Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $25/year with no ads, private forums, and more!
Things 3 cloud sync vs OmniFocus cloud sync
- Thread starter Luba
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Yes, I believe so.
https://support.culturedcode.com/customer/portal/articles/679590
Never understand why all those 'Pro Apple minded developers' are trying to create their own cloud service while iCloud is a perfectly foundation for the most part. Don't get me wrong. iCloud is no Dropbox, not even close but where iCloud stands out above all other services is integration between macOS and iOS. Pushing and synced smaller files/data back and forward is very powerful using iCloud. It only starts to get problematic with iCloud when you use large files. For example, syncing all your Contacts, Safari bookmarks and other settings works really great via iCloud.
When you're a developer only creating apps for macOS and iOS and you're totally fine with App Store policy and 30% cuts why would you ever create your own sync service. That's the wrong mentality.
https://support.culturedcode.com/customer/portal/articles/679590
Never understand why all those 'Pro Apple minded developers' are trying to create their own cloud service while iCloud is a perfectly foundation for the most part. Don't get me wrong. iCloud is no Dropbox, not even close but where iCloud stands out above all other services is integration between macOS and iOS. Pushing and synced smaller files/data back and forward is very powerful using iCloud. It only starts to get problematic with iCloud when you use large files. For example, syncing all your Contacts, Safari bookmarks and other settings works really great via iCloud.
When you're a developer only creating apps for macOS and iOS and you're totally fine with App Store policy and 30% cuts why would you ever create your own sync service. That's the wrong mentality.
I've seen developers use iCloud for synching, and it's left a lot to be desired....for instance, it's often slow to update small record changes, like in a single To Do record. A specific example that comes to mind: Realmac's CLEAR always took a moment before a change on one device would show up on other devices. That's not the case with Things, which has been pretty much instantaneous.
Also, I think a developer is courting disaster to base a big part of their app's functionality on a service that Apple controls. Apple makes changes without warning, removing features, breaking existing features, changing legal policy, leaving bugs unaddressed, etc. I wouldn't want to bet my company on who-knows-what goes on behind the curtain at Apple.
Seems it was very important for CC. I read it took them "forever" to create Things Cloud when it would have probably been faster to establish sync by using iCloud.
Last edited:
Because iCloud isn't a perfect foundation. It is a service they do not control, it is a service that necessarily doesn't do what they want/need it to do, it isn't cross platform, it doesn't offer a web interface (for the app nor for the storage part of iCloud itself) and it is not something that fits in some of the business models (i.e. those wanting to offer a service instead of an app). Another thing that is easily looked over is the fact that it is actually a USP when you can state that your customers data is not being stored in countries that consider their own citizens as well as those of other nations to be terrorists or other kinds of criminals (i.e. USA, North-Korea, Russia, etc.). In a lot of cases it actually is mandatory that data is not stored in the USA for example and thus iCloud is completely ruled out.
OmniGroup wanted to have full control over the syncing so they can offer certain features that make the entire syncing experience a while lot nicer and safer. The problem is that this can be conflicting with wanting to provide a solution that allows people to set up their own sync server (which would be a rather big USP for business use and those wanting to store data outside the USA). Right now they have their own sync servers as well as they option to run your own by using webDAV, this might change in the future.
Last edited:
Omnifocus doesn't just have encryption at rest on their servers, but true end-to-end encryption (see here), i.e. your data never leaves your devices unencrypted and nobody, including Omnigroup, can read it. Things 3 doesn't appear to have that level of encryption (at least it isn't mentioned anywhere in their marketing).