Problems with Appigo Sync Update

Appigo Sync was updated to version 1.2.0. After syncing with the update all my ToDos were doubled. Yes, that’s right. Every item on every list had a duplicate version in the Inbox.

After that neither my iPhone nor my iPad connected to Appigo Sync. I got “Synchronization Error: Check Settings”.

Previously ToDo stopped syncing with iCal when I tried the MobileMe beta update. This was because the iCal beta on MobileMe takes all your calendar events and todos off your computer and stores it on “the cloud”.

The biggest problem is with Apple.

iCal todos do not sync with either their iPad or iPhone. And the todos on iCal desktop do not match the todos on the iCal MobileMe account.

Another frustration is, if you just want to use the todos in iCal you will find it very tedious to update. Instead of clicking on your todo item date and seeing a pop up calender to move the item to a new date, you have to manually enter the day, date and year as separate items. Go figure. If only Apple created an easy way to update their todo items and sync them with MobileMe and all iProducts we wouldn’t need a Todo App.

The Appigo Sync Solution

As far as I know, Appigo’s “Todo” App is the only app that syncs with iCal. Here’s how I fixed the problem:

Make sure you back up your iCal. You do not want to lose all your data by accident.

Go to the Appigo Sync Preferences. Click on the section that says “Devices”. This is where you’ll find your iPad and iPhone listed.

Click on either iPhone or iPad, depending on what you have connected. Then click remove. I removed my iPad. Then went into “Settings”, then “Synchronization, then “Services”. I hit “Validate”. On my iMac the Appigo Sync Preferences panel listed the iPad as “Pending”.  I was able to get a new sync code. I entered it and was then able to sync.

The iPhone was more complicated. The above procedure did not work. I ended up having to delete the Todo App from the iPhone. I then connected the iPhone to iTunes on my iMac. I checked the ToDo app on iTunes and resynced the phone. Then I opened the Todo App. After re-registering, I connected the device as stated above and now it works.

Unfortunately I still had to carefully delete all the duplicated items. I do not look forward to future updates, especially when the new MobileMe calender comes out of beta.

For more details check “How do I sync Todo with iCal”.

Update: 11/10/10

Today I finally decided to update my iCal to the new MobileMe Calendar. The reason I did this was because there was a detailed description from Appigo on how to do it. Unfortunately, what happened was that I lost all the detailed descriptions on all my Todos in iCal. They just appear as empty. Plus any changes on iCal’s todo list no longer sync with Appigo’s Todo on the iPad and iPhone. They also do not sync with Todo Online ($19.99 per year). I am waiting to hear back from Appigo on how to fix this issue. Hopefully I will have an answer soon.

Update: 11/15/10

Still no word from Appigo. So I called MobileMe and asked how I may be able to get my data back. They basically told me I was out of luck. Also iCal and MobileMe do not sync Todo items. They are working on this for a future update. I think this should have been a no-brainer from the start, but that’s just me.

I remembered I had saved a copy of my iCal calendars when I first had problems with the MobileMe beta calendar. I reloaded this into my MobileMe iCal account. Happily I got all my todo items and notes back. Plus, unfortunately, everything else on my iCal. Lots of duplicated items. So I diligently went through my entire calendar and deleted duplicate items.

Then I decided to try syncing up my revised iCal with my AppigoSync Todo Online account. Somehow this caused all my todo items to completely disappear from iCal on my computer. So, frustrated, I reapplied my summer backup calendars to my iCal and again synced with Appigo. Once again all my todos disappeared from iCal, plus all my appointments were duplicated again.

Next thing I did was to set AppigoSync on my iMac to manual so that it would no longer sync with Todo online. And what about Todo Online? Well, I had three or more copies of all my Todos. Some were in their proper lists, but without the notes and info. I had several copies of each item in the “Inbox” category. One copy of each Todo item had the deleted notes. The others did not.

So my original list of 500 plus todos were now over 1500. Some with notes, some without. Some in the right category. Some not.

Now I am cleaning up all my Todo items and syncing them on my iPhone, iPad, and Todo Online account. I am definitely not syncing them up with my iCal account and MobileMe. Not unless I discover a way to back up all my Todos on my iPhone etc.

So that’s the story so far. I also signed up with 1Password Pro to keep all my important passwords and login info secure on my iPhone, iPad and 1Password Online account. More on that in a future post.

Update 11/19/10

I finally heard back from Appigo. They do try to be helpful. They sent links on how to “fix” this syncing problem, explaining that, for now, Appigo only syncs the items “On My Mac” and not on MobileMe. I decided to give it a try.

I uninstalled Appigo Sync on my Mac. I backed up my entire iTunes, something I should have done anyway. I then backed up all my calendars and todos.

I then deleted all my calendars On My Mac. I reinstalled Appigo Sync and ran a manual sync. I did get back the calendars but somehow I managed to get five copies of many items. Again, some had notes, some did not. Some were labeled as “Inbox”, others were not. Only one of each was correct.

So again I went through all my Todo items in Todo Online and deleted the extras. I then re-synced them with my iPad and iPhone Todos. Those three are now correct. The iCal version is not. For that matter, neither are the MobileMe Todos. And that’s the way it’s going to stay for now.

I like having the Todo App on my iPhone and iPad. I also like having it backed up to the ToDo Online beta account. I just wish there was a way to have MobileMe and iCal part of that.

If anyone has figured this out, please let me know.