IO.mt

Category: Blog

  • iMail Release 14.48

    iMail continues to see strong user growth, most of which is composed of organic installs. As a result of this growth, more functionality is being developed for iMail, together with periodic bug fixes and performance improvements.

    Support for additional email services

    This release marks a major milestone, where users will be able to add mail accounts for other email services in addition to Apple iCloud. As a result of this added functionality, the way in which a user logs in will be changing slightly.

    In addition to iCloud email accounts, users can now log in to Yahoo and Gmail accounts. Microsoft Outlook accounts are not yet supported, with support being planned for a future release. However, users can still log in to their Microsoft Outlook accounts by manually configuring the IMAP settings during the log in process.

    Changes to iCloud login

    Users who wish to log in their iCloud email accounts will need to make use of either an iCloud.com email, or a me.com email. The app will automatically detect the server settings for the user.

    Login using the normal iCloud username and password is still supported, where an app specific password will be automatically created for iMail after successful login to the user’s Apple iCloud account. To use this feature, the iCloud email address must first be entered in the email box. Once iMail recognises the account type, a button will appear on screen. Pressing on this button will redirect the user to log in using the Apple iCloud normal password.

    Rollout of update

    Initially, the update will be rolled out for a select number of users. This allows me to identify any potential bugs and issue any needed fixes before the update is rolled out to more users.

    If no major issues are encountered, the roll out will be increased to more users through the month of February.

  • SyncCloud Mail now lets you access iCloud and other services

    We have updated SyncCloud Mail (app page) to include a much requested functionality that allows users to access web services without leaving the app.

    Web services can be accessed by opening the web browser, either from the app drawer (if logged in) or from the relevant section in the home screen (if not logged in). Services such as iCloud and Microsoft OneDrive can be quickly accessed by entering the URL in the web-address bar at the top of the screen. This allows you to access website documents and photos stored in the cloud easily without the leaving the app.

    Just like a normal web browser (such as Chrome or Edge), the web browsing features also stored all of your saved cookies from website, so you won’t have to log in each time. The cookies are held within the app itself on your device, and never transmitted to other applications.

    Steps on how to use (Not Logged In):

    1. Open SyncCloud Mail
    2. Select “Open browser”
    3. The default website will load automatically
    4. Press on the address bar to change website
    5. Enter URL of website you want to visit
    6. Press on “>” button to load

    Steps on how to use (Logged In):

    1. Open SyncCloud Mail
    2. Open the drawer
    3. Select “Web Browsing”
    4. The default website will load automatically
    5. Press on the address bar to change website
    6. Enter URL of website you want to visit
    7. Press on “>” button to load

    Access Web Browser when not logged in:

    Access Web Browser when logged in:

    Preview of web browsing functionality:

  • Download files from iCloud on Android

    With the latest update of our Sync for iCloud app, we have just made downloading files from iCloud much easier on Android devices.

    Introduction

    The new download manager lets you see ongoing download tasks which are running in the background, and download tasks which have been downloaded successfully.

    The download manager also provides a list of errored downloads: downloads which could not be completed due to some kind of error, such as due to a network issue.

    Downloading files from iCloud on Android devices could never be easier.

    All you need to do is to log in to your iCloud account using the normal username and password used to log in to the iCloud.com website. If successful, you will be prompted to enter a two-factor authentication code sent to all of your Apple devices connected to your iCloud account. You can also choose to have the code sent by SMS.

    If the two-factor authentication code is successful, you will be taken into your account, where the files stored in your iCloud account are shown.

    Download files after logging in

    To download files, all you need to do is to tap on the desired file.

    It is also possible to download multiple files. This can be done by long-pressing on the first item you want to download, and then tapping on the other items you wish to download. When ready, you can press on the download button at the top right of the app actionbar.

    See downloading files

    You can view your ongoing downloads by going into the home screen, by tapping on ‘home’ in the bottom left-hand corner, and tapping on the ‘view downloads’ button.

    Alternatively, it is also possible to view ongoing downloads by pressing on the notification from within your Android device’s notification center.

    Find downloaded files

    Successfully downloaded files will be stored on your Android device’s ‘Downloads’ folder, which can be accessed from the ‘Downloads’ app, or from your devices file manager.

    If Sync for iCloud is uninstalled, your downloads will remain stored in the ‘Downloads’ folder.

  • How to access iCloud on Your Android Phone with SyncDeck

    There are various reasons why users select iOS or Android for particular tasks, whilst the other platform is used for other tasks. Keeping files between iOS and Android requires the use of the cloud. Apple offers iCloud, which is natively supported on iOS devices. However, users using iCloud have been left out when switching over to an Android smartphone or tablet.

    While many would suggest to use the iCloud website when accessing iCloud content on Android devices, Io.mt offers a far simpler solution to access iCloud files and photos on Android devices: SyncDeck.

    Using iCloud on Android is easier than you think

    If you are the sort of user where you use both iOS and Android for various tasks, SyncDeck might be the best for you if you use iCloud for storing files and photos.

    SyncDeck is free to download and to use. The log in process is very simple and secure. The app offers the possibility to view your files and photos in one simple application. You can also download any of the files stored on iCloud, or upload directly from your Android device to your iCloud account.

    Keep reading to discover how easy it is to set up SyncDeck.

    1. Download SyncDeck from the Google Play Store

    This step requires very little effort. All you need to do is to install SyncDeck from the PlayStore by following the steps here. Alternatively, you can click here.

    Download: SyncDeck (Free)

    1. Simply open the Google Play Store from the Android device you wish to use iCloud on.
    2. Then, search for SyncDeck by io.mt.

    2. Open SyncDeck on your Android device

    Once SyncDeck is installed, find it on your smartphone or tablet and tap the icon to open the app.

    3. Log in using your iCloud email and password

    When opening for the first time, SyncDeck will ask you to enter your iCloud username and password. This is required so that you can log in to the iCloud web service.

    Before logging make, make sure that you can access your iCloud files from the iCloud website, and that Advanced Data Protection is not enabled.

    1. Enter your iCloud username
    2. Enter your iCloud password
    3. Press the log in button.

    4. Enter 2 factor authentication code

    If the username and password are correct, you will be asked for the 2 factor authentication code which will be sent to one of your iCloud devices linked to this iCloud account.

    Alternatively, you can ask the app to send the code via SMS.

    5. Done!

    If the 2 factor authentication code has been entered correctly, the files in your iCloud drive home folder will show.

    Downloaded files can be viewed under the Account page.

  • SyncDeck May Update

    During these past weeks, further functionality has been added to SyncDeck. The added functionality revolve around the file management part of the app.

    Furthermore, translations have started to be added to SyncDeck. Such additions will allow app usability in different geographies which do not use the English language.

    Direct sharing has been added

    Users can now share photos and videos directly to SyncDeck from any app on Android smartphones and tablets.

    In order to be able to do this, it is important to ensure that you are logged in. Logged out users will have to open SyncDeck and log in before being able to share photos and videos directly to SyncDeck.

    Once a file is shared from another app to SyncDeck, the file is uploaded using the standard uploading service. If other files are being uploaded, the directly shared file will be added to the upload queue.

    Although only photos and videos are currently supported for direct sharing, I will be adding support for more file types, including documents and archives.

    Translations added

    The latest SyncDeck update includes translations for three European languages: German, Italian, and French.

    These translations allows users from different geographies to be able to navigate within the app using their native language.

    More languages will be added in future releases of SyncDeck.

    Planned tasks

    • Bug fixes for direct share. Better handling for logged out users will be added in the next release of SyncDeck.
    • Migration to Material3 components. This will add the possibility to change colour schemes according to the device’s theme on newer devices.
    • Addition of other languages other than English. More languages to be added in future releases.
    • Improvements to photo gallery. Album support, ability to sort photos, and direct share support for the photo gallery to be added in future releases.

  • SyncDeck update rollout

    An update to SyncDeck has just been released today containing a number of additional functionalities.

    Addition of shadows to cards in the account page

    Shadows have been added to cards in the account page. The addition of the shadows allows for the visual separation of various cards on this page.

    Ability to view upload tasks progress

    The upload tasks screen has been greatly improved, allowing the user to view pending, complete, and errored tasks in one page. It is now possible to remove all completed and errored tasks in the list.

    A button has been added in the account screen which allows the user to access the upload tasks screen.

    Finally, several bugs were fixed which might have cropped up during the uploading process.

    Planned tasks during the upcoming weeks

    I will be doing some further tweaks to SyncDeck, which I believe will further improve the user experience:

    • Migration to Material3 components. This will add the possibility to change colour schemes according to the device’s theme on newer devices.
    • Addition of other languages other than English. The plan is for Italian, French, and German translations to be added.

    The photo gallery requires further additions, such as the possibility to select Photo Albums, and the possibility to add photos from the Android UI. These will be tackled in future releases.

    Finally, sorting and changing between list and grid view will eventually be added to the file browser in future releases.

  • SyncDeck update roll out, website improvement

    These past months have been very productive, where significant development was carried out on Sync for iCloud, where I’ve re-worked big chunks of the application.

    SyncDeck

    I have continued working on the SyncDeck app (formerly Sync for iCloud) to include more best practices and advanced Android SDK components, such as Room, Coroutines, and Jetpack. This meant that a lot of stuff had to be re-written from scratch.

    Extensive use of fragments is now being made in the folder browser. A new fragment is created for each open folder. This allows for faster movement between folders, whilst also keeping in memory attributes of folder which have been opened.

    Room databases are now being used to cache synchronised photos from the iCloud Photos library on your device and to keep track of upload and download tasks. Caching of photos into a room database allows pre-loaded photos to be loaded significantly faster when closing and re-opening the application. This would be especially beneficial for users with large photo libraries, where a loading cycle would now take seconds as opposed to several minutes. With respect to the tracking of file transfer progress, a database enables the queue to remain cached even when the application is completely terminated, allowing the possibility of file transfer continuation after application closure, as well as better handling of file transfer status.

    More under-the-hood changes were carried out, however, the above were highly material to the functionality of the application. Further fixes are in the pipeline, more specifically to the photo library. However, the above changes should provide a much better user experience and significantly better performance. Thus, they were of most importance and were tackled first.

    I will be rolling out the application to a small group of install base, increasing the roll-out percentage should no significant issues arise with the latest release.

    IO.mt website updates

    I have continued with updates to the website, including additions and changes to content, as well as updating of components.

    There are still some issues in relation to search-engine optimisation (SEO), which I am tackling bit-by-bit. My priority is to get the applications updated, with website updates being given a lesser priority.

  • Sync for iCloud Release 2.12

    Sync for iCloud Drive’s name has now changed to Sync for iCloud following addition of iCloud Photos support.

    As of Release 2.12, Sync for iCloud now supports synchronisation for iCloud Drive and iCloud Photos.

    To be able to access your iCloud Photos, iCloud Photos must be enabled from an iOS device. For more information, please visit Apple’s support page.

    The release also includes updates to the user interface, several bug fixes and performance improvements, including:

    • fix for crash when screen is locked while uploading files or photos
    • when an upload is started, you are taken to the upload status screen.
    • a message now warns you that uploading might stop when the screen is locked.
    • screen will not turn off during uploading when in the upload status screen.
    • file information text is now smaller.
    • file name now takes only one line in the list.
    • when renaming, the file current file name is provided in the dialog.

  • Sync for iCloud Release 2.5

    Sync for iCloud Drive’s name has now changed to Sync for iCloud following addition of iCloud Photos support.

    As of Release 2.5, Sync for iCloud now supports synchronisation for iCloud Drive and iCloud Photos.

    To be able to access your iCloud Photos, iCloud Photos must be enabled from an iOS device. For more information, please visit Apple’s support page.

    The release also includes updates to the user interface, several bug fixes and performance improvements.

  • Sync for iCloud Drive Release 1.12

    Sync for iCloud Drive version 1.13 is being rolled out to users on the Google Play Store. This update contains the following fixes and improvements:

    • Fixed invalid login bug.
    • Fixed UI bug where buttons would not show on older Android versions.
    • Bug fix which had resulted in crashes on older Android versions.