Online Sync & Backup

This screen is accessed by using the Sync button on the Home screen.

Actions

Online Sync & Backup

Select one of the options to change how this device’s database is connected with your other iOS devices.

1. Select None to disable sync.
2. Select iCloud Drive to enable sync between iOS devices that use the same iCloud account.
3. Select Dropbox to enable sync between iOS devices that use different iCloud accounts. (Free Dropbox account required.) Note: The same Dropbox account is used on both devices during sync setup.
   Note: We are aware of an issue with sharing via Dropbox. We are working on an update to resolve this.

Database Transfer

Copy to other device – Tap this to go to the Send Database screen.

Receive from other device – Tap this to go to the Receive Database screen.

Everything Explained

Online Sync & Backup

This allows you to use an online service (iCloud or Dropbox) to keep your Home Food Storage data synchronized with other iOS devices running a compatible version of the app.

Note: It is required to have an active iCloud account on the device. This is so that the database can be recovered from the online service in the situation where the app has been deleted.

Each shared database kept online is associated with a unique identifier. This is shown as a group of six letters/numbers (eg. “B1B9D2″). This will help you to see which online database your device is connected to.

If you want to switch between different online services (e.g. from iCloud to Dropbox), you will need to disable sync first (see: “remove a device”), before selecting the new online service.

To start using Online Sync & Backup:

1. On the device that has the current (most up-to-date) database, select and tap the online service (iCloud or Dropbox) that you want to use to store your database.
2. For iCloud, it will use your current iCloud account. It will automatically authenticate and upload your database.
3. For Dropbox, you need to have the Dropbox app installed, or be able to enter your Dropbox username and password. After you have authenticated, you will need to give permission for the Home Food Storage app to have access to a special app folder. This is the folder the app will use to store all the data and changes made, and files and folders in it should not be modified.

To add another device to the same database:

When using Dropbox, and both devices have the Dropbox app: If installed, the app will use the Dropbox app to authenticate to Dropbox on the receiving device. If the receiving device is using a different Dropbox account, before transferring the database, you will need to first sign-out of Dropbox on that device during this setup phase. Once the sync has been enabled and is working, the Dropbox app can resume using its original account.

Use the Database Transfer method below to receive the database from the device that is currently using Online Sync & Backup. Warning: All data on the added device will be removed during this setup process; existing data is not merged with the data already online.

After the database transfer, you will see the following prompt (this shows receiving from a device using Dropbox as the online service):

Tap Enable Sync to join the online service for this database. You may be required to authenticate to the service.

There is no limit to the number of devices that can share the same database.

To remove a device from a shared database:

Note: Disabling sync does not remove any data from the local device.

1. Tap the Disable option and confirm this prompt:
2. You will then get the following prompt, which you should answer carefully. Selecting Remove will remove all online data associated with the current database, and should be used when the last device using this database is disabled. Selecting Keep will only remove your current device from the shared database; other devices will not be affected and can continue to sync.
3. After this, your device will no longer be associated with any online database and your data is only kept on the device.

Database Transfer

This allows you to transfer all your local Home Food Storage data to another iOS device running a compatible version of the app. Devices must be on the same local network, so they can discover each other for the transfer.

Select either Send Database or Receive Database.

Do not ignore any warnings shown, and be sure to select the correct option! (You will very much regret overwriting your database with one that is blank!)
For example,

Follow the steps below on each device to copy the data.

Sending Device Aim: Copy the device’s local data to another device. Note: This does not remove any items from this device.	Receiving Device Aim: Overwrite the device’s local data with data from another device.
Action:Copy to other device	Action:Receive from other device
Waits for the Receiver to Request Database.	When both devices are on the screens above and on the same network, the Receiver will see: This shows the Sender’s device name, number of items, app version and database language. Action: Request Database Tells the Sender you want to receive a copy of their database.
After the Receiver has selected Request Database:This shows the Receiver’s device name and app version. Action: Send Database Initiates the database copy.	Waits for the Sender to initiate the transfer by choosing Send Database.
The transfer is complete.	If the remote database is using Online Sync & Backup, you will see a prompt similar to the following: If you select Enable Sync, this device will authenticate to the online service (eg. Dropbox) and join the online sync for the database. If you select Disable, this device will receive the database and not join the online sync. After this or otherwise, the transfer is complete and the screen returns to the Home screen.