Why are my blue source hints on my home page not "syncing" with my phone, iPad, and desktop/laptop?
I have all Apple devices, except that I use a Window desktop computer in the FS Center where I serve as a full-time senior missionary. I have an iPhone 11, an iPad, and a Mac Air laptop at home. I routinely attach sources on my iPad in the evenings and recently I've noticed that I keep getting hundreds of blue source hint tasks for my iPad that do not show up on any other computer or device.
I am quite diligent about working on those, and the other night I finished doing a bunch, only to wake up the next morning to 300 more source hints on my iPad for German ancestors I'm not even related to (in 15 generations)! These 300 source hints do not show up on my desktop version of FS, on either my Windows computer or my Mac laptop. They do not show up on my iPhone. They only show up on my iPad, and they're not my family! Any thoughts from anyone? I did recently do the IOS update on my iPad and phone. This had been happening prior to the update, though. So, 1) why are my devices not syncing in FS and 2) why is FS sending me 300 hints for German ancestors who are not mine? Thanks so much for any suggestions. Sister C
Best Answers
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I was also wondering about the App vs the web version.
Then I checked the App (on my Android tablet since I don't have an iPad) vs the web version on Windows 10, Firefox. I have 55 hints (Windows) and 55 tasks (App). They are not in the same order, so I can't be absolutely certain they are same 55, but I believe they are.
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If you are using the Family Tree app on your iPad, then there is a setting that can have a dramatic impact on what hints you are shown. When you are in the Tasks list, there is an Information icon in the upper right corner (an "i" in a circle). Tapping on that shows an information screen, which includes a switch labeled "Expand Tasks: Include tasks for people you have recently viewed, their parent, spouses, and children." (The Android app has the same option, but it is under Settings | App.)
If you have that option switched on, then you will be shown tasks for many persons in the Tree who are not even related to you. As the option says, you'll see hints for anyone you've viewed, as well as their parents, spouses, and children. Many people are not even aware of this option. It is useful if you are eager to be presented with as many tasks as possible, and you deal with them promptly. But for most people it is best to turn it off, so that they only see tasks for relatives.
Based on what you are seeing, it seems very likely that you have that option turned on for the app on your iPad. Note also that this is an app setting unique to each installation of the app. So it could well be that for the app installed on your iPhone, that setting is turned off. That would explain why your hint list is similar on your iPhone and desktop computer, but quite a bit longer on your iPad.
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I don’t have enough information to give a clear answer. Do you use the mobile app on your iPad?
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I checked my account on this. On the mobile app (on iPad) I had 246 tasks. On the website (on iPad) I had 194 tasks. On the mobile app there is a setting you can do called ‘Expand Tasks’, which I have enabled. Its description is “Include tasks for people you have recently viewed, their parents, spouses, and children.” This allows the system to recommend tasks to you for people who don’t necessarily show a direct family connection to you. In practice, this would usually still get relatives, even if the connection was past 15 generations.
Does this sound like the situation you’re having?
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Y’all are wonderful! Thx so much. I did check my iPad tasks setting and it WAS set to expand, although I don’t remember ever doing that. I had paid no attention to that little information (i) toggle and I need to be more observant. Sadly, my overwhelming list of German non-ancestors did not go away, even when I refreshed. I may need to swipe left on each to remove them and hopefully they won’t return. I’ll also reboot my iPad to see if that helps. And yes, I’m using the FamilyTree app on my mobile devices. Thanks again to those who responded. Old dog, new tricks! Loving our mission here, it’s the best!
Donna Colyar
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@donnajoearlcolyar1 Restarting your iPad won't make any difference; the expanded list of hints is stored in the app's database, which is unchanged by a device restart. Yes, you could swipe each hint away, but that sounds quite tedious. A far quicker way is to go to More | Help | Reset all Data and Settings. That will clear out the app's database and reload your data from the server. Then your hint list should match what you see on the other devices.
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I did remove the tasks and they’re still gone this morning. I’m sure new tasks will show up in time, but they’ll be my people. I think I’d be nervous to reset all data. Thx again.
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