iCloud gets kicked in the Core Data sync -- totally had it coming

iCloud, specifically the part of it that covers the frameworks Apple has provided to developers to sync Core Data databases, has been getting kicked around lately, and by almost all accounts, deservedly so.Back in November, developers like Instacast's Vemedio and Steve Streza of Informal Protocol posted about its opacity and Paul Haddad expressed on similar concerns during the second episode of Debug. More even than ensuring the reliability of Siri and Game Center, it felt like proof positive that Apple faced significant challenge in a future where services were table-stakes.

As much as I think iOS 7 and iCloud are more important for Apple than next-generation hardware at this point, I think iCloud is more important than iOS 7 because, for Apple, it'll be an even bigger challenge. iCloud, more so even that Dropbox, is the future, it just doesn't work yet.

Since those initial developer posts, more have have come forward to share their experiences with iCloud Core Data sync, or in some cases document sync, and they share the same frustrations.

In a post intended to reassure users of NetNewsWire about the app's future in a post-Google Reader world, iCloud issues again reared their ugly head. Daniel Pasco of BlackPixel wrote:

As far as sync is concerned, we knew we would likely need an alternative to Google Reader as early as last year. At the time, the option that seemed to make the most sense was to embrace iCloud and Core Data as the new sync solution of choice. We spent a considerable amount of time on this effort, but iCloud and Core Data syncing had issues that we simply could not resolve.

What seems to make the ongoing issues so vexing for developers is that iCloud was introduced with iOS 5 back in 2011, and while iOS 6 in 2012 was an improvement, it wasn't anywhere nearly improvement enough.

Ellis Hamburger of The Verge did a brilliant job summing up much of the reaction and reasoning up, calling iCloud Core Data sync a broken promise:

Many veteran developers have learned their lesson and given up on iCloud?s Core Data syncing entirely. "Ultimately, when we looked at iCloud + Core Data for [our app], it was a total no-go as nothing would have worked," said one best-selling iPhone and Mac developer. "Some issues with iCloud Core Data are theoretically unsolvable (stemming from the fact that you?ve put an object model on top of a distributed data store) and others are just plain bugs in the implementation," he said.

One of the reasons for this is that, just like with Game Center APIs, Apple has very little skin in the Core Data sync game. They're not making massive use of it, so they're not the first ones hitting pain points and problems. Their developers are, and that's a terrible, terrible thing for everyone.

Matthew Panzarino of The Next Web also pointed out that Apple conflating several distinct services all under the iCloud banner further compounds the problem developers face:

Recent criticism of Apple?s iCloud has exposed just how fractured the brand actually is behind the scenes. Developers are having problems with some of the technologies bundled together under the name and it?s causing some confusion. The truth of the matter is that there are really two iClouds, which couldn?t be more different.

Users who get their mail, contacts, or calendars synched without issue just don't understand what developers are complaining about because, for them, iCloud works, it just doesn't work in that developer's app. Some users think the developers are actually incompetent or lying.

Glassboard developer Brent Simmons, on Inessential, pointed out that that's the risk of depending on systems you can't control:

How comfortable are you with outsourcing half your app to another company? The answer should be: not at all comfortable.

Just like services are the future for Apple, they're the future for a lot of developers. More important than hardware, arguably more important than software when that is already a core competency, iCloud is what Apple has to nail. Rather than getting kicked around, iCloud has to kick ass.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/VXIwsj-NWeU/story01.htm

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