I’m encountering some issues with MobileSheets on both my Mac and iPad, specifically when trying to sync my library to iCloud or back it up.
Here are the details of the problems:
1. iCloud Sync: The sync process starts, but after uploading the first song, it seems to hang indefinitely. It’s almost like the app can’t verify that the first song has been uploaded, preventing it from moving on to the next file.
2. Library Backup: When attempting to back up my library, the process stalls and sits at 0%, never progressing.
Steps I’ve Tried:
• Uninstalling and reinstalling MobileSheets.
• Starting a new library from scratch.
• Deleting and recreating the library folder.
Despite these efforts, the issues persist, and I’m not sure what else to try. I’d appreciate any suggestions or guidance
01-19-2025, 03:18 PM (This post was last modified: 01-19-2025, 03:22 PM by Zubersoft.)
When MobileSheets uploads a file to iCloud, it has to wait to see if the upload was actually successful, as Apple's framework handles iCloud files as if they are local files and won't provide a notification when the file is actually available (if I indicate that I want to copy a file to iCloud, it returns immediately as if the copy was instantaneous regardless of how large the file is). So I have to basically have to poll in a loop constantly checking to see if the upload has finished or if an error has been encountered. Based on your description, MobileSheets is never getting notified that the upload of the first file completed. There is currently no maximum timeout for this - MobileSheets will keep waiting forever to see if the upload finishes. Apple's interface is so unreliable that this is the only way to deal with it, as there seems to be no way for me to obtain progress on the upload reliably to know if it will never finish. If you can't tell, I'm not a fan of how they implemented iCloud at all.
If you can instead use a different cloud service like Google Drive, I think you'll find that it works without issue for you. Please let me know if you can try this just to verify.
The issue you are having with creating a backup file doesn't make sense to me though, especially if you are selecting "Local File" and just picking a location on the iPad itself (versus using iCloud). Can you verify that you have tried this to eliminate iCloud as an issue?
01-19-2025, 03:22 PM (This post was last modified: 01-19-2025, 03:29 PM by Twid.)
(01-19-2025, 03:18 PM)Zubersoft Wrote: When MobileSheets uploads a file to iCloud, it has to wait to see if the upload was actually successful, as Apple's framework handles iCloud files as if they are local files and won't provide a notification when the file is actually available (if I indicate that I want to copy a file to iCloud, it returns immediately as if the copy was instantaneous regardless of how large the file is). So I have to basically have to poll in a loop constantly checking to see if the upload has finished or if an error has been encountered. Based on your description, MobileSheets is never getting notified that the upload of the first file completed. There is currently no maximum timeout for this - MobileSheets will keep waiting forever to see if the upload finishes. Apple's interface is so unreliable that this is the only way to deal with it, as there seems to be no way for me to obtain progress on the upload reliably to know if it will never finish. If you can't tell, I'm not a fan of how they implemented iCloud at all.
If you can instead use a different cloud service like Google Drive, I think you'll find that it works without issue for you. Please let me know if you can try this just to verify.
Mike
Thanks Mike!
go figure, im actualy having the same issue with google drive, i included a screenshot just to show what im looking at
(01-19-2025, 03:18 PM)Zubersoft Wrote: When MobileSheets uploads a file to iCloud, it has to wait to see if the upload was actually successful, as Apple's framework handles iCloud files as if they are local files and won't provide a notification when the file is actually available (if I indicate that I want to copy a file to iCloud, it returns immediately as if the copy was instantaneous regardless of how large the file is). So I have to basically have to poll in a loop constantly checking to see if the upload has finished or if an error has been encountered. Based on your description, MobileSheets is never getting notified that the upload of the first file completed. There is currently no maximum timeout for this - MobileSheets will keep waiting forever to see if the upload finishes. Apple's interface is so unreliable that this is the only way to deal with it, as there seems to be no way for me to obtain progress on the upload reliably to know if it will never finish. If you can't tell, I'm not a fan of how they implemented iCloud at all.
If you can instead use a different cloud service like Google Drive, I think you'll find that it works without issue for you. Please let me know if you can try this just to verify.
Mike
Thanks Mike!
go figure, im actualy having the same issue with google drive, i included a screenshot just to show what im looking at
Correction again, its now working after a restart (will google drive that is)
I think the thread for processing the library sync was locked up due to the issue with iCloud, so killing and restarting the app would fix that. I'm going to have to add some code to ensure that can't happen. I'm glad to hear it's working with Google Drive at least.
Something to consider...I back up my library from my laptop to "local" storage every time. I've found this faster and it gets around some of the cloud sync issues (that are more related to how that works than anything MobileSheets does). I have GDrive set up locally, so I select that for the save location. Export/save is very fast, then there's maybe a 5 min delay for Drive to pick it up and get it uploaded.
I'm not sure if this is the right thread to ask in. Mike, we talked about this some time back. Basically, I want to work on my iPad and MacBook and so I want to keep the library in sync between them at all times. For everything else in my life, I use either Dropbox or iCloud to do that heavy lifting, and just make sure things have synced before I switch devices. Otherwise, it's seamless and I never have to do anything or think about it.
For MS, I have been using the in-app Sync feature. But it's tedious. I'd prefer to just be able to go back and forth between devices and expect things to work.
Preventing conflicts is a natural challenge. One app I use (Reunion family tree software) handles this using some type of lock file. So if you switch devices, it warns you that it's open somewhere else and tells you that remote one will be logged out. That works fine. Other apps are more granular, and seem to manage individual changes without locking the entire library, making the chance of conflicts much lower, and allowing you to keep things "open" on multiple devices at once.
In any case, what's the state of the art for MS regarding this? Do I have to use the app sync or can I put the library on Dropbox or iCloud Drive and open that same library on both iPad and MacBook, and expect changes to sync back and forth?
There is no automatic synchronization option but that's something I want to work on later this year. You have to manually sync changes at the moment. If you want to do file-based synchronization yourself, that won't really work with an iPad or Mac, but it's possible on Android or Windows with a little bit of work.
Okay cool. It will be a welcome feature. If you’re lucky, the back end will handle the heavy lifting. You mainly have to make sure your app logic resolves conflicts reliably.
