Everything needs cloud sync, but not via iCloud
I’m currently looking around for a recipe storage app. I’ve been comparing the various things on the market, and I’ve come to the conclusion that my main priority is cloud sync. Any app that stores my data needs to be able to do it over two Macs, an iPad and an iPhone. Omitting one or both of the i-devices is forgivable, but I need the Macs kept in sync.
Most of the software I use regularly works in this scenario. For writing software, my source code lives in git repositories accessible online. My tasks live in OmniFocus and use Omni Sync Server. Stuff to archive goes in Evernote. Files go in Dropbox, although I don’t do that much that’s file-based where I need frequent access. My finances live in MoneyWell. Music lives in iTunes Match.
For handling splitting bills with my housemates, I invoice them through Billings. That charges $20/month for cloud sync, which I don’t pay for. Having to be tied to one single Mac to manage that is really frustrating. Cloud sync is really important to me!
In that sense, I should be an ideal iCloud customer. My main use case is keeping my own data on my own Apple devices, which is exactly the problem iCloud solves. The problem is I’m scared of it: firstly I know from my developer friends how hard it is to get iCloud Core Data syncing right — not that it’s necessarily any easier to write your own sync solution of course, but anyone who has written their own solution is obviously determined enough to have put the effort in, and (more importantly) will be able to debug things when it breaks, in a way that iCloud-using developers can’t.
But the bigger issue is that I’m losing my trust in Apple for things like this. iCloud is tied to the Mac app store, and that is tied to sandboxing, and that to me just makes me think of arbitrary changing the rules from under developers’ feet. Like Marco Arment said, by making developers jump through hoops and deal with ever changing requirements, Apple are also losing consumer confidence in App Store apps. That’s how things stand for me.
In my search for a recipe app, I’m currently looking at Paprika. “Wait a minute”, you might say, “isn’t that an app-store-only app?” It is, but the difference is that they use their own cloud solution. If Apple add some untenable requirement that forces Paprika to leave the app store, then they can start selling a standalone version and I won’t lose any data. However, if it used iCloud, then if they made such an exit, my data would be held for ransom and the app developer could do nothing about it.
It’s completely an issue of trust here. If Apple hadn’t changed the rules already (they didn’t require sandboxing initially), I wouldn’t have this attitude. But since they did, then I won’t buy an app that couldn’t exit the app store gracefully if push comes to shove. The biggest barrier to such an exit is iCloud.