As a software developer, I can personally state that it’s not nearly as easy as it seems, and it rarely seems easy. Oftentimes, what seems like a quick fix for some internal bug can lead to a completely unexpected bug somewhere else. It may not always be that easy to fix - you usually can’t roll back the previous change because it was fixing some other bug. And sometimes you don’t even realize the bug got created until some time later - hopefully not before the customer discovers it, but that sometimes happens as well.
And this is for products that are orders of magnitude less complicated than macOS or its data-sync frameworks.
It doesn’t make it any less aggravating when the bugs happen, but with any non-trivial piece of software, it’s a fact of life that can be reduced but never eliminated.
I first heard “Harlan’s Razor” from a developer friend that I hold in very high-esteem (he has as many high-learning-curve interests as me, but actually has the focus to make progress in them… :-}
So, I try to remind myself about Harlan.
Yes, I understand Apple has their priorities, but if they aren’t going to actually provide a reliable service they shouldn’t claim it. Does anyone here believe Apple actually devotes an appropriate level of resources to quality control?
One irony since Apple switched to Finder syncing is that it actually offers an option to local-sync Reminders. Apple has never, to my knowledge, offered local syncing of Reminders. And of course, that option is a complete NOP.
So, personally, I wish Apple would either FIX local syncing or drop it, so I can just resign to finding another option, like a DayTimer.
pmvtutor, if you do try BusyCal, please give us a report?
I am so discouraged from the Apple-Calendar local-syncing mess.
As a result, now that I have recovered my good Calendar data, I am simply going to continue using Apple-Calendar on my Mac-Mini, and NOT sync with any other Apple devices, for the present.
If I do switch over to BusyCal, or an equivalent Calendar replacement product, I will try to let you know (on this thread). It could be a while, if ever.
One thing I’d forgotten is that, at least here, all the redundant events are “all-day” repeating events. Holidays and birthdays from Contacts do not “over-repeat.”
I have been regularly adding to my “Feedback” report, #FB11809715.
Apples says “Recent Similar Reports: None”
If you added a report and cited my report number it might help get their attention?
It is interesting that Apple says “no similar reports”, given that (in my opinion), this bug is affecting more users than just you, and me, and a few others on this thread. Can it be true that no one, but you, are reporting this issue at this time?
At this time, I’m sorry, but currently I don’t have the time/energy to spend submitting problem reports to Apple, mostly because I don’t believe Apple listens, and basically ignores these types of reports (that is, those problems addressing “small, insignificant” bugs). [Note: I am saying Apple considers these bugs small and insignificant, but users like you and me do not consider these bugs small and insignificant.]
IMHO, if problem reports addressing bugs like the bug we’re seeing (that is, the Calendar-local-syncing bug) even make it to Apple’s Configuration Management Board meetings, I’m pretty sure these types of problem reports are going towards the bottom of the priority-ranked list of things which need fixing (in Apple’s opinion), and as a result, most likely these types of bugs effectively will never be addressed by Apple.
Sorry, I don’t mean to be so negative, but I believe the above is the way Apple is operating these days.
I also have a problem with calendar sync between macos 13.4.1 and ios 16.6, but not as bad as your problem. After I invoke sync in a finder window, the sync process tells me that calendars were synced from macos to ios. But when I look on the ios device (my phone), only some of the calendar items are there; many are missing.
I get it. Doing useful bug reports takes a lot of time and energy, trying to figure out exactly what is happening rather what is supposed to…
I actually sketched out my own calendar program awhile back. I could write it. But, I keep going back to - I got by with a DayTimer for years. I’d rather play my guitar.
I have given the issue some thought, and have reconsidered, and am willing to submit a problem report to Apple, and in which I will include your “Feedback report number” as a reference.
What I really want to do is to submit a simple form to Apple, and be done with it. I do not want to go through an elaborate, difficult procedure in order to submit a problem report to Apple.
Please send me (via this thread) the procedure I need to execute to get this Apple problem report submitted. Thanks.
I did submit my problem report today. We’ll see how it goes. I did reference your FB number.
In classic Apple fashion, I was starting to argue the point, that although there are not a lot of Mac (macOS) users who still use local-syncing, that does not mean that Apple should be introducing bugs into older software that used to work fine, but no longer. I was going to expand more of why Apple should care about the problem of introducing bugs into once well-working macOS software, but I was cut off, in that I was allowed only so much text to enter, as a part of my problem-report description. And so, I needed to stop at a certain point in my advocating for possibly a small set of Mac users.
Sadly, I thought this text restriction was rather typical of Apple’s behavior, further revealing Apple’s true colors. We’ll see what happens.
Local syncing is still a mess with the release of Sonoma. Teased me though, I actually had three good syncs before it all blew up again.
One thing I’ve noticed, usually just before a sync goes sideways, it reports the Sonoma Calendar has a time zone setting of MT, while the syncing device has no value. I have gone through the Take Control Calendar book a couple of times and can find nothing wrong with my time zone settings, but it makes me wonder…
A quick note on BusyCal, I believe it depends on the macOS/iOS calendar core and adds on its own features. That being said, it is far better than Apple’s own Calendar which languishes from inattention, as is their habit with most of their creations after a time.