Next Version of iTunes Restores Local Contact and Calendar Syncing

[mbau]

New iTunes should be out in a week or 2

During the weekend I got a *wink*, *wink* from an apple care Sr Rep that the iTunes release should be out in a week or 2.

I called in because of hassle, dissatisfaction, and decrease in value proposition of Apple Premium and not being able to synch between MBA and iPhone.

Was going to roll bask OS to pre-Mavericks. When I explained the problem I was told he couldn't tell me, but wink, wink, there has been feedback about that & it should be taken care of in a future iTunes release. He was happy to help me roll back the OS or I might want to wait a week or 2, Implying the release should be out soon. Thankfully it's on it's way.

 

[Adamsappel]

During the weekend I got a *wink*, *wink* from an apple care Sr Rep that the iTunes release should be out in a week or 2.

I called in because of hassle, dissatisfaction, and decrease in value proposition of Apple Premium and not being able to synch between MBA and iPhone.

Was going to roll bask OS to pre-Mavericks. When I explained the problem I was told he couldn't tell me, but wink, wink, there has been feedback about that & it should be taken care of in a future iTunes release. He was happy to help me roll back the OS or I might want to wait a week or 2, Implying the release should be out soon. Thankfully it's on it's way.

I also read somewhere today that iOS8 is on its way. With a fresh set of ne issues to keep us occupied between 11pm-5am?

 

[rexone]

I also read somewhere today that iOS8 is on its way. With a fresh set of ne issues to keep us occupied between 11pm-5am?

Yes... I 've said before but these days, with their new approach to gutting things, Apple needs to start issuing tech notes with every new OS & iOS release telling us not just all the 'wonderful' things they've added but everything they have REMOVED!

 

[Chriscotech]

This is great news for me. I just put in my order for an 8-core Mac Pro yesterday Given that it has to run Mavericks but there will be a 5 to 6 week wait, it looks like local sync will return just in time. Nice!

 

[pmz]

I guess local sync IS essential if I want to sync my phone. But the security aspect is the reason why but probably not what you think of as security. The security I speak of is the security of knowing that the cloud will not sync "no data" to my phone. This has happened to me twice. One minute everything is fine, the next, Apple's cloud lost all my synced info and essentially had no data. Guess what happened, all of a sudden, ALL my contacts on my phone were gone.

Okay, once is just bad luck, twice tells me something is wrong with the way things were/are set up. So I am not worried about "security" in the normal sense but rather the security of the data on my phone. Once Apple can assure me that can never happen again, I will gladly sync to the cloud.
Does this help you understand my position better?
OBTW, thanks for the civil discussion. It is MUCH appreciated.

I gotcha. Stories like this are so peculiar to me, as I have so many iCloud users under my charge, with SO much Contact/Calendar data and have never experienced even the slightest blip, let alone what you describe.

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Should such a thing be forced upon us I certainly won't be using iTunes (or any other apps) any longer.
As I, & others, have pointed out before not everyone everywhere has quality high-speed, reliable mobile 3 or 4G internet.
I live in Sydney, the largest city in Australia.
I am with the country's 2nd largest telco.
In straight line-of-sight I am around 15k's from the CBD.
I cannot get a reliable mobile or mobile internet service at my home (which includes my home-office), inside or outside. I have to walk out onto the footpath to get a passable signal.
This week I decided to buy & try the new Word for iPad using Microsoft's OneDrive (SkyDrive) cloud-synch while I drove around Sydney visiting clients.
I have a one page Word document that's a simple report I fill out after I visit each client. Not a big file, 16Kb.
In one day I visited 8 clients. 3 of these I couldn't access the documents at the time I needed to - unable to connect to server - and had to do so later. The others took as long as a minute to load the 16Kb document.
After that experience I switched to local synch instead.
That is the reality of the user experience.
Liking local synch isn’t just some yearning for things to stay the same. For many folks it’s a necessity.
Anyway… the bigger question is why remove it? It’s a pretty benign option that if folks want it they should be able to choose it. Removing it is pointless and creates problems for users.
It strikes me as a classic case of a ‘solution’ looking for a problem that doesn’t need to be solved…

That is the reality of YOUR user experience, which is extremely unfortunate, and not Apple's fault in the least. Your complaints should be directed at your telecom, and THEY should be bullied to catch up with technology...not the other way around. Apple should move forward knowing the infrastructure exists for the majority of users.

Being in Sydney you wouldn't recall how bad things were in the US when Apple released the 1st iPhone, and in major cities the saturation was so bad, no one could complete a call. This had nothing to do with Apple, and everything to do with carriers dragging their feet on adequate service.

Its war that will not be won by hanging on to old tech and old methods. Apple forces the hand of the telecoms by saying, "Well, this is what we're give our users that are on YOUR network. If your network can't handle it....FIX IT."

 

[mojolicious]

More importantly, does the next version of iTunes reintroduce some basic 'finding/playing/organising one's music' functionality?

 

[Martyimac]

I gotcha. Stories like this are so peculiar to me, as I have so many iCloud users under my charge, with SO much Contact/Calendar data and have never experienced even the slightest blip, let alone what you describe.

I know, but fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. One other thing, this was during the me.com times AND during the time Apple was shifting away from that into the icloud.com era. That could have had something to do with it.

 

[Adamsappel]

OK, so the thousands of users who, for example, posted 221 pages on Apple support forums, have a little cloud in the back yard each. Just step out, fix it because it is "YOURS" and voila! ???

Where is the common sense or logic? This Apple worship is revolting.

Your little idol is dead.

 

[Bookshelf]

3rd party devices

Has anyone been able to sync non apple devices using this update?

 

[jimbosky]

"Had no idea this was missing, since I use iCloud instead." -Everyone

NOT. Never touched icloud and never will. - EVERYONE.

233 plus pages of complaints by people on this issue shows what a mess apple made of things with local sync.

It's nice to see Apple finally realized how dumb it was to take away local sync. Now if they'll only bring back "save as".

 

[Bookshelf]

Security

I hope the updated version of itunes returns local (USB) syncing.
I prefer using a mac, but we have to use USB syncing
If that not restore then mac are out for security reasons.

 

[jodastar]

iTunes

Seriously who is still using iTunes to sync Contacts and Calendars in this day and age? iCloud does everything you need and is the most reliable cloud syncing service on earth.

I don't use iCloud and I don't want to be forced using it. I would like to use it when and if I like. My friends child has an iPhone and the child can not sync his iPhone over iCloud as he is not allowed to have an account yet. So my friend does not want his childs contacts on his iCloud. There are many reasons for having back the possibilities to use sync with iTunes. And if people like to use iCloud, they are free to use iCloud and others should be free using iTunes. Free to use whatever they like.

 

[Adamsappel]

Local Sync for Notes?

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Apple today seeded a new version of 10.9.3 to employees, reports 9to5Mac, but more importantly, the company also launched a new iTunes 11.1.6 beta, which includes an important syncing feature that has been missing since the launch of Mavericks.

According to the release notes, iTunes 11.1.6 "restores the ability to sync contacts and calendar information to your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch from your Mac running OS X 10.9.3."

When iOS 7 and Mavericks were introduced back in September, Apple removed local syncing in favor of cloud syncing, allowing users to sync calendars, contacts, bookmarks, and notes only via iCloud. Many users were unhappy with the feature removal and their inability to sync information to their iOS devices using their Macs.

Apple's Support Communities has a 212 page thread on the issue, and MacRumors has received multiple complaints about the removal of local sync since Mavericks was released. It appears that the next version of Mavericks and iTunes 11.1.6 will restore the feature, once again allowing users to sync locally.

At the current point in time, iTunes 11.16 and the newest version of OS X 10.9.3 are only available to Apple employees, but the betas should be seeded to developers in the near future.

Article Link: Next Version of iTunes Restores Local Contact and Calendar Syncing

Apple needs to understand why we need local sync for:
Calendar
Contacts
Notes
Reminders