Sync problem between MacBook and iPhone

Support
#1

Hi!

Syncing between iPhone and MacBook does not work completely.

Example 1. Synchronization works correctly (iPhone - > MacBook):

  1. On the iPhone, you create a new reminder and set a due date for it
  2. When the time specified in step 1 comes, notifications are received on the iPhone and on the MacBook at the same time
  3. On the iPhone, through a notification, you snoozed a reminder or complete him
  4. After a few seconds, the notification disappears on the MacBook and the same action is performed with the reminder as on the iPhone

Example 2. Synchronization does not work correctly (MacBook -> iPhone):

  1. On a MacBook, you create a new reminder and set a due date for it
  2. You DON'T open the app on your iPhone
  3. When the time specified in step 1 comes, the notification of a new reminder comes only to the MacBook. There is nothing on the iPhone
  4. Only after opening the application on the iPhone, you can see how a new reminder appears in the list already overdue

Example 3. Synchronization does not work correctly (MacBook -> iPhone):

  1. On the iPhone, you create a new reminder and set a due date for it
  2. When the time specified in step 1 comes, notifications are received on the iPhone and on the MacBook at the same time
  3. On a MacBook, through a notification, you snoozed a reminder or complete him
  4. The reminder notification does not disappear from the notification center on the iPhone
  5. If the reminder was snoozed in step 3, then the next time it will come only to the MacBook. This notification will not be displayed on the iPhone

This is very inconvenient. Could you please fix this problem?

iOS 14.7.1
MacOS 11.5.2
GoodTask 6.8.3

#2

Hi @zzonderr, thanks for the feedback.

It seems like changes made in MacBook is not transferring to iPhone according to your explanation. Check below things first.

On your iPhone,

  • Open default Settings app and make sure 'iCloud Drive' is turned on.
  • Open GoodTask - Settings - Advanced and check 'iCloud Active Sync' is turned on.

On your Mac,

  • Open System Preferences - iCloud and check 'iCloud Drive' is turned on.

If all are working properly, changes made in MacBook should normally trigger sync on iPhone.

Thanks!

#3

Hi, @GoodTask! Thanks for you fast answer!

All settings are correct. I even tried several times to reinstall the GoodTask with the removal of all settings from the iCloud, but it did not help :frowning_face:

#4

I seem to have the same problem: Completion marks on my iOS devices do not sync to the MacBook, until I open the reminder app on the MaBook and wait for 1-3 minutes.

#5

Hi @zzonderr, thanks for the feedback. Are you using iCloud Reminders database? Would you try resetting Reminders database on iPhone?

  • Close Reminders and GoodTask.
  • Go into 'Default Settings app - Apple ID - iCloud'
  • Check off 'Reminders'. This will remove Reminders data on your device.
  • Check back on 'Reminders'. This will re-download all Reminders data.
  • Open Reminders and wait to see download happening.
  • After all data is downloaded, open GoodTask and see how it goes.

If Reminders database is not syncing fast enough, refreshing the data on iPhone may not fetch the changes right away.

Thanks!

#6

Very interesting. I did what you said and I have now fewer reminders. It was 15 and became 6 :sweat_smile:. Plus, one list disappeared. Don't worry, I saved everything in a text file beforehand :nerd_face: Just in case, I did the same on the MacBook. Now there are also 6 reminders on it. I will watch the work during the day. Why are there suddenly fewer reminders? Were there no those reminders in iCloud?

UPD: I apologize. The remaining reminders have arrived after all. Although with a delay.

1 Like
#7

Well, I followed the work of GoodTask notifications on the iPhone in the background during the day (I tried not to take the iPhone in my hands at all). The problem with syncing notifications remained, but I also found a strange behavior of GoodTask. I describe the scenario:

  1. On the MacBook, I snoozed notifications for several reminders (5 pieces). Not at one time, sequentially, with different time intervals
  2. I haven't touched my iPhone all this time. I just watched the notification center, without going to the main screen. On the iPhone, these 5 notifications did not go anywhere. After 1 hour, these notifications remained in the notification center
  3. I had two more reminders, notifications for which were supposed to come soon. This time I decided to postpone them through the iPhone.
  4. And here I observed a strange behavior - I snoozed the first notification that had just arrived and after 2-3 seconds one of the five old notifications disappeared :thinking:. That is, there are now 4 notifications left in the notification center. Soon a second notification came, which I also postponed from the iPhone. And the situation repeated itself. One old notification disappeared again. Now there are 3 of them left. :exploding_head:

There is a feeling that when GoodTask works in the background :sleeping:, it needs to be "pushed" :alarm_clock: a little so that it somehow works out the changes made to the MacBook. But it does this in a very strange way - it processes one notification at a time.

#8

Thanks for the detail explanation. The fact that GoodTask uses Reminders database has pros and cons. One major downside is the sync side that I can't fully manage. Since the data itself flows invisibly, weird things can happen.

GoodTask tries to fetch data and set notifications but if the data is not refreshed, it might not get it done properly.

The best way would be simply opening the app but if you need background sync and notifications to work perfectly, it might be better to use Reminders app's notifications for notifications only.

Thanks!

#9

It is a pity that it will not be possible to solve this problem :sob:. Standard reminders are not suitable for me, there is not enough functionality. Are you planning to abandon the use of the Reminder.app database and implement your own option :pleading_face:? That would be perfect :heart_eyes:

1 Like
#10

I switched notifications for GoodTask off on all my devices and switched notification on for the Reminders.app. So i manage all my tasks in GoodTask, but get informed by the notification of Reminders. This works, because it's the same database. Hope that helps.

#11

I am still having problems synching tasks on my MacBook:

MacOS 11.6, GoodTask 6.9.2: I always have to start Apple's Reminder App and switch between lists back and forth so tasks modified, created or deleted with my iPhone (15.0.2) or iPad (15.0.2) are updated on my Mac as well.

#12

Hi @TRq, thanks for the feedback. I recommend sending feedback to Apple for this since it needs to be addressed by the system.

Thanks!

#13

Responding to this comment from @zzonderr:

Are you planning to abandon the use of the Reminder.app database and implement your own option :pleading_face:? That would be perfect :heart_eyes:

Although I can see the benefits to that suggestion, I wanted to mention that for me, using the Reminders database is a huge benefit. It means GoodTask is extremely well integrated into Apple's ecosystem. For example, chatting with Siri about my reminders works just as I would hope. Also, it means GoodTask has a back-end API that I can use to do further automation one day.

2 Likes
#14

I have done so in Nov. 21. Unfortunately: Problem not solved

#15

Up until now the problem is not solved:

I am still having problems synching tasks on my MacBook:

MacOS 12.3.1, GoodTask 7.1: I always have to start Apple's Reminder App on my Mac so tasks modified, created or deleted with my iPhone (15.5) or iPad (15.5) are updated on my Mac as well.