What is currently the most reliable sync method for Tapforms between a mac and an iPhone – in terms of minimizing possible data loss?
- Local wifi is fine – I don’t need it to be remote
- A reasonable cost is OK (does not need to be free)
- Setting up additional software wouldn’t be my preference, unless it’s a clear frontrunner
Background: Twice, just after sync between Macs or iPhone / iPad (using iCloud) I’ve noticed unexplained data loss. Just this week 5 fields mysteriously disappeared. Fortunately I noticed, and was able to use the “recover deleted items” function and got them back. Although most of my use is on my office mac, I like the ability to update data in the field with my iPhone (especially GPS and photographs). I do make backups, but I’d prefer not to have to keep checking for vanished data.
A secondary question – If I move from iCloud Sync to some other method, how do I do this?
Hi Andrew,
The Nearby Sync option is perfectly good for syncing between Mac and iPhone.
To switch, just disable iCloud sync on each device. And on ONE device, click the Delete from iCloud button.
Then, enable Nearby Sync on your Mac. Then open the same document on your iPhone. Add the iPhone to your Mac and the Mac to your iPhone.
Now whenever you make a change on one device, your other device with the same document opened at the same time will sync.
Thanks,
Brendan
Hi Brendan,
Thanks – and you’d say this method would (at least in my scenario) be more robust / reliable than iCloud Sync?
Andrew
-
This reply was modified 10 months, 3 weeks ago by
Andrew C. Reason: clarity
Nearby Sync is much faster than iCloud because it only has to go over your own local area network and isn’t throttled like iCloud is.
Give it a try and see how it goes for you. You can always switch back.
Is there any reason to think that Nearby Sync (or Cloudant, or Apache CouchDB) would be more robust / reliable than iCloud Sync though? I realize that the times I’ve apparently “lost” data may be the result of factors other than choice of sync method (user error, software glitch, etc), but if I’m trying to minimize this one aspect, is there inherently anything about the various Sync methods that would suggest one as the better choice?
Apache CouchDB is the most reliable sync IMHO. It uses the native CouchbaseLite’s sync protocol. iCloud sync is a custom solution written on top of CouchbaseLite and doesn’t use its native sync protocol.
IBM Cloud is really the same thing as Apache CouchDB, just hosted by IBM and their free service only allows up to 1 GB of storage and they limit each record to a maximum of 10 MB, including attachments. But you don’t have that limit with apache CouchDB.
I’m using CouchDB running on my NAS and never had an issue.
Thanks, Brendan and Daniel – I’m going to install CouchDB and migrate over.
I’d love to be able to agree and jump on the couch db but I am not a programmer and this isn’t an easy task to start up and keep going. Most of us I believe are simple or perhaps not so simple but just freelancers and business owners. If icloud worked this would be a fantastic solution. But there are anomolies with icloud.
As far as nearby I’ve tried that but, I don’t know, I’ve tried to keep my mac, ipad and iphone in sync and perhaps….well maybe I’ll give it another go.
John
I set up Apache CouchDB two weeks ago. Just the Mac app – so running on the same machine as TapForms (no extra server). So far so good.
@johncesta – I’m not a programmer either, but the setup wasn’t very tricky. The TapForms instructions ( https://www.tapforms.com/help-mac/5.3/en/topic/apache ) seem a little out of date, but reading them alongside the instructions provided on Apache’s site, I was able to get the app configured and running. I did not configure SSL (that seemed a lot more work).
Perhaps too early to tell if it’s more reliable than iCloud, but FWIW I don’t think setting it up and migrating over is too much of a challenge.
-
This reply was modified 10 months, 1 week ago by Andrew C. Reason: @ handle corrected
This is really interesting. I thought setting up CouchDB look complicated so I setup an IBM server already running it. I did get a little help from Tapforms to get it all up and running (thank you Brendan) I sync my data base with one other person at work. But whats great is I have fast access to it wherever I am. Cloud computing is good. It’s also been very reliable the only issue I had a few times is record size limited by IBM CouchDB system. Other than that it’s been brilliant.
When I get time I will relook at using the works server to run CouchDB. Im guessing if accessing the data Base off site I would need a VPN, SSL setup. Is there anything else you would need to consider?
.
