iOS App extremely slow to load

[electric-m]

What I’m trying to do

Get the iOS App to start up reasonably fast.

Things I have tried

I started with Obsidian in Mac recently and was very pleased to say the least.

I was bummed though, how bad the iCloud Sync to iPhone works.

It takes minutes, almost every time I start Obsidian on iOS to sync everything. Most often it seems to just have hung up completely.

I am still a bit clueless as how to resolve this. I’d like to have my files on my Mac permanently available. On iOS I need to check some files from time to time. Should I use one of the community plugins to sync?

Thanks,
Michael

[jsohn217]

Do you have community plug-ins enabled? I found the same extremely painful problem until I created a separate config folder. On the mobile version go to setttings > About > Advanced and override config folder to something else. In my case, I just call it .obsidian-mobile

My mobile config only uses a couple of plug-ins that are important as the majority are only needed on desktop. That made all the difference in the world for me and now the app fully syncs in a few seconds.

[gino_m]

From what I’ve seen on this forum (and you can check as well; look for offloading issues especially), iCloud – despite being an integral part of the iOS/iPadOS ecosystem – is a very iffy solution, which Obsidian only provides because the OS makes it possible.

About a year ago, I ditched iCloud completely. I had Windows at the other end, granted.

See also a rant-ish opinion that hits oh-so-close to the mark:

Constant data loss between mobile and desktop

First: I’m sorry for your loss. Not a solution, but just a :warning:warning: GIVE UP ON ICLOUD. It is the worst piece of garbage you will ever encounter when it comes to sync. You will end up with duplicate files, mangled files, spinning wheels of death, stuck files that won’t sync, files that are just missing all of their data… I spent months trying to get it right and lost countless hours of time both on troubleshooting and painfully re-entering lost data. Just, don’t. Use something—anything…

As for the plugins taking too long to load, I tried different ways to ease on startup time, but your issue sounds different.

[CawlinTeffid]

This help thread includes explanation of the slowness and a bit of stuff you can try to mitigate it:

"Waiting for iCloud to synchronise Obsidian configuration files…" - very slow every time you switch to Obsidian on iPhone

Things I have tried Almost every time I switch to the Obsidian on my iPhone (14 Pro) I see this message that prevents you from editing or even viewing your vault items. I’ve tried creating new vaults, ensuring nothing else is syncing etc… If it was a second or so it wouldn’t be an issue but can be quite a long time (10-30 seconds), additionally it’s not just after force closing the app - it’s whenever you switch back to the app after a few minutes, it’s as if the app doesn’t pause / suspend …

[electric-m]

Thanks everyone for commenting.
So, in a nutshell: iCloud and Obsidian as a team suck.

As I am running a small homelab, I said to myself: „Why not use Syncthing?“

I found it quite tricky to wrap my head around at first.
But now it’s up and running fine.
And since the files are locally Store on every device, it’s blazing fast.

The Setup requires:

• Pro Version of iOS App „Möbius Sync“ (Syncthing Client for iOS)

• Docker running Syncthing under Docker

• MacOS Syncthing Client (I went with Homebrew)

EDIT: I am aware that there is a Syncthing plugin for Obsidian. I couldn’t get it to run without errors, so I went the way through the filesystem
As the docker host is running 24/7, I am always in Sync, without needing to open the iOS App when on the Mac and vice versa.

[electric-m]

You made me rethink my decision to use iCloud at all.
As soon as I’ll find some spare time, I’ll restructure my way of storing everything in the iCloud. Thanks for the insight.

[electric-m]

Thanks for that hint. I was only using 2 community plugins and it was still painfully slow.

As you can read below, I solved it for me using Syncthing.

[gino_m]

You sound like a capable fella.
If you want file versioning, you can try git. There are at least 2-3 threads around, focusing on iOS as well.

[electric-m]

I might actually try that. As of what I’ve read so far, it would run quite smoothly and reliable.

My only concern is privacy.

I keeping my files on my hardware.
Yeah, ok you got me, I’ve been using iCloud…
But seeing how it’s possible to keep everything local, I am tempted to keep it that way - at least for now.

[CawlinTeffid]

@electric-m

Yeah, ok you got me, I’ve been using iCloud…

iCloud does offer optional end-to-end encryption now (and IMO are pretty trustworthy with data anyway, tho I still prefer not to rely on that). (Not trying to convince you to stick with iCloud, just FYI.)