I found the answer to my question :). I just haven't read enough before posting this question. For anyone who has the same question, you can read the following topic

http://www.rememberthemilk.com/help/contact/support/iphone/?ctx=iphone.sync.autosync

A request I guess would be if possible to sync (if any changes) while closing the application ie pressing the iphone home button. Is it possible. Thanks.

~V

Hi vamshikk,

Unfortunately it's not possible to sync on exit. :(

Apple advises against beginning any actions on app termination -- the reason for this is that once the app is told that it's being exited, it only has 5 seconds to gracefully shut down (saving data and the application's state). After 5 seconds, it just gets killed by the OS.

The app stops syncing if a sync is already taking place when the exit command comes through; if we were to start a sync (or let one continue) as the application was being killed, there's a pretty good chance of doing bad things to the tasks data. :(

Hope this clears things up!

Hi There,

I'm new to RTM and just loaded the iPhone app for the trial period. I've set up about 6 items on the iPhone over the past 2 days and none of them show up on the website. Can anyone point me in the right direction to diagnose this issue? Thanks for any help.

Circlef

I am having the same issue as circlef. If I create a task on the webpage, it will sync back to my Touch. But none of the tasks I've created on my Touch are syncing back to the website.

Also a few of the tasks from the website did not sync back to my Touch. I added a tag to one of them and then it did sync back. Not sure what is going on there...

I would suggest that you schedule a sync within a few seconds of a task being modified (created, completed being most important).

This will ensure that tasks sync back to the site

Hi Emily,

Thank you so much for the clarification :). I can completely understand now. Now I just sync myself when I am exiting.

circlef, prisalex,

If it helps, I have no issues syncing both ways. I think you should report this on a separate thread or the help section.

Shahineo,

Nice suggestion :).

~V

I'd chime in with Shahineo - it's happened to me just about every time I use the app that I don't remember to hit sync before I exit (because why would I? that's unnatural). Then RTM on the web isn't synced. It is really critical that you implement a background or auto-sync to prevent this, otherwise it'll be a continual source of confusion and annoyance. Why not background sync on every change?

it could be exessive to background sync on every change. However, it would be prudent to sync on the most common operations that you'd want to be reflected right away:

task completion
new task

just to chime in I also got confused because it wasn't syncing well. If I do it manually it works just fine but the auto sync just doesn't seem to keep up. I think adding a sync after a complete or an add would be excellent.

With the app set to auto sync, your tasks will automatically be synchronized with RTM when the app launches or becomes active.

After this, the app will periodically sync around every 5 minutes while the app is open. (If you don't want to wait for the auto sync, you can manually sync by tapping the refresh icon at any time.)

To sync after any operation (even just the most important ones) would require a full sync to take place on our servers each time an operation took place on the device.

While we'll be looking into this possibility in the future, at the moment we're pretty focussed on ensuring that the service remains stable and maintains high performance; even with 5 minute sync frequency, this app does impact on our available server resources.

Once things settle down a bit, we'll be able to evaluate whether we can offer instant syncing on operations (i.e., "push"), or a higher sync frequency setting, without negatively impacting on service performance and stability for everybody.

Thanks for your feedback on this, everyone!

I don't think you should change a thing. I have Toodledo, Todo, Things, and Life Balance, and RTM's speed and accuracy when syncing can't be matched! I'm truly amazed at how fast it syncs, then I hit a refresh on the browser, and wahlah!

Anyway, I periodically hit the sync button when I'm adding tasks, etc. It's not un-natural to me. It's like saving a Word document while you're typing it.

Emily I really support the push initiative... That would be amazing!! Anyway I can subscribe for receiving developement news of this app?

Thanks again for your hard work gusy, being a pro user definitelly is worth it!!

marc

Hey Marc,

Any news about the iPhone app will be on our blog. :)

Damn it, Emily your reply almost stranded into the Internet see... How can I receive updates on posts??!!! I came across your answer accidentally as I don't seem to be able to sign up for updates in threads I post :(

There is an Atom feed for this forum here: http://www.rememberthemilk.com/forums/iphone/?format=atom