iOS iCloud syncing between devices

Solar2D General Questions/Discussion
#1

I need to implement iOS iCloud syncing between devices. Can this be done with the latest version of Corona SDK? If so, how do we implement it? This feature is really essential for our app.

#2

Check 

http://docs.coronalabs.com/daily/api/library/native/setSync.html

and

http://docs.coronalabs.com/daily/api/library/native/getSync.html

#3

Thanks for your reply, but I think this is referring to flagging files for iCloud backup storage not syncing data between files. What I need to do is to be able to open the same universal app across devices and have the exact data synced (users, setup, etc.).

#4

Check 

http://docs.coronalabs.com/daily/api/library/native/setSync.html

and

http://docs.coronalabs.com/daily/api/library/native/getSync.html

#5

Thanks for your reply, but I think this is referring to flagging files for iCloud backup storage not syncing data between files. What I need to do is to be able to open the same universal app across devices and have the exact data synced (users, setup, etc.).

#6

I’m bumping this up because I think this is a very important limitation of Corona if it does not enable apps to be synced across devices. For example, your app has various users and each user has various settings. The app is universal and the users have an iPad, iPad mini, iPhone and iPod touch. They want to pick up where they left off on each device. Can Corona handle this??

#7

Does this mean that I don’t have to do anything to sync across devices since the setSync default is true?

Apple once rejected my app because I because the backup to the cloud tag was not set to false.

#8

As far as I know, Corona doesn’t support the iCloud feature that syncs app data across devices.  It only supports setting a flag using native.setSync which, despite the name, is a flag that relates only to iCloud backup.

Syncing across devices is a non-trivial issue.  If you Google iCloud data syncing, you’ll find a lot of blog posts and complaints by native iOS developers that the iCloud device syncing functionality is a huge headache and often fails to work.  So, even if Corona exposed the iCloud app data syncing feature, there would probably be a lot of work involved to get it working right.

There are some alternatives you can consider depending on the nature of your data you need to sync.  You can use a cloud service like Parse or StackMob to store the data you want to sync.  Then you’d just need a mechanism to identify a user across multiple devices.  You may not have access to their iTunes account email, but you could probably use their Game Center credential or Facebook account as proof of their identity.

  • Andrew
#9

Thanks @Andrew for taking the time to respond.

#10

I’m bumping this up because I think this is a very important limitation of Corona if it does not enable apps to be synced across devices. For example, your app has various users and each user has various settings. The app is universal and the users have an iPad, iPad mini, iPhone and iPod touch. They want to pick up where they left off on each device. Can Corona handle this??

#11

Does this mean that I don’t have to do anything to sync across devices since the setSync default is true?

Apple once rejected my app because I because the backup to the cloud tag was not set to false.

#12

As far as I know, Corona doesn’t support the iCloud feature that syncs app data across devices.  It only supports setting a flag using native.setSync which, despite the name, is a flag that relates only to iCloud backup.

Syncing across devices is a non-trivial issue.  If you Google iCloud data syncing, you’ll find a lot of blog posts and complaints by native iOS developers that the iCloud device syncing functionality is a huge headache and often fails to work.  So, even if Corona exposed the iCloud app data syncing feature, there would probably be a lot of work involved to get it working right.

There are some alternatives you can consider depending on the nature of your data you need to sync.  You can use a cloud service like Parse or StackMob to store the data you want to sync.  Then you’d just need a mechanism to identify a user across multiple devices.  You may not have access to their iTunes account email, but you could probably use their Game Center credential or Facebook account as proof of their identity.

  • Andrew
#13

Thanks @Andrew for taking the time to respond.