How to solve my autotransfer problems on iOS?

How to solve my autotransfer problems on iOS?


The autotransfer function in PhotoSync is triggered by the iOS geofencing that wakes up PhotoSync in the background when you reach one of the locations that you added in your autotransfer settings in PhotoSync. A location only triggers the app to start when you reach such a location from another location, it doesn't work if your device always stays at the same location.

Figure 1. Autotransfer settings
Autotransfer settings

 

Figure 2. Autotransfer location selection
Autotransfer location selection

 

The autotransfer is limited in some ways which is caused by restrictions set by Apple. You might know that apps in iOS are only allowed to run in the background (with screen locked or when brought to the background by pressing the home button) for a maximum time of 3 minutes. That's valid for all apps except phone, streaming and GPS tracking apps which can request special permissions - and of course Apples own apps. That's the reason why PhotoSync is not running permanently to check if you reached a location or if you have new photos on your device.

PhotoSync registers the locations that you add in the autotransfer settings in iOS and iOS wakes up PhotoSync when you reach such a location. If you enabled in the autotransfer settings that PhotoSync should Wait for Wi-Fi, after waking up the app tries for 2 minutes and 30 seconds to get a proper Wi-Fi signal. If it doesn't have a signal, because the app was started and you needed more than this time to reach your Wi-Fi range, PhotoSync will stop and go to sleep again because we think that there should be at least the 30 remaining seconds available for a transfer. That may be the problem that an autotransfer doesn't work when you have the Wait for Wi-Fi option enabled.

To find out the reason why an autotransfer didn't work, you can enable the logging in the PhotoSync settings under Service & Support. The next time you suspect an autotransfer to run, please check the logs and see what is listed there. If there is no entry showing that a location triggered PhotoSync to start, then the geofence location did not work and needs to be adjusted. If there is a problem with the 3 minute background operation time, the logs will show you which kind of failure did occur.

These are examples how the logs may look alike for an autotransfer:

 

2014-04-07 15:09:09 Entered location: CLCircularRegion (identifier:'12D3D3A9-1256-4A33-948E-AF45EDC50471', center:<+40.728852,-73.980450>, radius:100.00m)
2014-04-07 15:10:51 Connected to Wi-Fi touchbyte
2014-04-07 15:10:52 Scanning for new objects. Found: Object: Photo, index: 631, file name: IMG_1293.JPG
2014-04-07 15:10:52 Scanning for new objects. Found: Object: Photo, index: 632, file name: IMG_1294.JPG
2014-04-07 15:10:52 Scanning for new objects. Found: Object: Photo, index: 633, file name: IMG_1295.JPG
2014-04-07 15:10:52 Scanning for new objects. Found: Object: Photo, index: 634, file name: IMG_1296.JPG
2014-04-07 15:10:52 Scanning for new objects. Found: Object: Photo, index: 635, file name: IMG_1297.JPG
2014-04-07 15:10:52 Scanning for new objects. Found: Object: Photo, index: 636, file name: IMG_1298.JPG
2014-04-07 15:10:52 Starting autotransfer to Anni's Mac Mini Server for 6 objects

 

The above autotransfer worked. At 15:09:09 the location triggered PhotoSync to start. One minute and 42 seconds later the user entered the range of the Wi-Fi network. PhotoSync identified 6 new photos on the device and started the autotransfer to the configured target.

 

2014-04-07 00:38:26 Entered location: CLCircularRegion (identifier:'12E30363-BB0D-494B-9208-E71D7C374BFA', center:<+40.728852,-73.980450>, radius:100.00m)
2014-04-07 00:40:53 Autotransfer failed. No Wi-Fi connection.

 

The above autotransfer did not work. At 00:38:26 the location triggered PhotoSync to start. Two and a half minutes later, PhotoSync did not get a Wi-Fi connection. Obviously the way from the location trigger to the Wi-Fi range is too long. This can happen if you e.g. need to reach a Wi-Fi network in a large story building where it necessarily takes some time from the street where the location very likely triggered the app until reaching the Wi-Fi range.

If you always approach from the same direction to your location, you might try to hold and move the pin of the location that you set in the autotransfer settings further away from your location in order to force it to trigger a bit later. This trick may work to improve the location trigger. The resolution of the geofence isn’t very high because iOS isn’t using GPS for the geofence detection, it just uses cell and (if available Wi-Fi) triangulation because this doesn’t waste much battery life compared to GPS location tracking. PhotoSync only uses GPS to help you to pinpoint your location in the autotransfer setup process. The geofencing doesn't use GPS at all.

Another common problem may be the fact that an autotransfer is not completing. This has to do with the 3 minute background operation restriction in iOS. PhotoSync can only run - and transfer - in the background for 3 minutes. If the app is still transferring while it is in the background, it sends you a push notification 30 seconds before the background operation time runs out. If you tap on this notification, you bring PhotoSync back to the foreground and it can continue the transfer process. You can even send it to the background again to get another 3 minutes of background operation time.

 

Figure 3. Autotransfer background notification
Autotransfer background notification

 

As an alternative you might want to use the quick transfer feature in PhotoSync settings. Quick transfer works almost the same with the exception that it has to be started manually by starting the app and then long-pressing the red transfer button. Everything else works without any additional questions or screens.

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