Approach for a more reliable sync

[romanseidl]

I had severe issues with the sync stopping to work regularly on multiple devices.

I looked for a possible reason and it seemed there was two possible explanations: the currently sync relies on a loop with a future that may die when the app is frozen or something similar. The other reason may be that there is no fallback when the app wakes up to ensure that the sync loop is still alive.

So I produced this approach, that should be much more reliable. It is still being tested but it seems to work for now. This code is heavily vibe-coded, so it needs more thorough review.

[micw]

Hi,
have you had this issue with the new releases I did these days? I fixed an issue that the sync loop died and stopped syncing, so maybe it's already fixed.

[romanseidl]

No, I had this issues for months and I had to set a daily restart on the devices to fix it. I didn't expect the sync loop to be broken until I had a look at it.

What did you change? Is there a commit where I could see that?

This is a summary of my changes:

photo_service.dart:

• Removed the old while loop with the long Future.delayed(intervalMinutes) — it could get stuck after OS suspension or die on an exception and was never restarted.
• Replaced it with a Timer.periodic that ticks every minute and decides via wall-clock whether a sync is due.
• Added a new maybeSyncNow() method: only syncs when auto-sync is enabled, no sync is already running, and the interval has elapsed.
• Due-check compares against the more recent of two timestamps: lastSuccessfulSync (persisted, prevents a redundant sync right after a restart) and a new _lastSyncAttempt (in-memory, prevents retry-spam every minute on failure).
• Runs an immediate sync check on startup instead of waiting a full minute.
• Replaced the old _syncLoopRunning flag with Timer? _syncTimer; the timer is cancelled cleanly in dispose().

slideshow_screen.dart:

• In the resumed lifecycle handler, the app now calls maybeSyncNow() — catching up a sync that was missed while suspended in the background (with the wall-clock check, so no unnecessary sync).

Effect:
Fixes the "sometimes never syncs again after sleep" problem: no stuck loop, no dead state, automatic catch-up on wake.
Failure-retry behavior stays as before (only retries after a full interval).

[romanseidl]

I had severe issues with the sync stopping to work regularly on multiple devices.

I looked for a possible reason and it seemed there was two possible explanations: the currently sync relies on a loop with a future that may die when the app is frozen or something similar. The other reason may be that there is no fallback when the app wakes up to ensure that the sync loop is still alive.

So I produced this approach, that should be much more reliable. It is still being tested but it seems to work for now. This code is heavily vibe-coded, so it needs more thorough review.

[micw]

Hi,
have you had this issue with the new releases I did these days? I fixed an issue that the sync loop died and stopped syncing, so maybe it's already fixed.

[romanseidl]

No, I had this issues for months and I had to set a daily restart on the devices to fix it. I didn't expect the sync loop to be broken until I had a look at it.

What did you change? Is there a commit where I could see that?

This is a summary of my changes:

photo_service.dart:

• Removed the old while loop with the long Future.delayed(intervalMinutes) — it could get stuck after OS suspension or die on an exception and was never restarted.
• Replaced it with a Timer.periodic that ticks every minute and decides via wall-clock whether a sync is due.
• Added a new maybeSyncNow() method: only syncs when auto-sync is enabled, no sync is already running, and the interval has elapsed.
• Due-check compares against the more recent of two timestamps: lastSuccessfulSync (persisted, prevents a redundant sync right after a restart) and a new _lastSyncAttempt (in-memory, prevents retry-spam every minute on failure).
• Runs an immediate sync check on startup instead of waiting a full minute.
• Replaced the old _syncLoopRunning flag with Timer? _syncTimer; the timer is cancelled cleanly in dispose().

slideshow_screen.dart:

• In the resumed lifecycle handler, the app now calls maybeSyncNow() — catching up a sync that was missed while suspended in the background (with the wall-clock check, so no unnecessary sync).

Effect:
Fixes the "sometimes never syncs again after sleep" problem: no stuck loop, no dead state, automatic catch-up on wake.
Failure-retry behavior stays as before (only retries after a full interval).

[romanseidl]

I had severe issues with the sync stopping to work regularly on multiple devices.

I looked for a possible reason and it seemed there was two possible explanations: the currently sync relies on a loop with a future that may die when the app is frozen or something similar. The other reason may be that there is no fallback when the app wakes up to ensure that the sync loop is still alive.

So I produced this approach, that should be much more reliable. It is still being tested but it seems to work for now. This code is heavily vibe-coded, so it needs more thorough review.

[micw]

Hi,
have you had this issue with the new releases I did these days? I fixed an issue that the sync loop died and stopped syncing, so maybe it's already fixed.

[romanseidl]

No, I had this issues for months and I had to set a daily restart on the devices to fix it. I didn't expect the sync loop to be broken until I had a look at it.

What did you change? Is there a commit where I could see that?

This is a summary of my changes:

photo_service.dart:

• Removed the old while loop with the long Future.delayed(intervalMinutes) — it could get stuck after OS suspension or die on an exception and was never restarted.
• Replaced it with a Timer.periodic that ticks every minute and decides via wall-clock whether a sync is due.
• Added a new maybeSyncNow() method: only syncs when auto-sync is enabled, no sync is already running, and the interval has elapsed.
• Due-check compares against the more recent of two timestamps: lastSuccessfulSync (persisted, prevents a redundant sync right after a restart) and a new _lastSyncAttempt (in-memory, prevents retry-spam every minute on failure).
• Runs an immediate sync check on startup instead of waiting a full minute.
• Replaced the old _syncLoopRunning flag with Timer? _syncTimer; the timer is cancelled cleanly in dispose().

slideshow_screen.dart:

• In the resumed lifecycle handler, the app now calls maybeSyncNow() — catching up a sync that was missed while suspended in the background (with the wall-clock check, so no unnecessary sync).

Effect:
Fixes the "sometimes never syncs again after sleep" problem: no stuck loop, no dead state, automatic catch-up on wake.
Failure-retry behavior stays as before (only retries after a full interval).

[romanseidl]

I had severe issues with the sync stopping to work regularly on multiple devices.

I looked for a possible reason and it seemed there was two possible explanations: the currently sync relies on a loop with a future that may die when the app is frozen or something similar. The other reason may be that there is no fallback when the app wakes up to ensure that the sync loop is still alive.

So I produced this approach, that should be much more reliable. It is still being tested but it seems to work for now. This code is heavily vibe-coded, so it needs more thorough review.

[micw]

Hi,
have you had this issue with the new releases I did these days? I fixed an issue that the sync loop died and stopped syncing, so maybe it's already fixed.

[romanseidl]

No, I had this issues for months and I had to set a daily restart on the devices to fix it. I didn't expect the sync loop to be broken until I had a look at it.

What did you change? Is there a commit where I could see that?

This is a summary of my changes:

photo_service.dart:

• Removed the old while loop with the long Future.delayed(intervalMinutes) — it could get stuck after OS suspension or die on an exception and was never restarted.
• Replaced it with a Timer.periodic that ticks every minute and decides via wall-clock whether a sync is due.
• Added a new maybeSyncNow() method: only syncs when auto-sync is enabled, no sync is already running, and the interval has elapsed.
• Due-check compares against the more recent of two timestamps: lastSuccessfulSync (persisted, prevents a redundant sync right after a restart) and a new _lastSyncAttempt (in-memory, prevents retry-spam every minute on failure).
• Runs an immediate sync check on startup instead of waiting a full minute.
• Replaced the old _syncLoopRunning flag with Timer? _syncTimer; the timer is cancelled cleanly in dispose().

slideshow_screen.dart:

• In the resumed lifecycle handler, the app now calls maybeSyncNow() — catching up a sync that was missed while suspended in the background (with the wall-clock check, so no unnecessary sync).

Effect:
Fixes the "sometimes never syncs again after sleep" problem: no stuck loop, no dead state, automatic catch-up on wake.
Failure-retry behavior stays as before (only retries after a full interval).

[romanseidl]

I had severe issues with the sync stopping to work regularly on multiple devices.

I looked for a possible reason and it seemed there was two possible explanations: the currently sync relies on a loop with a future that may die when the app is frozen or something similar. The other reason may be that there is no fallback when the app wakes up to ensure that the sync loop is still alive.

So I produced this approach, that should be much more reliable. It is still being tested but it seems to work for now. This code is heavily vibe-coded, so it needs more thorough review.

[micw]

Hi,
have you had this issue with the new releases I did these days? I fixed an issue that the sync loop died and stopped syncing, so maybe it's already fixed.

[romanseidl]

No, I had this issues for months and I had to set a daily restart on the devices to fix it. I didn't expect the sync loop to be broken until I had a look at it.

What did you change? Is there a commit where I could see that?

This is a summary of my changes:

photo_service.dart:

• Removed the old while loop with the long Future.delayed(intervalMinutes) — it could get stuck after OS suspension or die on an exception and was never restarted.
• Replaced it with a Timer.periodic that ticks every minute and decides via wall-clock whether a sync is due.
• Added a new maybeSyncNow() method: only syncs when auto-sync is enabled, no sync is already running, and the interval has elapsed.
• Due-check compares against the more recent of two timestamps: lastSuccessfulSync (persisted, prevents a redundant sync right after a restart) and a new _lastSyncAttempt (in-memory, prevents retry-spam every minute on failure).
• Runs an immediate sync check on startup instead of waiting a full minute.
• Replaced the old _syncLoopRunning flag with Timer? _syncTimer; the timer is cancelled cleanly in dispose().

slideshow_screen.dart:

• In the resumed lifecycle handler, the app now calls maybeSyncNow() — catching up a sync that was missed while suspended in the background (with the wall-clock check, so no unnecessary sync).

Effect:
Fixes the "sometimes never syncs again after sleep" problem: no stuck loop, no dead state, automatic catch-up on wake.
Failure-retry behavior stays as before (only retries after a full interval).

[romanseidl]

I had severe issues with the sync stopping to work regularly on multiple devices.

I looked for a possible reason and it seemed there was two possible explanations: the currently sync relies on a loop with a future that may die when the app is frozen or something similar. The other reason may be that there is no fallback when the app wakes up to ensure that the sync loop is still alive.

So I produced this approach, that should be much more reliable. It is still being tested but it seems to work for now. This code is heavily vibe-coded, so it needs more thorough review.

[micw]

Hi,
have you had this issue with the new releases I did these days? I fixed an issue that the sync loop died and stopped syncing, so maybe it's already fixed.

[romanseidl]

No, I had this issues for months and I had to set a daily restart on the devices to fix it. I didn't expect the sync loop to be broken until I had a look at it.

What did you change? Is there a commit where I could see that?

This is a summary of my changes:

photo_service.dart:

• Removed the old while loop with the long Future.delayed(intervalMinutes) — it could get stuck after OS suspension or die on an exception and was never restarted.
• Replaced it with a Timer.periodic that ticks every minute and decides via wall-clock whether a sync is due.
• Added a new maybeSyncNow() method: only syncs when auto-sync is enabled, no sync is already running, and the interval has elapsed.
• Due-check compares against the more recent of two timestamps: lastSuccessfulSync (persisted, prevents a redundant sync right after a restart) and a new _lastSyncAttempt (in-memory, prevents retry-spam every minute on failure).
• Runs an immediate sync check on startup instead of waiting a full minute.
• Replaced the old _syncLoopRunning flag with Timer? _syncTimer; the timer is cancelled cleanly in dispose().

slideshow_screen.dart:

• In the resumed lifecycle handler, the app now calls maybeSyncNow() — catching up a sync that was missed while suspended in the background (with the wall-clock check, so no unnecessary sync).

Effect:
Fixes the "sometimes never syncs again after sleep" problem: no stuck loop, no dead state, automatic catch-up on wake.
Failure-retry behavior stays as before (only retries after a full interval).

[romanseidl]

I had severe issues with the sync stopping to work regularly on multiple devices.

I looked for a possible reason and it seemed there was two possible explanations: the currently sync relies on a loop with a future that may die when the app is frozen or something similar. The other reason may be that there is no fallback when the app wakes up to ensure that the sync loop is still alive.

So I produced this approach, that should be much more reliable. It is still being tested but it seems to work for now. This code is heavily vibe-coded, so it needs more thorough review.

[micw]

Hi,
have you had this issue with the new releases I did these days? I fixed an issue that the sync loop died and stopped syncing, so maybe it's already fixed.

[romanseidl]

No, I had this issues for months and I had to set a daily restart on the devices to fix it. I didn't expect the sync loop to be broken until I had a look at it.

What did you change? Is there a commit where I could see that?

This is a summary of my changes:

photo_service.dart:

• Removed the old while loop with the long Future.delayed(intervalMinutes) — it could get stuck after OS suspension or die on an exception and was never restarted.
• Replaced it with a Timer.periodic that ticks every minute and decides via wall-clock whether a sync is due.
• Added a new maybeSyncNow() method: only syncs when auto-sync is enabled, no sync is already running, and the interval has elapsed.
• Due-check compares against the more recent of two timestamps: lastSuccessfulSync (persisted, prevents a redundant sync right after a restart) and a new _lastSyncAttempt (in-memory, prevents retry-spam every minute on failure).
• Runs an immediate sync check on startup instead of waiting a full minute.
• Replaced the old _syncLoopRunning flag with Timer? _syncTimer; the timer is cancelled cleanly in dispose().

slideshow_screen.dart:

• In the resumed lifecycle handler, the app now calls maybeSyncNow() — catching up a sync that was missed while suspended in the background (with the wall-clock check, so no unnecessary sync).

Effect:
Fixes the "sometimes never syncs again after sleep" problem: no stuck loop, no dead state, automatic catch-up on wake.
Failure-retry behavior stays as before (only retries after a full interval).

[romanseidl]

I had severe issues with the sync stopping to work regularly on multiple devices.

I looked for a possible reason and it seemed there was two possible explanations: the currently sync relies on a loop with a future that may die when the app is frozen or something similar. The other reason may be that there is no fallback when the app wakes up to ensure that the sync loop is still alive.

So I produced this approach, that should be much more reliable. It is still being tested but it seems to work for now. This code is heavily vibe-coded, so it needs more thorough review.

[micw]

Hi,
have you had this issue with the new releases I did these days? I fixed an issue that the sync loop died and stopped syncing, so maybe it's already fixed.

[romanseidl]

No, I had this issues for months and I had to set a daily restart on the devices to fix it. I didn't expect the sync loop to be broken until I had a look at it.

What did you change? Is there a commit where I could see that?

This is a summary of my changes:

photo_service.dart:

• Removed the old while loop with the long Future.delayed(intervalMinutes) — it could get stuck after OS suspension or die on an exception and was never restarted.
• Replaced it with a Timer.periodic that ticks every minute and decides via wall-clock whether a sync is due.
• Added a new maybeSyncNow() method: only syncs when auto-sync is enabled, no sync is already running, and the interval has elapsed.
• Due-check compares against the more recent of two timestamps: lastSuccessfulSync (persisted, prevents a redundant sync right after a restart) and a new _lastSyncAttempt (in-memory, prevents retry-spam every minute on failure).
• Runs an immediate sync check on startup instead of waiting a full minute.
• Replaced the old _syncLoopRunning flag with Timer? _syncTimer; the timer is cancelled cleanly in dispose().

slideshow_screen.dart:

• In the resumed lifecycle handler, the app now calls maybeSyncNow() — catching up a sync that was missed while suspended in the background (with the wall-clock check, so no unnecessary sync).

Effect:
Fixes the "sometimes never syncs again after sleep" problem: no stuck loop, no dead state, automatic catch-up on wake.
Failure-retry behavior stays as before (only retries after a full interval).