S3Drive - iOS sporadic freeze issue (Rclone)

Hi Tom. First of all, I want to say thank you and your team for developing S3Drive. It's such great piece of software. Prior to that, there's no way to decrypt rclone files on ios, but you guys make it possible. So I am very grateful for that. Today, I want to report a bug on my end when using s3drive with rclone configuration. When choosing files to preview, the app can not display the content of the files. It's the same on windows and ios. When I chose to open file externally, it works without any problem, but to have 1 more steps to open files is kind of inconvenient. The second bug is when I want to download the files to my computer. It ended up with error on transfer because it can not rename the files. The third bug I found is on ios, when I dont run s3drive for some times, it will freeze and I can not do anything with the app. I then have to force close it and reopen it for it to work normally. To me, the ability to access my rclone encryption files on ios is good enough. But it would be great if I can use s3drive without bug. I attached 3 videos to demonstrate what I experienced. I hope it helps you guys find the problem (if any). If you need more information, please tell me and I will try to help as much as possible. But I only use Discord once in a while so it's gonna be a few days until you get a repply from me. Again, thank you and your team for all your hard work.

I found the log of the app and attached it for your reference. I dont know why but when I clicked the share button to share the log files, it does nothing. So I have to copy it manually for attachment.

s3drive_log.txt

2.17 KB

Hi, Thank you for your positive feedback and bug report ! 1) Preview within app for Rclone is part of our Roadmap 2024, there are couple challenges that we're solving here. We may release initial version where preview for smaller files will be available sooner, so we can work on efficient method of previewing bigger files. In a next release we will display a message about that, so it doesn't look like a broken preview at least. Preview for smaller files shall be available in the next couple months. 2) Windows download bug. We've passed that down to our team and it shall be possible fixed in a next release. 3) Freeze bug on iOS, that's a tricky one. Can you let me know if that's related to Rclone back-end or S3? Do you have some other processes configured for that back-end (e.g. sync or media backup?). We're aware that in some cases the freeze may happen if multiple calls to Rclone library are performed simultaneously. We've solved that on Android, but on iOS we still haven't worked out the way to go. Any more hints here would be helpful for us to find a pattern. Thank you again for your input !

Please find a pre-release on Windows, which fixes the Download bug: https://github.com/s3drive/windows-app/releases/tag/1.8.0%2B1 All these changes will go in a main release within ~2 weeks.

Release 1.8.0+1 · s3drive/windows-app

Tom

Hi, Thank you for your positive feedback and bug report ! 1) Preview within app for Rclone is part of our Roadmap 2024, there are couple challenges that we're solving here. We may release initial version where preview for smaller files will be available sooner, so we can work on efficient method of previewing bigger files. In a next release we will display a message about that, so it doesn't look like a broken preview at least. Preview for smaller files shall be available in the next couple months. 2) Windows download bug. We've passed that down to our team and it shall be possible fixed in a next release. 3) Freeze bug on iOS, that's a tricky one. Can you let me know if that's related to Rclone back-end or S3? Do you have some other processes configured for that back-end (e.g. sync or media backup?). We're aware that in some cases the freeze may happen if multiple calls to Rclone library are performed simultaneously. We've solved that on Android, but on iOS we still haven't worked out the way to go. Any more hints here would be helpful for us to find a pattern. Thank you again for your input !

Hi Tom. Wish you and your team have a nice weekend. Here's some more feedback from me. 1. For preview within app feature, I find it kind of strange because when I first tested the app, I remember that it worked flawlessly. After recent updates, I cant use it anymore. That's why I was so sure it's a bug on the app. Maybe my memories make a trick on me. Still, it's kind of glad to know that the feature is on the roadmap. 2. Thank you and your team for the hard work. 3. The freeze bug I mentioned related to rclone backend. I curently dont use S3 backend yet, so I dont know if there's bug on S3 backend. I dont have any other processes configured for the rclone backend, just use it to view my files when necessary.

Tom

Please find a pre-release on Windows, which fixes the Download bug: https://github.com/s3drive/windows-app/releases/tag/1.8.0%2B1 All these changes will go in a main release within ~2 weeks.

I can confirm that the download function now work without any problem.

Tom

Hi, Thank you for your positive feedback and bug report ! 1) Preview within app for Rclone is part of our Roadmap 2024, there are couple challenges that we're solving here. We may release initial version where preview for smaller files will be available sooner, so we can work on efficient method of previewing bigger files. In a next release we will display a message about that, so it doesn't look like a broken preview at least. Preview for smaller files shall be available in the next couple months. 2) Windows download bug. We've passed that down to our team and it shall be possible fixed in a next release. 3) Freeze bug on iOS, that's a tricky one. Can you let me know if that's related to Rclone back-end or S3? Do you have some other processes configured for that back-end (e.g. sync or media backup?). We're aware that in some cases the freeze may happen if multiple calls to Rclone library are performed simultaneously. We've solved that on Android, but on iOS we still haven't worked out the way to go. Any more hints here would be helpful for us to find a pattern. Thank you again for your input !

Hi Tom. I think I found the reason for the freeze bug on ios. It's because my rclone setup use 2nd password. When I import the configuration to S3Drive, it can decrypt my files normally, so I didnt think much about it. Yesterday, I tried using S3Drive with S3 backend and does not encounter freeze bug. One thing I notice when using S3 is the app only support the 1st password. That's why I changed my rclone setup to using only the 1st password and after a day, I didnt experience the freeze bug, not even once. So I think I should update to you on the matter, in case some one have the same problem with me. Maybe an update to FAQ that if you have a setup with 2nd password, you can still decrypt your files but the app may not work as intended.

Thanks for the update. We plan to add support for 2nd password natively, so it’s possible to configure it from the settings instead of Rclone config. From your comment I deduce that freeze issue may happen for an Rclone backend configured via Rclone config (especially one using crypt and definitely one using 2nd password…and likely not just S3 endpoint).

Tom

Thanks for the update. We plan to add support for 2nd password natively, so it’s possible to configure it from the settings instead of Rclone config. From your comment I deduce that freeze issue may happen for an Rclone backend configured via Rclone config (especially one using crypt and definitely one using 2nd password…and likely not just S3 endpoint).

I just bought a lifetime account as a way to say thank and support the project. Receipt no 2690-0875. Hope there will be more people know about the project.

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Thank you for supporting the project. If you have any other feedback don't hestitate to reach out to me directly. All the best !

Tom

Thank you for supporting the project. If you have any other feedback don't hestitate to reach out to me directly. All the best !

Hello Tom, after more than half a month testing the app, I can confirm that the freezing issue still exist in the latest version. Previously, I thought that it's because I used second password which is not yet supported by s3drive, but the error occurred even when I only use the first password, maybe less frequently, I dont know. The issue only occurred with rclone backend and never happen with s3 backend. For now, I can cope up with the problem by open s3 backend by defaut and only switch to rclone backend when I need to work with the data (and switch back to s3 backend when done). That way, I dont need to force close the app, but it's still kind of inconvenience. I hope you will be able to locate the issues and fix it in the future releases. One way I think of can fix the issue is to build a native integration with other cloud storage provider instead of doing it via rclone. That's how other cloud encryption tools such as boxcryptor and cryptomator do it. But I know that it's a lot of work to do and maintain, and maybe the team does not currently have the sufficient resources to go that way. Anw, that's just my hopeful thinking. As always, thank you and your team for your great work. Really appreciated.

Deleted User

Hello Tom, after more than half a month testing the app, I can confirm that the freezing issue still exist in the latest version. Previously, I thought that it's because I used second password which is not yet supported by s3drive, but the error occurred even when I only use the first password, maybe less frequently, I dont know. The issue only occurred with rclone backend and never happen with s3 backend. For now, I can cope up with the problem by open s3 backend by defaut and only switch to rclone backend when I need to work with the data (and switch back to s3 backend when done). That way, I dont need to force close the app, but it's still kind of inconvenience. I hope you will be able to locate the issues and fix it in the future releases. One way I think of can fix the issue is to build a native integration with other cloud storage provider instead of doing it via rclone. That's how other cloud encryption tools such as boxcryptor and cryptomator do it. But I know that it's a lot of work to do and maintain, and maybe the team does not currently have the sufficient resources to go that way. Anw, that's just my hopeful thinking. As always, thank you and your team for your great work. Really appreciated.

Thank you very much for your feedback. Just to confirm, does the freeze issue apply to iOS or other platform? We're aware that freeze issue may happen on iOS, we will try to prioritize that. Quick question, if we've implemented second password support, would that help on your end, so you can use the S3 encrypted back-end natively?

@Deleted User Good news, we've identified the root cause of that on iOS and will include the hotfix in a next release (1.8.4) likely still this week. Whilst it may not automatically solve all of the freeze related issues that you're experiencing, it shall improve situation dramatically. Once you have it and experience freeze issue it would then be good if you could note if there was any direct action / operation that caused that (e.g. folder rename or media backup etc.).

Tom

@Deleted User Good news, we've identified the root cause of that on iOS and will include the hotfix in a next release (1.8.4) likely still this week. Whilst it may not automatically solve all of the freeze related issues that you're experiencing, it shall improve situation dramatically. Once you have it and experience freeze issue it would then be good if you could note if there was any direct action / operation that caused that (e.g. folder rename or media backup etc.).

Thank you, Tom. I dont expect the fix to be that fast. I just updated to 1.8.4 a few hours ago and it seems to fix the issue to some extent. I will use the app for a few weeks and will inform you if the issue ever happen again. Yes, the issue happened on iOS. I dont use android so I dont know if it happend on android, but on windows it's fine. I'm fine with only using the first password. In fact, I updated all of my rclone backend to only use the first password to be compatible with s3drive. And I do use s3 backend to backup some of my data. But when it comes to syncing data in realtime, I found using cloud storage syncing services much more suitable to my workflow. For example, I can use rclone mount to sync data in realtime, but then there are times when I am on business trip and I dont have a stable internet connection. That's why I need the encrypted data to exist offline on my laptop, and then I will sync it in realtime to dropbox. Well, I know I can use rclone copy or the sync function within s3drive app to sync the data to s3 backend, just like with dropbox (not in realtime though). But then, if I want to add data from my phone, it will need bi direction sync, and I think the function is not stable yet, not that I want to risk with my importan data. Till now, the freeze issue happened when I came back to the app. It's not like it happened because of any particular action, it freezed the moment I open the app and I cant do anything without force close it. But when I reopen the app, the app works fine, I dont have any problem with any function within the app. Just my curious, what causes the freeze issues on iOS? Glad that you guys found the root cause. Anw, it's my first time seeing such a great support from a product. Shout out to your team.

Just my curious, what causes the freeze issues on iOS?

These are some edge cases related to threading and we've found ways to force Rclone (not all, but some specific calls) to run in a different than UI rendering thread. On mobile the OS model is somewhat different to desktop and since we run this from a single codebase different solutions need to be applied for desktop, different for Android and different for iOS. (edited)

Tom

Just my curious, what causes the freeze issues on iOS?

These are some edge cases related to threading and we've found ways to force Rclone (not all, but some specific calls) to run in a different than UI rendering thread. On mobile the OS model is somewhat different to desktop and since we run this from a single codebase different solutions need to be applied for desktop, different for Android and different for iOS. (edited)

okay, so here's an update: The app still freeze once in a while but the probability of it happening is low enough that I dont mind it at all. For me, the app is now usable on iOS. Thank you very much.

Deleted User

okay, so here's an update: The app still freeze once in a while but the probability of it happening is low enough that I dont mind it at all. For me, the app is now usable on iOS. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much for this feedback. Regardless, we would be keen to solve any freeze issues and I don't think we're far from tracking it down. By any chance, did it happen just after resuming an app or when doing some operation (e.g. file listing)? Do you perhaps remember what was the last screen on S3Drive before you've moved app to tray / taskbar and subsequently resumed app? Did it happen immediately after resuming an app (or clicking some action) or after few seconds? Do you have media backup enabled? Does the start option for media backup is enabled? I assume that you don't have any "Sync" settings on your iOS just yet. Answer to these questions might help us to track it down and solve the underlying problem. Thanks ! (edited)

I don't what kind of files could be previewed, would u provide a lists on it (videos audio office ebook other )

Tom changed the channel name: iOS sporadic freeze issue (Rclone) 4/18/2024 2:57 PM

mix9311

I don't what kind of files could be previewed, would u provide a lists on it (videos audio office ebook other )

@mix9311 In general, that's text (with edit option and markdown preview), PDF (not all platforms), audio, video. Please use #general or #off-topic as this topic is specifically about iOS freeze issue. (edited)

Tom

Thank you very much for this feedback. Regardless, we would be keen to solve any freeze issues and I don't think we're far from tracking it down. By any chance, did it happen just after resuming an app or when doing some operation (e.g. file listing)? Do you perhaps remember what was the last screen on S3Drive before you've moved app to tray / taskbar and subsequently resumed app? Did it happen immediately after resuming an app (or clicking some action) or after few seconds? Do you have media backup enabled? Does the start option for media backup is enabled? I assume that you don't have any "Sync" settings on your iOS just yet. Answer to these questions might help us to track it down and solve the underlying problem. Thanks ! (edited)

So here is my answer to your questions, I hope that it helps: 1. It happen after I resuming the app. It never happen when I doing any particular operation within the app. While the app is not freeze when I already using it, I notice there are sometimes the notifications that batcher is shuting down or something like this. When the notification appeared, the app is NOT freeze, it's just that I cant transfer file like uploading or downloading. So I dont know if it's related to freeze issue. I just want to provided more information and hope that it helps. And to be more clearly, it never happen when I resume the app right after closing it. It only happen when I stop using it for some times (maybe a few hours or a day), then open it to use it again, then it happen. And after I update to 1.8.4, the issue is not consistent. Sometimes, the app is freeze but most of the time, it works without any problem. 2. The last screen I used is the files tab which I would called it a home screen of the app (as per attachment). I never leave the app when switched to another tab so I dont know if the app will freeze when I resume it. 3. The issue happen immediately after resuming an app 4. No, I dont have media backup enabled, and I dont use the sync setting. Hope it helps and feel free to contact me if you need more information.

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