Clever Geek Handbook

ICloud + Basic Data: First User and User Impression of Data Loss

I have implemented an iPhone app that has about 50k users. Moving from iOS7 to iOS8 many of these users had a terrible feeling when they thought their data was lost.

I implemented the first import behavior I thought was suggested by Apple

1) Users launch the app

2) iCloud automatically starts syncing data previously saved to iCloud

3) At some point, the user receives a notification that the data from iCloud is ready thanks toNSPersistentStoreUbiquitousTransitionTypeInitialImportCompleted

Problem with 3) At some point :
Users who need to sync a large amount of data take minutes to complete sync and in the meantime they feel their data is lost.

I really don't know how to tell my users to wait to sync their data because I don't know when this operation starts .


I am thinking of a possible solution:

During the first launch of the app asking the user if they want to use iCloud. If he wants to use it while creating a database with iCloud options, so I know for sure that syncing starts here (I suppose ...) I'm really not sure how to implement this behavior, since I've always seen the Core Data settings in AppDelegate

, but to achieve this behavior I am assuming that I need to move all CoreData settings in the controller.

What do you think of this decision? how do you work on this problem in your applications?

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2 answers


Your idea is correct, at least that's what we do. But leave that in appDelegate.

Share with iCloud and non-iCloud when doing "addPersistentStoreWithType". If you do this using iCloud options, it will start directly creating a local store, which is sort of a placeholder (I'm sure you know that, but just to keep my thoughts clear). Once that's done, syncing will start from iCloud. So this is the starting point I figured out what you were looking for.



This process can be viewed through NSPersistentStoreCoordinatorStoresDidChangeNotification notifications and reported to the user triggered by this notification.

If you look at React to iCloud Events in the docs https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/DataManagement/Conceptual/UsingCoreDataWithiCloudPG/UsingSQLiteStoragewithiCloud/UsingSQLiteStoragewithiCloud.html#//apple_ref/dTP3CHidTP3CHid -SW5 , you will find a detailed desc.

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To summarize, the event description you are describing is part of the transition to accounts process. An account transition occurs when one of the following four events occurs:

  • Original import
  • ICloud account used changed
  • iCloud is disabled.
  • your app data is deleted.

During this event, Core Data will publish notifications NSPersistentStoreCoordinatorStoresWillChangeNotification

and NSPersistentStoreCoordinatorStoresDidChangeNotification

to let you know that an account transition is taking place. We need a transition type NSPersistentStoreUbiquitousTransitionTypeInitialImportCompleted

.

For your information, I've moved all the Core Data related code to my own manager for simplicity, and used it with the singleton design pattern. When you configure the singleton I file manager for all relevant notifications ( NSPersistentStoreDidImportUbiquitousContentChangesNotification

, NSPersistentStoreCoordinatorStoresWillChangeNotification

, NSPersistentStoreCoordinatorStoresDidChangeNotification

, NSPersistentStoreCoordinatorWillRemoveStoreNotification

). I keep a few details in my settings ( NSUserDefaults

or whatever) like the latest iCloud state (enabled, disabled, unknown), if the initial import was done or not, etc.



As a result, I got an invitation ( UIAlertController

or whatever) to get confirmation if the user wants to use iCloud or not. I have a method displayICloudDialogAndForce:completion:

to do this, and only this if my iCloud status is unknown or I am using the force parameter.

Then, after user input, I call a method setupCoreDataWithICloud:

, a boolean parameter iCloud

based on the user's choice. Then I would set my Core Data stack to cloud or not according to the parameter iCloud

. If I set up using iCloud, I would check my settings against the value of the imported iCloud key (boolean). If the value is NO, then I present a new modal to warn the user about the incoming import, which may take a while.

I have registered my manager for different notifications and on purpose NSPersistentStoreCoordinatorStoresDidChangeNotification

. In my callback, storeDidChange:

I check for the transition type, and if it is NSPersistentStoreUbiquitousTransitionTypeInitialImportCompleted

, I change the content of my modal file to show the user that the import was successful and remove it after a few seconds, saving in mine that the initial import was done.

- (void)storeDidChange:(NSNotification *)notification 
{
    NSPersistentStoreUbiquitousTransitionType transitionType = [notification.userInfo[NSPersistentStoreUbiquitousTransitionTypeKey] integerValue];

    if (transitionType == NSPersistentStoreUbiquitousTransitionTypeInitialImportCompleted) {
        [settings setDefaults:@(YES) forKey:kSettingsICloudImportedKey];
        [ICloudModal dismissWithSuccess];

        // ...
    }

    // Do other relevant things...
}
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