Sync with iPhone

[keithlard]

Consistency is great - one of those products that as soon as you try it, you realise you've needed it all your life 

I have both the Mac and the iPhone version, and wish that they could sync with each other. I know that you can copy data from one to the other using the WiFi web interface, but that is not the same as sync, nor is it automatic.

Here's a brief description of how I would ideally like it to work. I'm taking Things as my model, because I think it gets sync mostly right.

Whenever you open the Consistency app on the iPhone and you are on WiFi, and the desktop app is open on your Mac, it automatically syncs any changes between the two in the background, so that it does not interfere with whatever you opened Consistency to do. (Things gets this wrong as the sync window interrupts what you're doing and stops you from doing anything until it's completed.)

If you need to sync straight away, you should be able to tap a 'Sync Now' button, rather than having to close and reopen the app.

Another good model is Calengoo (Google Calendar iPhone client). Although the sync is automatic on startup, you can disable this and just hit the sync button whenever you need to sync. This would be a nice but not essential enhancement.

To my mind, the absolutely perfect model of sync is that between Simplenote and Notational Velocity (or any other Simplenote API client). Because it syncs via a web service, it works over the air (3G or WiFi), in the background, and with complete transparency. Once you've entered your Simplenote account details at both ends, you never have to think about or notice a syncing process ever again. This has the effect that whenever you go to your notes, they are always automagically up to date with whatever changes you made on the iPhone, the desktop, the web interface, or any other client.

I appreciate that multiple documents and contexts in Consistency make it not quite straightforward to determine what should be synced. I would suggest modifying the existing 'sync' screen on the iPhone so that you can manually upload or download a given context, and also check a box to 'automatically sync this context every time'. This screen would also show available contexts in the desktop version and make it possible to download these to the iPhone. The default should be to sync everything.

[Markjupiter]

The Sync feature is really impressive. It has a capability to make changes one at a time. Actually, I also use Sync each time I work with my iPhone.

[Robert McNally]

Thanks for your suggestions!

[idea2go]

Syncing would make this a must-have product for me.  Now it's too hard to always be in the right place at the right time to mark off a task that I do.

Some vendors place their file on DropBox and then have the different platforms all read and write to that same (set of tiny) file(s).  It works great and maybe is easier to program than creating your own solution from scratch?

[mrmr]

Well I just bought the App and liked so much I went an bought the desktop. The App is MUCH more impressive than the program it seems the prices are flopped! The iApp interface allows for a GYM folder, a HOME folder or any folders of your choosing. The desktop interface is SO uninspiring (Excel sheet?). Even worse is that when I upload folders to the desktop, there are two different files and no way to combine them -- unless I cut and paste them into a completely new file. Am I doing something wrong? It seems like there would be a single window with tabs or something. Even better would be a single spreadsheet with collapsible sections. Better still would be automatic notifications from Consistency via HabiTimer. OH YEAH!

I have no real room to preach here, and I have no idea what it would be like to run a software company, but you have a GREAT idea here. Unfortunately the desktop version is a little lacking and the forum doesn't show a lot of development activity from you. You may already be on it, but the integration of the phone and desktop would really put this thing over the top! Maybe you saw the need for Consistency because you are a procrastinator like the rest of us?  Get an investor and some help and I think you could really make something good, really great (and lucrative!). Cheers to you for what you have accomplished so far! The App is really nice!

[Robert McNally]

Thanks for you suggestions. The desktop version of Consistency could use a makeover, I agree, including a better form of syncing. As far as combining documents goes, the desktop version is very good at this: just drag tasks from one document to another and they are duplicated in the target document.

[oogiem]

I'd also vote for a robust sync option. My model would be Omnifocus which handles nearly all possible options for sync. I want only wifi but other people prefer cloud alternatives. We need the choice to choose.

[dgpiche]

I see is old but definitely some kind of sync with the desktop would be almost a must.  General management larger view on the phone and on-the-go one off updates on the phone.  I'm sure the amount of data is minuscule to make cloud service costs free or negligeable (10GB per month, thoughts on volume)?

[dgpiche]

And since this post also talks about notifications, the most important thing in making this software useful is actually looking at it.  That is, building the consistency of using it.  It's no use having a consistency item for using consistency if you don't first build consistency to open it regularly.  So having notifications seems like a critical component of getting people to build the consistency to remember to open it at a frequency they want.  Not a reminder for each item in it, but rather just a notification that says "Hey, did you check Consistency today?".  That would help do the most important thing it can't do right now, remind you to use it.  Ironic but I think a propos

Of course, I could just set a daily calendar item to check it.  But if it took care of that, it would be nice

[zark]

Just as a side note:
Would it be possible to make use of iCloud document sync? Isn’t this kind of automatic, because the framework provides a lot out of the box?