it’s really just because iCloud is taking a long long time to upload and download the files.

I hope that explains well enough what’s actually going on with this process.

Thanks,

Brendan

[Arash]

Thanks very much for the lucid and clear description of the problem, Brendan. I learned quite a bit from it, and will eagerly await Apple’s approval of the update.

[ntwatson]

Brendon, when you mentioned using something other than iCloud for syncing, that is music to my ears. I would like to sync a database with my employees but their iPads will be using their own iCloud accounts not mine. A perfect example is http://www.toodledoo.com. I use the toodledoo website to organize my employee project lists into folders and each of them can sync the lists on their iPads. It seems like iCloud would sync my personal devices but not my employees. Or have I missed something.

[Brendan]

Yes, iCloud will only sync with one iCloud account.

Also, Apple approved Tap Forms Mac 1.0.2 today, so you can update now and iCloud sync should work now between Mac and iOS devices.

Thanks,

Brendan

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