AutoSync gives you the ability to create “Sync Jobs” that will periodically run in the background to keep your device synchronized with files on your remote servers.
AutoSync is configured via the Connect tab. Create a new Sync Job via the top right menu of the root Connect tab or from the top right menu while inside of the desired remote folder.
Sync Jobs can be “scheduled” to run every so many hours or days, or left as “manual” jobs to be run whenever you desire. Once a job completes, the Next Run Date will be advanced from the current date by increments of the schedule until Next Run Date is in the future. For example, if the Sync Job hasn’t run for days, but is scheduled to run every 1 hour, the next run date will increment by 1 hour until it is in the future. If a Sync Job does not complete (expires or fails) it will continue retrying indefinitely by simply not advancing the Next Run Date. If more than one Sync Job exists, the one with the oldest Next Run Date will be the first to be executed.
Unlike manual downloads of file/folders via the Connect tab or via the URL Scheme, which puts all downloads under the “Incoming” folder, AutoSync gives you the ability to select the precise folder where you want the files/folders downloaded (similar to using robocopy on Windows).
AutoSync comes with some caveats… A) the app has to be suspended in the background, B) precise scheduling is not possible, C) you generally will not get more than 30 seconds of execution time per run.
Per A, don’t kill BTR AMP with the iOS App Switcher and expect AutoSync to ever run.
Per B, iOS fires off background tasks when iOS “feels like it”. There is not anything anyone can do about that. Sometimes it happens every 8-12 minutes like clockwork, while other times it may not happen for many hours. Bottom line, do not treat the Next Run Date as “when” AutoSync will run, rather that AutoSync “should not run any sooner than” the Next Run Date, which may be anything from 1 minute to 8 hours after the Next Run Date.
Per C, iOS typically hands out 30 second chunks of execution time (or maybe 180 if your device is plugged in and charging and you are lucky). Unless you have a very slow connection and/or GB of new files, this should be irrelevant – testing shows download of an album worth of AAC M4A files taking less than 5 seconds. If syncing more than can be downloaded in 30 seconds, the app will simply pick up where it left off as soon as possible after the end of the current 30 seconds.
While unnecessary, it is recommended that after creating a new Sync Job that you do a full manually started sync first, then use the scheduled sync for new files. Point being, while it will work, using a scheduled sync to sync 1000+ files, 20-40 files per run, is hardly ideal.
