Periodic WiFi sync as workaround for Family Sharing

jtucker

I finally talked my wife into getting her own MacBookPro. When setting hers up, I did a clean install of Yosemite on mine to start fresh everywhere. The first app I wanted to install was 1Password, of course -- I've been using it since its beginning and it's just part of a Mac, as far as I'm concerned.

Unfortunately, I had a brain hiccup and said to myself, "This is the perfect time to switch to the MAS version and iCloud sync so I can get rid of Dropbox." Gahh! We have separate AppleIDs and use Family Sharing. I knew the issues with that, but in my haste to get them set up, I simply forgot. $50 later, now what?

Initially, to get things onto her Mac, I set her iPhone to sync to my Mac via WiFi, then switched her iPhone back to iCloud to sync with her Mac and iPad. That seemed to work okay.

My question is: Am I asking for trouble if I continue that in the future? Is anyone doing the same?

We don't change or add passwords very often, so it won't be awful to do this occasionally, though I certainly wish there was better way that didn't involve adding Dropbox back to 7 devices just for 1Password syncing. I can do that but I would really prefer not. (It would be nice if I could set an IOS device to sync via iCloud and WiFi at the same time, though I'm sure that brings major technical and process difficulties.)

littlebobbytables

Hi @jtucker,

What you're essentially doing is using an iOS device as a bridge between two groups of 1Password. As you've already discovered it is possible but we don't recommend it. Obviously an explanation is in order.

Say you have a copy of 1Password that isn't currently syncing but you do have sync data either in the form of iCloud, Dropbox or other. Wi-Fi Sync falls into this category too even though it doesn't have that file sitting somewhere to make it nice and easy to conceptualise. The first time you tell this non-syncing copy of 1Password to sync it has to do a little dance where it treats this sync data as completely unknown. It does all sorts of comparisons and where necessary creates conflict data if two items share the same UUID (Universally Unique ID) but have different data. After this sync settles down as it's only concerned about a small number of changes between each check and it's just a lot more aware - this is what for a lack of a better term we'll call the sync metadata. This metadata allows us to be a lot more elegant about syncing.

When you disable sync this metadata is thrown away as we can no longer use it. Even if you were to re-enable sync moments later we can't say what has happened in between so we have to treat the sync data as unknown and go through the dance again. Now each time this happens there is a risk of conflicts.

So imagine this scenario. You've got your two distinct groups of machines/devices and they're syncing with their own iCloud, both making some small changes. You then disable iCloud Sync on one of the iOS devices and connect it to the other group via Wi-Fi. 1Password tries but it decides for safety reasons to create a conflict section for 1-2 items where certain details seem duplicated but in fact one copy is from the iOS' existing data and the other is from the Mac. If you don't clear this up before you disable Wi-Fi Sync then you need to manually clear up both devices. Furthermore, if you don't notice before re-enabling iCloud Sync then it propagates to the other syncing copies of 1Password too. Now thankfully as they're in sync you only need to clean up one device, well one device in each group.

Now this is pretty much the worst case scenario but I wanted to make sure you understood the implications. If all the devices were to use Dropbox this is less likely to happen or should be because they're only concerned about small alterations which they're informed of promptly. Now many people have done as you're suggesting and continue to do so, probably switching more often than you're suggesting you would. So as I said earlier, it is possible but we don't recommend it. We'll do our best to answer any questions you have, ultimately though it's your decision to make. I consider it my job to help make sure it's an informed one by covering how it works.

jtucker

Yikes. That's a version of the process issue I suspected. If all we did was occasionally change a password I could paste in the change via Screen Sharing. Much more than that would be a pain.

The safest way otherwise is erase data on the devices of the ID that didn't change, wifi sync an iPhone from that ID, switch it back to iCloud, then turn on iCloud on its siblings.

What a pain. I guess I just wasted a dollar unless Apple is going to allow shared storage this year. Or they could fix the identity issues that arise from different family members sharing an AppleID.

I had gotten around most of those initially but it wasn't completely satisfactory. Now iCloud Photo Library brings new issues (do we want two libraries or one) that I'll need to think through before deciding on Dropbox or going back to using a shared AppleID for the 1Password problem.

jtucker

FYI, I noticed last night that I had two conflicts after doing that sync. Now, it was a day later before I checked for conflicts, so I can't be sure if they were caused by the syncing method I described or by something with iCloud.

What's very odd is that they were two software license items and in both, the conflict was the Purchase Date, and in both cases the conflicted Purchase Date was the same as the non-conflicted Purchase Date. At least to human eyes.

Megan

Hi @jtucker,

I'm glad to hear that littlebobbytables was able to help explain the situation ... even if he didn't give you quite the answer you were hoping for. There are some definite improvements that Apple could make with respect to iCloud and Family Sharing. However, since Family Sharing was just introduced in this most recent OS update, I'm confident that they'll continue to refine it and hopefully work out some of these kinks in future versions. :)

Please keep an eye on these conflicts. As is suggested above, a few of these are expected, but if you are seeing a lot, we can investigate further.

I hope that this works for you!

jtucker

Thanks. One of the reasons I wanted to quit using Dropbox is that a year or two ago when I was paying more attention, I was getting conflicts frequently and I blamed the Dropbox sync process (without any evidence, of course). I guess it's the only practical solution for me at present.

Not only have I used 1Password since it's first release about a decade ago, I've been a user of all of Apple's attempts at cloud-type services, going all the way back to iTools. Who remembers iTools? I'm not optimistic that they can/will fix this before the next metamorphosis of their cloud service. I'm thinking $150billion doesn't buy you much these days ... 8-)

Drew_AG

I remember iTools! Ah, those were the days. ;) Apple has definitely changed their sync/cloud services over the years, but so far it looks like iCloud will be around for a while. They've already made lots of big changes since iCloud was first introduced, so hopefully they'll continue to make improvements there.

If you need anything else, just let us know - we're here for you!