Require auto-sync for synced databases?

[arlo]

The most common source of database syncing problems is leaving auto-sync turned off and then not syncing manually. For syncing to work correctly, you need to perform a sync before you make any changes to your database and again after you finish making changes. The auto-sync option does this for you.

Some people turn the option off because they think it allows them to control which direction the data is pushed (e.g., "I want my changes to always overwrite my bandmates' changes"), but that's not what it does. The read only option does that.

So I'm considering removing the auto-sync setting and permanently activating it for all databases. The only reason I can think of for wanting to turn off auto-sync is if you have a poor network connection and you keep getting timeout errors every time the app tries to auto-sync. In that case, you could turn on Airplane Mode until you're on a better network. Is there any other reason for turning off auto-sync?

[Christoph]

Fully understand your reasoning and support removing the ability to turn auto sync off. The read only option and the settings to switch on/off syncing individual data base fields seem to be adequate to control the sync behaviour.

Nevertheless, I remember one reason for a manual sync from the early days of the app: If you had a Wifi connection (e.g. iPad connected to an AirPort Base Station to use Audio Airplay) without an Internet connection the app ran into some trouble trying to sync automatically without ever reaching the server. In this case, Airplane mode is not an option. But I suppose these problems have been remedied in the meantime. Maybe you should also have a look into the new Peer-to-peer AirPlay function that came up with the latest OS version of AppleTV just in case it interferes with the network funktions of SLM: This also requires to have Bluetooth and Wifi switched on (no Airplane mode), but without an Internet connection.