Shoutout to the optional iCloud backups!

[Fly]

My new phone got stuck in a boot loop and had to be reset and restored from my latest iCloud backup. Usually not a big deal, except that I’d been traveling and without WiFi and without much cell service for a week, thus the most recent iCloud backup was a week old. Thus iCloud restore didn’t have my entire week of travels! BUT because Arc’s optional backups kicked in the day I got back to non-roaming cell service and home WiFi, the week’s travels were restorable via import!!

(Side note: hallelujah, that iCloud restore DID work for Arc this time so I didn’t have to repeat the manual week-by-week import that I only just finished the week before traveling. I realized that Settings reports how much data is left to restore, so I knew to wait until that was done before opening Arc.)

Now I’m even more of an advocate for that GPX import because the day+ where my phone was out of commission is empty in Arc, but I did use a random location recorder app on my iPad, so have that data but not in a cohesive manner nor on the same device.

I know the topic of importing actual flight data had been floated before. Now I’m adding to that the idea of importing of ship data! (I was on a cruise for part of that week and it took a lot of effort to get my phone to stay in view of GPS… it would understandably fail fantastically the moment I went elsewhere into the innards of the ship. Part of why I’m so glad all that effort wasn’t in vain and that I could use Arc’s own backups to export that data… but in the future I’d probably try to revive my old Holux GPS logger for such things because in hindsight it really was a stupid use of energy to be that obsessed with whether or not my phone was getting GPS signal or not. But that still does involve a GPX import )

[matt]

@Fly

My new phone got stuck in a boot loop and had to be reset and restored from my latest iCloud backup.

Oh wow, I haven’t seen that happen in so many years! That’s terrible luck

@Fly

BUT because Arc’s optional backups kicked in the day I got back to non-roaming cell service and home WiFi, the week’s travels were restorable via import!!

Phew! And at least importing a short duration of data like that is super easy and quick. Unlike doing a full restore

@Fly

Side note: hallelujah, that iCloud restore DID work for Arc this time so I didn’t have to repeat the manual week-by-week import that I only just finished the week before traveling. I realized that Settings reports how much data is left to restore, so I knew to wait until that was done before opening Arc.

Ooh, really glad to hear that worked! I’ve been meaning to test that trick for a long time, but my heart just can’t take much more disappointment with the whole new phone / restore from backup nightmare, so I’d been avoiding it. But yeah, that was always my guess - that if you held off until the iCloud restore had finished, before opening Arc, it’d be all safe. So glad to hear that worked!

@Fly

Now I’m even more of an advocate for that GPX import

I’ll put it in the next poll (which I just realised is overdue, surely). I don’t think it’s highly voted enough on Changemap, but it’s come up so many times recently, it’s justifiable on that alone.

@Fly

I know the topic of importing actual flight data had been floated before. Now I’m adding to that the idea of importing of ship data!

I wonder if any service out there is tracking that stuff. Hmm.

@Fly

I was on a cruise for part of that week and it took a lot of effort to get my phone to stay in view of GPS… it would understandably fail fantastically the moment I went elsewhere into the innards of the ship.

Oh I’d never thought of that. I guess it’s the exact same problem as with airplanes - no wifi triangulation or cell tower triangulation, so if you lose GPS/GNSS line of sight it’s all over

@Fly

but in the future I’d probably try to revive my old Holux GPS logger for such things because in hindsight it really was a stupid use of energy to be that obsessed with whether or not my phone was getting GPS signal or not.

That’s an interesting idea actually. Like, when I’m flying I get really tired of having to keep an eye on Arc or Mini’s recording debug view to see whether it’s still getting location data, then hold my phone up to the window for a minute or more, until it gets a GPS/GNSS fix again. Having a dedicated GPS device, presumably also with stronger GPS receiver than the phone, would alleviate some of that annoyance. And then just import the data into Arc afterwards.

It’d still be missing the extra data Arc gets like accelerometer and pedometer, but really that’s barely important at all during a flight, when you’re pretty much just sitting there doing nothing the whole time. It’s not like that extra data is useful for anything in that case, unlike when walking/running/cycling/etc.

[Fly]

@matt

Phew! And at least importing a short duration of data like that is super easy and quick. Unlike doing a full restore

Yes! I’ve found a couple of missing spots but nothing major yet, and that’s still preferable to the whole week disappearing.

@matt

Ooh, really glad to hear that worked! I’ve been meaning to test that trick for a long time, but my heart just can’t take much more disappointment with the whole new phone / restore from backup nightmare, so I’d been avoiding it. But yeah, that was always my guess - that if you held off until the iCloud restore had finished, before opening Arc, it’d be all safe. So glad to hear that worked!

Yeah, having JUST gone through the process of moving phones I was extra dismayed at the boot loop issue, but thankfully this round was smoother given learning from last time’s hiccups. I also did a long press on the Arc icon at one point and saw that it thought that I was at a place I had been a week ago, so that let me know that data of some sort had loaded. I was still freaked out enough to wait til I got the notification saying the iCloud backup had finished restoring!

@matt

I’ll put it in the next poll (which I just realised is overdue, surely). I don’t think it’s highly voted enough on Changemap, but it’s come up so many times recently, it’s justifiable on that alone.

Woohoo! Plus a GPX import would mean that I can import from so many different programs I’ve used over the years, even bits like RunKeeper and Strava.

The only thing missing isss Gyroscope! Which I probably wouldn’t harp on as much if it wasn’t the only source of location data for when I played tourist in my last month in NYC and then moved cross-country by train. (When Moves died and before I had found Arc!)

@matt

I wonder if any service out there is tracking that stuff. Hmm.

There are but I can’t tell how much it would cost to get data or how feasible that would be. (e.g. https://www.vesselfinder.com) Quite niche. Haha!

@matt

Oh I’d never thought of that. I guess it’s the exact same problem as with airplanes - no wifi triangulation or cell tower triangulation, so if you lose GPS/GNSS line of sight it’s all over

It’s that and worse because you’re also inside of a humongous building! So if you’re in the middle of floor 2 out of 10, or even just step inside from a balcony, there’s no way to keep that GPS line of sight.

@matt

Having a dedicated GPS device, presumably also with stronger GPS receiver than the phone, would alleviate some of that annoyance. And then just import the data into Arc afterwards.

Yes!!