Not to continue ranting about sync issues, but I’ve had a sync going on my iPhone for the past 2-3 hours. It’s ruined my day in terms of what I was hoping to do. Instead of doing some deep reading/writing and running a few errands, I’ve sat at my desk distracted by making sure my phone was charged and that it wouldn’t auto-lock. I’ve also been misleading myself in the hopeful assumption that the sync would be finished any minute now since it was fifteen minutes in.
Is there any way to get better info on what’s happening with a given sync? The status icons I’ve been looking at don’t really give the user any insight or confidence into what’s happening. All I know is that I have what looks to be 1/25th of a circle (or a cloud) left to finish, and that’s for the current database the app is working on. Some of the questions I’ve had are:
Are the files left to sync/download important to me, or can they wait until later when I can leave my phone alone?
How many files have been synced/downloaded thus far? How many remain?
What is the download/upload speed?
These questions are in lieu of an estimated duration, which I assume must be too complicated to implement accurately.
Perhaps a tap on the cloud while it’s syncing should reveal the sync ‘plan’ or something: how many files on which databases are left to sync, differentiate sync status and download status, and so on.
An addendum: what consequences are there to pausing or exiting a sync, mid-sync? If I pack up and go, does it cost me in the long run?
No, there is no deeper info available about sync status.
I’m not sure what “cost” you are referring to, but sync should resume once the device is awake and connected. (Background App Refresh will afford some sync time, but iOS controls when it happens, not DTTG. Also, it only allows approx. 30 seconds of activity before it terminates it again.)
I can only assume that it hadn’t fully synchronized something the last few times I’ve had the app open, but the lack of detailed info means that I have no way to clarify.
Sorry, I wasn’t asking if the app provided more detailed information. I was suggesting it as a feature request. If it’s not on the roadmap, then sure. It can’t be impossible, though, as the app must be grabbing info from somewhere to fill in the icons, no?
Another, related, request—a loading animation or something that shows that the app is working on a sync. In the situation above I was wishing for a magnifying glass to see if the pie graph had filled in more…
We actually had more information available at one point, but the majority of the Users didn’t want it, and it was certainly only a poor estimate. It was mostly just “See that blur of filenames? I look like I’m doing stuff!” instead of anything showing more accurate data. People want(ed) unobtrusive. Additionally, there is an overhead cost to gathering and displaying more granular info.
We still do have a simple mechanism, two actually: The pie chart and the progress bar, both show sync activity.
However, we are always open to thoughts on the subject.
Right. And those mechanisms work great when it’s a five minute sync, but in my situation the ability to dive deeper to figure out if it was stuck or something would have been nice. Mark me down as advocating for a progressive disclosure route! More info is better, but only when you go looking for it.
+1 for the suggestion of progressive disclosure re: sync status. It would help in particular to figure out whether a long sync was stuck forever, or making progress.
Just wanted to say thanks, folks, for implementing the status sheet in DTTG. It makes me feel a lot better to see that the sync is actually making progress. I hope it wasn’t too much trouble!
Edit: also, it’s really cool to watch DT3’s sync status and DTTG’s sync status show the same file at the same time. It’s the little things that delight!