iOS 8 + Pleco: any reason not to update?

etm001

状元
The title says it all. As related to Pleco, is there any reason not update to iOS 8? Any potential issues with iCloud Drive, etc.?
 

mikelove

皇帝
Staff member
Current app seems to work fine on iOS 8 GM, the only issue we know of relates to users of external keyboards trying to access handwriting input while those keyboards are connected.

Update we're working on fixes that issue, though the only major iOS 8 optimization we've done so far is to hook into iCloud Drive (and other shared document providers) for all of our "file open" screens so that you can access files from those places directly within Pleco rather than having to switch to another app and "Open In." However, as Apple's security-scoped URL system is currently a bit buggy, at the moment this works by making a duplicate file in Pleco's own storage, which wastes a bit of space if you do it for a lot of files.
 

dcarpent

榜眼
I just updated to iOS 8 on both my iPhone 5 and my iPad Air and it now seems that new flashcards don't sync between the two devices as they did before. Do I need to adjust some settings in some way?
 

mikelove

皇帝
Staff member
Should keep working - have you enabled iCloud Drive on both of them? (If there's a mismatch in that setting then it could prevent proper file sync)
 

dcarpent

榜眼
Yes, iCloud Drive is turned on on both devices, and Pleco is turned on on both in the iCloud Drive program list. I just modified a flashcard folder on my iPhone and then checked the iPad and the change was not reflected. Changes used to show up almost immediately.
 

mikelove

皇帝
Staff member
To be honest, we're now seeing some systemwide iCloud issues here on a few devices with 8 (not confined to Pleco), so while we'll certainly investigate further this may not be fixed until 8.0.1 or 8.0.2.

Sorry I didn't flag this before, but oddly enough, we didn't see similar problems during the beta or with the GM - could be a scalability issue with the new CloudKit backend.
 

mikelove

皇帝
Staff member
To expand on that: the reason we think it might be scalability is that we're seeing some very long delays in attempting to sync little bits of data like history lists - sometimes cause apps (again, lots of others besides ours) to freeze several seconds while they're in the middle of a sync, or even to crash altogether because they take too long (with the crash log then reporting that the action they were stuck in was an iCloud sync).
 

etm001

状元
To be honest, we're now seeing some systemwide iCloud issues here on a few devices with 8 (not confined to Pleco), so while we'll certainly investigate further this may not be fixed until 8.0.1 or 8.0.2.

In the past fews days I've noticed that sync'ing between my iPad3 (latest iOS 7) and iPhone 5s (iOS 8, no iCloud Drive) is a little wonky. For example, late last night on my iPad I created a new flashcard category and manually populated it. The new category/cards updated on my iPhone within a few minutes (I visually saw them). Today, the first time I used Pleco on my iPhone, it generated a database sync notification:
  • iPad, 9/22/14, 1:10AM
  • iPhone, 9/20/14 7:14PM
I chose to accept the iPad version of the database on my iPhone. This isn't a big problem for me as 99% of my work in Pleco takes place on my iPad.

Thanks!
 

mikelove

皇帝
Staff member
Also fits with our sense that this is a capacity problem - new iOS update plus the iCloud drive transition plus a record breaking number of new iPhone sales over the weekend means a strong likelihood of running up against the limits of Apple's system.
 
I'm having a related problem, consistently. Every time I open Pleco on either my iPad 3 running iOS 8 or my iPod Touch running same, I get the (formerly rare) warning that "your flashcard database was modified on more than one device since it as last synced with iCloud...". Every single time. I select the newest version (or in most cases, the unchanged version) and go on, but next time I open Pleco it appears again, without exception.
 

JD

状元
On my iPad Air running iOS8, I often see that when I bring up Pleco (after closing the app), the dictionary line for entering words is blank....but the past characters are still there. What I mean is that if I touch the entry line, the cursor comes up several spaces to the right, and then I can backspace to get back to the beginning of the line. But the whole time, the line appears to be blank. I have Pleco set to come up with the keyboard open, but if I close the keyboard out, the characters reappear. [I tried to upload a screenshot, but I don't seem to be able to do so].
 

mikelove

皇帝
Staff member
@Beijingmac - sounds like it is indeed related - databases taking too long to sync with the result that they often get updated separately between syncs.

@JD - thanks, seeing that here too.
 

etm001

状元
I'm having a related problem, consistently.

Happening consistently now for me too. I choose to download the most recent version of the database (from my iPad) onto my iPhone, but the warning will be generated again after I do some work in Pleco on my iPad. The database conflict notification is showing a date/time stamp from the 20th for the version of the database on my iPhone, even though I have downloaded the more recent version from my iPad.
 

mikelove

皇帝
Staff member
That consistent date stamp makes it sound like this one might actually be an iCloud Drive transition problem - you're sure the iPhone hasn't enabled iCloud drive?
 

mikelove

皇帝
Staff member
Not really - from our end it appears to still be syncing as consistently as it did before, but it generally takes quite a bit longer to do so. So at least until the issue persists into (the apparently almost imminent) 8.1/8.2 I'm inclined to view it as an Apple issue.
 

etm001

状元
OK. I guess I can wait until 8.1 to see if the problem persists.

Would deleting/reinstalling Pleco on my iPhone potentially resolve the problem? Or would it just resume after reinstall? (I guess there's no risk in deleting the app and finding out).
 

mikelove

皇帝
Staff member
Seems to persist between reinstalls, in our experience. It's irregular, and it applies to history sync (using a different part of iCloud) too, which furthers my impression that it's a capacity problem.
 
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