Background syncing of form data once you trigger the sync process on the tablet (screen lock stops the sync)
Hi,
As part of our company policy we have to enable automatic locking of screens, this includes tablets. Some of the forms my team complete can take 10+ minutes to sync once you trigger the process on the tablet and if they are syncing multiple forms then this can be 20+ mins. The issue is that unless they are looking at the tablet and touching the screen every x minutes to prevent the screen from locking, iForm stops syncing the moment the screen locks. It would be great if syncing continued as a background process rather than staff having to re-sync when they realise their forms haven't synced with iFormBuilder because the screen locked before the sync was completed.
Many thanks
Gabe
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We use the lookup element with thoudsands of records. Therefore, we have a similar screen lock policy issue but with initial sync after logging in. Implement a background sync process would help. Other developers have also applied a code to prevent the screen lock on their applications (https://stackoverflow.com/questions/28329185/how-to-prevent-screen-lock-on-my-application-with-swift-on-ios).
Thanks
Ray
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I would like to add a number of additional supporters behind this request. The company I work for has around 200 active iForm account holders/users who are regularly collecting data. Adding background sync capabilities is a commonly requested feature among our internal discussions. We often collect photos as part of our iForm observations and sometimes it can take ~1 hour to upload the observations collected during a morning in the field. Our IT group also has our devices secured in a way that the screens time out and are automatically locked after a period of time, so this requires us to constantly tap the screen to keep uploading data. It would be nice to have a toggle in the iForm settings to choose whether you'd like to allow background sync ads over cellular data or just wifi only. Thank you for your consideration of this added feature! We are all big fans of iForms and the Zerion support team.
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Hi, Gabe and Ray. Thanks for your thoughts here. Our team was actually just discussing this yesterday morning. It was a very preliminary conversation but it is something that is on our radar and we definitely see the benefit. I'll be sure to keep this forum informed as we continue to discuss, evaluate and plan.
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Is there any news or updates on this? I'm sure its not the easiest thing to just implement but this feature would literally save my users hours every week as they most finish their forms once they get home in the evening and the internet is slower, the difference between a 6 am and a 8 pm sync can be 15 mins vs 60 mins. Its longer if they forget to keep the screen active and have to start the sync again.
Personally I would prefer background sync vs code that prevents locking of the screen as this would allow for syncing while the device is locked which is more secure by design.
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