MobileMe's Push Services Detailed, No Mac to Mobile Me 'Push'

[MacRumors]

Apple's MobileMe services are working for most, though there are still sporadic reports of misbehavior. One point of contention, however, has been the exact behavior of their advertised "Push" services.

At the moment, the Mac OS X updater for MobileMe is available only for Leopard, and Tiger users will continue to use their ".Mac" control panels. In order to use the advanced Push capabilities of MobileMe from your Mac, you need to enable "Automatic" synchronization by selecting it in the MobileMe control panel:




Doing so will allow updates from your iPhone and Me.com to be pushed to your Mac near-instantaneously. Similarly, push services also work from many other combinations for Calendar and Address Book data. (The Mac OS X mail client remains sync only):

Changes to Me.com -> Mac (push)
Changes to Me.com -> iPhone push)
Changes to iPhone -> Me.com (push)

The point of contention comes when changes are performed on your Mac. These changes do not trigger an automatic sync and instead waits until the next scheduled sync which is every 15 minutes:

Changes to Mac -> Me.com (15 minute sync)

Apple has confirmed that this is expected behavior in a Knowledgebase article which has generated some complaints in our MobileMe forums.



Article Link

[queshy]

Why not, though? Seems like a random exception...
Here's a question

Since changes to Me.com --> Mac (push) an changes to iPhone --> Me.com (Push), then does it follow that changes to iPhone --> Mac (Push)?

[JD92]

Originally Posted by queshy

Why not, though? Seems like a random exception...

Too lazy to update iCal maybe

[psycoswimmer]

It does seem like a random exception, but it must be fixable in a future iCal/Address Book/Mail update.

[chas0001]

As soon as you make any change in ical or the address book it should sync (automatically) immediately. Makes no sense otherwise.

[socamx]

I don't own and iPhone and don't plan on getting one for awhile (too expensive).

I have two Macs currently, my G5 and my MBP. I'm very disappointed that this MobileMe update didn't include push updating from Mac -> me.com -> other Mac. Still getting annoyances with the syncing process and I wish it were push so it was all instantaneous.

Why should I use Me.com for push updates when I have access to my Macs which are faster/easier to use than me.com?

Hope this gets changed, was looking forward to push syncing but still none for me now. I also hope I'm not getting annoyed over something I'm possibly overlooking, only been a couple days so far as it is.

[Feverish Flux]

Personally, it's a non-issue.

The biggest advantage of MobileMe is the phone push. Means I don't have to plug in my phone into the computer every night.

You can always do a manual sync on your computer(s) before you walk away if you want and those who need more than MobileMe offers in this regard can but exchange server space for not much more a year...

I don't understand the big uproar.

[andiwm2003]

my usual pattern is to talk to people (meeting, phone) and then i update my calendar, close my notebook and go home. that means the update most likely doesn't happen until i'm home and wake my notebook from sleep. my friends/colleagues do the same.

so we are missing exactly the kind of push we need. so i guess i have to get used to manually sync my notebook every time i'm changing something on the calendar/addressbook.

[sharp65]

Originally Posted by Feverish Flux

Personally, it's a non-issue.

The biggest advantage of MobileMe is the phone push. Means I don't have to plug in my phone into the computer every night.

You can always do a manual sync on your computer(s) before you walk away if you want and those who need more than MobileMe offers in this regard can but exchange server space for not much more a year...

I don't understand the big uproar.

False advertising on apples part big time.

[anthonyjr]

If the iPhone is able to push calendar/contact changes to MobileMe, then its possible for their operating system to do the same. So, I'm sure these programs will be updated soon enough. Apple has been busy with a ton of things associated with the launch; there's no way they will let this slide for too long without a fix. Tuesday? =]

Overall, MobileMe is working out very well for me. I'm usually sitting on the computer for more than 15 minutes after I make any iCal changes anyway.

[avigalante]

I can confirm that the 'push' service between the iPhone and Me.com are indeed working instantaneously; however, the back-end of syncing between my iPhone and Mac / Mac and MobileMe via MobileMe 'Cloud' seems to fit that 15-minute interval.

Although a non-issue for myself (as I am content with the Me.com to iPhone 'push' service), it does seem a bit odd that updates are not pushed instantaneously from my computer to the MobileMe 'Cloud'.

Am I mistaken in saying that Phil Schiller demoed this exact functionality at WWDC? I hope not... otherwise, it is a big misstep on Apple's part for touting and heavily marketing said functionality support.

EDIT: Come to think of it, I'm glad that I only paid $69 (promotional price for purchasing with iPhone 3G) as opposed to the full $99; I'd be quite annoyed to not have it sync back to the MobileMe 'Cloud' instantaneously (not 'automatically').

[Daveoc64]

Originally Posted by Feverish Flux

Personally, it's a non-issue.

The biggest advantage of MobileMe is the phone push. Means I don't have to plug in my phone into the computer every night.

You can always do a manual sync on your computer(s) before you walk away if you want and those who need more than MobileMe offers in this regard can but exchange server space for not much more a year...

I don't understand the big uproar.

The uproar is that "push" would be easiest to do from Mac to MobileMe.

It's a lot easier for iCal or Address Book to say "I've changed something" than it is for the cloud to tell a device that there is new data to sync.

It's pretty poor that theoretically a change could take 29 minutes to sync between two different computers.

I hope they can fix it and make it work like it was advertised - I'd even accept it updating when iCal/Address Book were closed.

The other REALLY annoying thing with manually syncing is that iSync opens up when you do it. I understand that the sync button does more than just MobileMe, but it's still a complete PITA having to close iSync when I'm in a hurry to update the cloud.

[CmdrLaForge]

Changes to Me.com -> Mac (push)

That is not how it works for me. It doesn't push to my Mac. Instead I have to wait 15 minutes.

[macDonalds]

Gee, this sounds similar to their whole "Double the speed, half the price", statement.

[arn]

Originally Posted by Daveoc64

It's pretty poor that theoretically a change could take 29 minutes to sync between two different computers.

Well, I would think it would 15 minutes. The MobileMe to Mac sync is "push" or at least instantly triggered sync. I would think that the Mac -> Me sync (after 15 minutes) should trigger the normal instant Me -> Mac sync on other computers, but I haven't tested this.

arn

[Phil A.]

Originally Posted by andiwm2003

my usual pattern is to talk to people (meeting, phone) and then i update my calendar, close my notebook and go home. that means the update most likely doesn't happen until i'm home and wake my notebook from sleep. my friends/colleagues do the same.

so we are missing exactly the kind of push we need. so i guess i have to get used to manually sync my notebook every time i'm changing something on the calendar/addressbook.

I'm guessing it's something that will be addressed in a future version of iCal. In the meantime, a workaround would be to use the web based MobileMe calendar (it's actually very functional) which does push immediately.

[queshy]

This is nonsense. I'm glad I didn't pay for this thing yet.

The only thing that works for me is push e-mail. It's nearly instant on the web interface and on iPhone.

But calendar items really don't sync reliably across the board on me.com, iCal, and iPhone. I can't trust that it's syncing everything now. If they don't fix this then I'm canceling.

[ravenvii]

Maybe this has something to do with the fact that the iPhone is Exchange-capable, and OS X is not?

[arn]

Originally Posted by CmdrLaForge

That is not how it works for me. It doesn't push to my Mac. Instead I have to wait 15 minutes.

Then something is wrong for your config. This is how it should work. see:

http://massoh.com/chris/push.mov

Updates on Me.com triggers a Mac sync. At least on Leopard. Tiger or Windows may not do this. I haven't heard one way or the other, but the knowledgebase article linked in the original post suggests its Leopard only.

arn

[TJunkers]

Where can I find that Synchronize with Mobile Me check box?!?

nvmd ~ found it! Apparently mine never updated, but after a restart it was there

[Mindflux]

Me.com -> Mac does not push for me. I have to wait for the sync timer to run out.

Originally Posted by arn

Then something is wrong for your config. This is how it should work. see:

http://massoh.com/chris/push.mov

Updates on Me.com triggers a Mac sync.

What happened to "It just works."? Can you tell me what's wrong with my config or the posters config in which you quoted?

Lets see how mine isn't working.

http://www.dubdriver.com/mobileme.mov

[prez]

I agree that the Mac -> Mobile Me sync not being push is a bit odd in the context of everything else delivering that instantaneous data. However, I personally don't find it as essential. Email Push = very important for me. Calendar and Address push is NICE but not as essential. I am just happy that it at least happens, and I no longer have to sync my phone to get such updates.

I can see where certain scenarios might utilize push for those items more, such as the commenter with 2 mac's and no phone. I wonder what percentage of users are in that camp?

I think it is a "fixable" thing, as it seems more of a configuration than a code issue. Hopefully Apple gets everything tweaked soon. I still experience some annoying delays on the Me.com site.

[CrackedButter]

My god, 15 minutes is such a deal breaker!

[Feverish Flux]

Originally Posted by sharp65

False advertising on apples part big time.

How so, exactly?

Originally Posted by avigalante

I can confirm that the 'push' service between the iPhone and Me.com are indeed working instantaneously; however, the back-end of syncing between my iPhone and Mac via MobileMe 'Cloud' seems to fit that 15-minute interval.

Although a non-issue for myself (as I am content with the iPhone to Me.com 'push' service), it does seem a bit odd that updates are not pushed instantaneously back to my computer.

Am I mistaken in saying that Phil Schiller demoed this exact functionality at WWDC? I hope not... otherwise, it is a big misstep on Apple's part for touting and heavily marketing said functionality support.

EDIT: Come to think of it, I'm glad that I only paid $69 (promotional price for purchasing with iPhone 3G) as opposed to the full $99; I'd be quit annoyed to not have it sync back to my Mac instantaneously (not 'automatically').

"Automatically" is exactly the verbiage that Phil Schiller used in the Keynote and exactly the language that is used in the demo videos on Apple.com.

Originally Posted by Daveoc64

The uproar is that "push" would be easiest to do from Mac to MobileMe.

It's a lot easier for iCal or Address Book to say "I've changed something" than it is for the cloud to tell a device that there is new data to sync.

It's pretty poor that theoretically a change could take 29 minutes to sync between two different computers.

I hope they can fix it and make it work like it was advertised - I'd even accept it updating when iCal/Address Book were closed.

The other REALLY annoying thing with manually syncing is that iSync opens up when you do it. I understand that the sync button does more than just MobileMe, but it's still a complete PITA having to close iSync when I'm in a hurry to update the cloud.

iSync never opens for me during a manual sync.

[Daveoc64]

Originally Posted by CrackedButter

My god, 15 minutes is such a deal breaker!

It is if you close your Notebook 10 seconds after adding a new entry in Calendar.