Nearby Sync Problem

[Fred Orlando]

Note: I believe Nearby Sync was working properly before the last round of 26.4 OS updates.
Configuration: Mac Book Pro M3 macOS 26.4, iPad Pro M2 iPadOS 26.4, iPhone 16 Pro iOS 26.4

I created a new Record in one of my Forms on my Mac, quit Tap Forms Pro, then reopen Tap Forms Pro.
When I open the same Form on my iPad or iPhone, the new Record is correctly added to my Form.

However, I modified the contents of the Note Field in the same Record on my Mac, quit Tap Forms Pro, then reopen Tap Forms Pro.
When I open the same Form on my iPad or iPhone, the Note Field in the new Record does not update.

I tried the Note Field modification process in several Records and in several Forms with the same results.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Fred

[Brendan]

Hi Fred,

I’m not sure if iOS 26.4 or macOS 26.4 has caused some sort of issue with this. I’ve recently heard that they broke CloudKit sync notifications which would break the notifications coming into the new Cloud+ Sync system I wrote. But that shouldn’t affect Nearby Sync.

Maybe check your permissions and see if the Local Network setting is enabled for Tap Forms on each device.

Or maybe try rebooting all your devices.

Thanks,

Brendan

[Fred Orlando]

Hi Brendan,

I checked both the Local Network settings and Firewall settings. Both were set correctly.
Nearby Sync works correctly if I’m adding or deleting a Record. It also works if I modify any Field in a Record except the Note Field. I have done this many times before the last OS update and each time the contents of the Note Field updated correctly with Nearby Sync. Is there something special about a Notes Field?

Thanks,
Fred

[Brendan]

Note fields are stored in two separate fields in the database. One a plain text version and one an archived binary blob that contains the same note, but with all of the rich text formatting commands in it.

So technically, yes, there is something special about Note fields in that respect.

You could try enabling the Plain Text Note option and see if it syncs after that. I’m not sure it will make a difference, but it would make the plain text version of the note sync and not both the plain text and rich text versions.

[Fred Orlando]

Hi Brendan,

I set the Note field on my Mac to Plain Text. Also, checked the Note field on the iPad and iPhone. They were both set to Plain Text.

Still no joy.
Sequence:
Edit the Note field on the Mac then Save.
Quit Tap Forms Pro (TFP) on the Mac.
Open TPF on the Mac.
Open TFP on the iPad.
Click the Sync Now button on the Mac.
Click the Sync Now button on the iPad.
The Note field edits do not update on the iPad.

Also, in a previous post I stated that edits to all other fields synced correctly. This is not the case. Edits to other fields also did not sync. The addition or deletion of a Record is the only thing that syncs correctly.

Thanks,
Fred

[Fred Orlando]

Hi Brendan,

Please ignore this in my previous post:
“Also, in a previous post I stated that edits to all other fields synced correctly. This is not the case. Edits to other fields also did not sync. The addition or deletion of a Record is the only thing that syncs correctly.”

The only field that does not sync correctly is the Note field.
Operator error.

Sorry about that,
Fred

[Brendan]

Hi Fred,

Have you tried turning off Nearby Sync on each device and then turning it back on again?

I’ve just been doing some testing with Nearby Sync and updating my code to fix some refresh issues where I had to go to a different record and back to see the changes synced. And I also realized when sync wasn’t working for me initially, I had a sync password on the document on one device, but not the other. So they would never have synced. Once I realized what was happening and took the sync password off, then it started syncing.

Thanks,

Brendan

[Fred Orlando]

Hi Brendan,

Success!

Opened TFP on all devices.
Turned OFF Nearby Sync on all devices.
Quit TFP on all devices.
Opened TFP on all devices.
Turned ON Nearby Sync on all devices.
Turned ON Auto Sync on all devices.
Quit TFP on all devices.
Opened TFP on all devices.
Edited a Note field on one device and Saved the Note.
Pressed the Sync button on one of the other devices and all the other devices updated the Note field correctly.

Nearby Sync is working correctly now.

I really appreciate your help Brendan!

Fred

[Brendan]

Great to hear Fred!

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