Sync to iPhone?

Greetings,

Up front: I don't participate in the beta program, nor have I been following threads here, so I'm broadly ignorant of the whole thing; sorry.

The fact that 4.3 doesn't sync to the iPhone has been a thorn in my side for months. But with the new year it means that my annual Bible reading plan isn't just buggy and difficult to manage, it is impossible to have it on my iPod Touch at all.

My understanding is that 4.5 is supposed to fix these syncing issues. So I've started watching the progress on this beta and am considering joining (just) this development track (maybe once there's a release candidate - should be any day it look like).

But I wanted to ask the folks who've been actually using it for a while: is it true that 4.5 is supposed to fix the syncing issues and does it actually work (I don't use Logos very often for much else)?

Thanks so much,

Matt

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Jonathan

This will not fix the issue until Logos updates the iOS app as well.

As I understand it (and I may be wrong) they are updating stuff "under the hood" that will roll out a solution to the problems individuals have with the iOS app. I believe only the release version of 4.5 will correct your iOS problem and then only after Logos releases a new Logos iOS app.

Therefore, if this is the only reason you want to run the beta, you should probably wait till the release version.

Matt Eide

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/323887#Comment_323887

Thanks Jonathan!

I had been a bit incredulous that updating one end and not the other could solve a sync problem, so your answer makes perfect sense to me. I'll try to not to get my shorts in a bunch and keep waiting!

In Him,

Matt

JT (alabama24)

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/323887#Comment_323887

The easiest way to explain it is that the infrastructure for notes/highlighting/reading plans has become congested, so Logos is implementing a brand new one with much more room for future growth. The first thing to be fixed is notes/highlighting. This will be made available publicly with the release of 4.5 & the next major version of the mobile app.

Reading plans are slated for an upgrade as well, however, it is likely that a "service release" will bring this update. One of the developers has said that work is being done on the changes to the reading plans and should be available fairly quickly after 4.5 goes live.

Keep Smiling 4 Jesus :)

Logos 4.5 Beta includes Sync v2 framework along with combining Highlighting and Notes; every Highlight is a Note. When stable Logos 4.5 is released, looking forward to iOS 2.0 mobile with Sync v2 framework.

The fact that 4.3 doesn't sync to the iPhone has been a thorn in my side for months.

On 5 Jan 2012, Bob Pritchett (CEO) posted => http://community.logos.com/forums/p/5923/321264.aspx#321264

And yet Logos still advertises 'sync all reading plans

I'm very sorry for the frustration about sync. I've experienced a bug in it myself, and it's very annoying.

We haven't changed the copy on the app page because it's still accurate: the app does sync reading plans.

There is, however (as in so many software packages), a bug. This bug apparently shows up when you have a synced plan you're reading on two devices, and change the document (usually by marking a reading read) on Device B before Device A has finished syncing the change. Normally we should be able to gracefully handle this conflict, but there's a bug we haven't found. Even more importantly, you shouldn't come across the situation very often, because syncing should be nearly instantaneous.

The original sync framework was designed for desktop software, which typically has different behaviors than mobile software. Your desktop software can typically sync large documents with few problems, and typically is either connected or disconnected -- it rarely is moving in and out of sporadic and/or slow coverage the way a phone does.

Moreover, we only have so many desktop Logos Bible Software users.

To accommodate mobile syncing, we had to build an intermediate service with different performance / bandwidth / etc. characteristics.

Since then we've had literally 10 times as many people download our mobile app as ever used the desktop, dramatically increasing our bandwidth.

This extra large user base, bandwidth requirement, less consistent "sync before quitting the app" behavior, etc. are what cause the increased frequency of Device A (your mobile device) not having completed syncing before you go to Device B (your desktop or other device) and modify the document there. So our previously rare bug is occurring a lot more.

We've learned a lot about the less reliable/consistent behavior of mobile Internet connections (which were not part of our original design).

(This is also why we've been unable to deliver mobile notes and highlighting so far -- the document architecture and bandwidth needs.)

So we embarked on a complete re-write of the sync framework designed for millions of users and a wide variety of devices with much less reliable / consistent data connections. The new sync framework requires a lot less bandwidth for common behaviors, too.

The new sync framework is basically done, and ready to deploy for v4.5 of the desktop and v2.0 of mobile apps. The v2.0 version of the iOS app is in the app store and ready for release when the desktop is ready. This features Sync v2 for what had been the number one user demand -- notes and highlighting on iOS devices.

We're right now (and I mean right now -- it's late on Thursday night and much of our team is here working away at the office) hunting down and eliminating performance bugs in the Sync v2 framework. It's a big, big change and it involves user data, so we want to be very careful to get everything right.

Sometime very soon we'll ship a desktop v4.5 Release Candidate. Within a week of that release we'll make it final, and it'll roll out to everyone. Within a day or so of that we should be able to release the new iOS app with notes and highlighting syncing

In parallel, developers are working to get Reading Plans to Sync v2 as well. This may still be a few weeks out; I very much wish it wasn't, and we're all acutely aware that many people start reading plans on January 1, and we're disappointed that we were unable to deliver this before then. And, until recently, we thought we'd be able to, or that the release was right around the corner. But there are 50+ people on the development team, and the holidays introduced 50+ differing vacation schedules, and quite a few people have a piece of such a large system migration, so communication has suffered.

But we're almost all back (by Monday everyone is, I believe) and we're putting everything together and shipping it as soon as we can.

Just as trivia... we're also deploying a massive amount of new storage, servers, and firewalls to handle the increased load. This is itself a non-trivial project.

And, of course, we still have other products and features (Logos Mac, for example) on which other users rightly desire our attention. I'm sorry reading plans aren't first on the list -- they're important to me, too! -- but I know that lack of notes and highlighting on mobile was equally important to other "I'm going to write you a bad review in the app store!" users -- right after lack of NIV support. :-) But at least we were able to add that recently.

I know this doesn't fix the pain point, but I hope it helps you understand where we're at, and why we're doing things the way we are. Sync v2 should result in a superior experience very soon.

In the meantime, you might make a reading plan and try to either just use it on mobile, or give the mobile app some time to sync while connected to the Internet before going back to the home page (or at least before you mark off a reading on another device). This should reduce your chance of hitting the bug.

-- Bob

Apologies: as a user, I have no estimate when reading plans will be enabled for use in Logos software with Sync v2 framework, which is currently being developed and tested. Suspect syncing Highlighting and Notes across platforms will be included in initial stable Sync v2 release.

Another reply by Bob Pritchett => http://community.logos.com/forums/p/42616/319033.aspx#319033 provides insight about mobile app development along with future change for Logos 4 so highlighting and notes display the same on all platforms.

But with the new year it means that my annual Bible reading plan isn't just buggy and difficult to manage, it is impossible to have it on my iPod Touch at all.

Workaround is using something else on iPod Touch for tracking reading progress (e.g. iOS Note), then update reading plan using Logos 4 Mac. Another possibility is creating reading plan on iPhone, then update using iPhone or iPod Touch due to old sync timing issue.

Keep Smiling [:)]

Matt Eide

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/323901#Comment_323901

Maybe my experience is different? First, just for clarity: I tend to say iPhone because it's a more common reference point for people. But I don't have one. Some of the points in Bob's post seem not to apply. My iPod touch is connected to WiFi at home or in the office about 22 hours per day.

Next, in my experience, It has been at least 7 or 8 months since ANY data has synced from the desktop to the iPod Touch; data will go the other way, but not from Desktop to iPod. This means that though I created a new reading plan on December 31, it does not exist on my iPod at all. (But that's where I read, at home, while my computer is in the office.)

Last, you can create a reading plan on the mobile device????? PLEASE tell me how!!!

JT (alabama24)

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/323912#Comment_323912

Matt - As you have experienced, there are sync issues that relate to the mobile app across all iOS devices, including the iPod touch. As to your other question, no, you cannot create a reading plan on the mobile app.

What you need to be watching for is the release of 4.5. If you visit the beta forum, look to see when a "Release Candidate" has become available. Remember, however, that it is my understanding that the changes in sync for reading plans will come shortly after the release of 4.5, but not at the same time. It is possible that this may get rolled into the 4.5 release, but that was not the original plan. [My guess is that for beta testing purposes, they didn't want to introduce too many changes - the merging of notes & highlighting is quite significant!]

Keep Smiling 4 Jesus :)

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/323912#Comment_323912

Last, you can create a reading plan on the mobile device????? PLEASE tell me how!!!

Currently reading plan creation in the iOS app reminds me of an old joke about Ford Model-T's: you can have any color you want as long as it is black (only one option). [:P]

If delete all reading plans in an iOS device by single swipe to the left on reading plan line so delete button appears, then tap delete. A new reading plan "Read the Bible in a Year" is created that starts in Genesis. Trying to delete the default plan is not possible until more reading plans sync to device (possibly additional copies of default created plan, which seems a bit buggy and correlated to how often reading plan is downloaded to iOS device)

Keep Smiling [:)]