WTimberman

Notes app syncing still seems to be a mess. With iPad OS 3.1 installed on a 2018 11" iPad Pro and iOs 13.1 on an iPhone X, both with 256 GB of storage, a handwritten note created on the iPad with the Apple pencil showed up on the iPhone -- after 25 minutes -- only as a title and a blank page. Trying again, with a keyboard-entered note on the iPad, resulted in nothing at all on the iPhone, even after several hours.

I've not run any of the v.13 iOS, or iPadOS betas, or Catalina betas on my  27" 2019 iMac (Mojave 10.14.6), so neither of those configurations seem to have been an issue. I did install iOS 3.0 on the phone on Sept. 21st (contrary to the advice of experts, including those here at AI, my bad....) This might possibly have contributed to the sync failures I've been experiencing, but I haven't made any attempt to create a new note, nor to edit an old one on the Notes app on my iMac since I switched to v.13.0/13.1 on my iDevices, so I doubt that the Mojave version of the Notes app was in any way involved.

Should I just give up, and pray for the early release of iOS and iPadOs v.13.2?

Wonderful American parochialism on display in this thread. "I'm an American, so naturally I don't know anything about anywhere else, but you should listen to me when I tell you calling a person from Hamburg a Hamburger is is weird. Because, guess what, I'm an American, and therefore my ignorance is more important than your knowledge." Why don't you run for President?

The battle has always been between what I like to call the Soviet/Wintel model of computing and the Apple model. Once upon a time, every copy machine in the Soviet Union had a party custodian who made the copies for you, and, incidentally took note of every copy that was made. Corporate IT departments were very much like that, and Microsoft pandered to their impulse to control every aspect of our computing infrastructure. Despite the smug cynicism of hipster tech journalists like Nilay Patel and Dieter Bohn, it was conviction, not necessity, which brought about Apple's focus on designing computing tools that individuals would need to control their own destiny in a technology-driven civilization. "The computer for the rest of us" wasn't just a marketing slogan, it was what drove Steve Jobs to get up and go to work every day. That core belief is still visible today in everything that a now giant Apple brings to market. That's Steve Jobs's real legacy, and we should consider ourselves lucky that he came along when he did.

22july2013 said:

WTimberman said:

One thing HomeKit automation is good for, even in its current state, is accommodating itself to varied lifestyles. If, like me, you find it creepy to have lights going on and off as you enter or leave a room, or are unwilling to trust Amazon or Google's to behave itself in your bedroom, there are alternatives. I find that talking to my HomePods or my Apple Watch or my iPhone/iPad works really well for impromptu changes. 

Something is "creepy" by definition if any data is being shared outside your home, especially without your knowledge. Talking to your watch for anything is "creepy" because the request to decode your voice is being sent to Apple's servers. I don't distrust Apple in this regard, but people need to understand that. Whereas using a motion sensor to trigger lights going on and off is not creepy, as long as it's done via a HomeKit device which isn't transmitting your request outside your house. However I wish AppleInsider would write an article explaining when HomeKit actions cause data to be sent back to Apple. I'm unclear on that.

A good point. I'm given to understand, though, that Apple does a lot more Siri processing on device than Google does with Google Assistant, or Amazon does with Alexa. Supposedly that explains not only why Apple should be considered more trustworthy, but also why there's often less latency in the execution of Siri requests than is the case with the other two. Whether that's true or not, and whether or not Apple is now, or continues in the future to be more trustworthy than Google or Amazon, the only real protection from snoops in both the private sector and government agencies is to make it politically dangerous for them to spy on us, or to use the results of their spying to exploit, harass, or falsely prosecute us. Otherwise, it's like putting a jar of cookies where a 3 year-old can reach it, then telling him/her they can't have any.

One thing HomeKit automation is good for, even in its current state, is accommodating itself to varied lifestyles. If, like me, you find it creepy to have lights going on and off as you enter or leave a room, or are unwilling to trust Amazon or Google's to behave itself in your bedroom, there are alternatives. I find that talking to my HomePods or my Apple Watch or my iPhone/iPad works really well for impromptu changes. Having selected lights set to go on or off at certain times, or to dim at certain times, or to go on and off as my iPhone leaves or returns to my local network is also useful, without at the same time requiring me to lead a more time-constrained or regimented life than I'm used to. Likewise with the automated night-time setback and away setting on my thermostat. I also very much like the ability to let trusted folks in and out of my house when I'm not around, and to monitor the interior and exterior of my home from anywhere in the world that has decent internet access, not to mention dialing my local 911 number even when I and my phone are located in a different area code. Flexibility -- different strokes for different folks -- is the rule with HomeKit, not the exception. Of course that also means that you have to know enough about your own habits and preferences to effectively program the patterns that suit you, something which is not always as trivial as it sounds at first. As always with programmable dinguses, though, trial and error, the old standby, will usually see you through....