I’ve been a happy Newsblur customer since the downfall of Google Reader. I’m using latest iOS and Newsblur versions. In past few months, if I read stories while being offline, at the time I go back online the stories read while being offline as marked as unread once again. I have to mark stories as read again while being online. This defeats the purpose of Newsblur to me since I systematically lose connection in the subway and other places.
I initially thought this was a known bug, but since I’ve had this problem for months and a few new iOS version came out since I have this major problem, it is apparently not as widespread as I thought it was. Please ask me questions or suggest tests I should do in order to pinpoint the problem and help you fix it Thanks a lot! I’m eager to love Newsblur again as much as I’ve been the past years! – Alex
Problem is that I can’t reproduce the issue. I just tried: on wifi, pulled to refresh, let the app sync all offline stories. Airplane mode, read 10 stories, turned off airplane mode, pulled to refresh, and the 10 stories synced OK.
Thanks Samuel, here’s what I just tried:
* WiFi connected
* launched Newsblur
* let it sync
* go to airplane mode (wifi disabled and cellular)
* go back to Newsblur (it rightfully tells me I’m offline)
* read a few rss items from different sources
* disable airplane mode (wifi is back)
* Newsblur tells me I’m still offline, so I force refresh by dragging down the list of stories
* sync happens and *some* of the stories I read are back to unread
I’m happy I did this test, it’s the first time I notice that -some- of the stories are actually synced properly! But some not Pretty strange. Usually it’s none (as far as I can tell).
Don’t know if the following helps, here’s my classic use case: both cellular and wifi enabled, but I’m not in wifi range (I’m in the bus), everything is fine until I get in the subway (I lose cellular connection), when I get back to cellular range and sync Newsblur, the stories I read in the Subway are back as unread.
Let me know which tests you’d like me to do. I’ll do them! I love Newsblur and I’d like it to work as designed once again. (I’m happy another user clicked the ‘me too’ on this bug report, I feel less crazy! ;-)) Thanks Samuel, hope this will end up improving Newsblur reliability – Alex
I’ve also had this issue… The only time I use it is when I’m traveling on an airplane (I don’t normally have download stories enabled).
So, my travel workflow is:
Enable Download Stories
Pull to refresh to download all the images and whatnot
Finish the sync and then turn on Airplane Mode
Typically I’ll wait about 30 minutes or so before heading back into Newsblur
Open the All Stories Mode using the Next Button to move between articles
After getting back on the ground and turning on cellular, I’ll pull to refresh and all the stories will come back in as unread.
For what its worth, I just tried that same workflow and read 20 or 30 stories and they remained as read after coming back online - maybe if the device is offline for a “long” time they’ll come back?
Made my usual test-run in the subway today (described above). I unfortunately confirm that the stories I read while offline once again came back as ‘unread’ once at home. There’s really something wrong! Let me know if I should test anything specific. Thanks – Alex
Potentially related, I also noticed that stories sometimes disappear from the list (and they are not accounted for), but I never really worried because they come back in the list after some time. This is probably a bug (related or not, I can’t tell), but it never annoyed me as much as failing to actually have stories properly marked as read.
Example: I have Slashdot in my Newsblur feeds. On iOS (no idea if this also happens on the website, I don’t use it), I have say 60 unread stories. While I read some of them, I realize there’s a gap in the stories (I can say so because Slashdot has a pretty consistent publishing schedule). Later, the stories that were missing actually show up in my Newsblur feed and I’m able to read them.
I have thought for some time that my iOS-local Newsblur database might be corrupted. I have no idea if there are automated validations / repairs when the app updates itself. Sorry if I’m adding confusion here, I’m trying to help you pinpoint issues
@Samuel Clay, in the latest Newsblur release notes since my last report, you stated “Fixes for syncing read stories when returning from offline reading.” I made only a single subway test today, and for the first time in a long while, it worked! Reading offline seems to finally work as advertised. Thanks – Alex
Thanks a lot! I’m eager to love Newsblur again as much as I’ve been the past years! – Alex
Pretty strange. Usually it’s none (as far as I can tell).