# New user - sync on iOS not working

**URL:** <https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/new-user-sync-on-ios-not-working/12947>\
**Category:** Support\
**Created:** [7 December 2020 14:39 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/new-user-sync-on-ios-not-working/12947 "2020-12-07T14:39:06Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 19\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![srm39](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/87869e/32.png) [@srm39](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/srm39)\
**Post date:** [7 December 2020 14:39 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/new-user-sync-on-ios-not-working/12947/1 "2020-12-07T14:39:06Z")

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Unable to sync on iPhone running latest iOS (14.2) and using OneDrive.

All seems fine on PC but sync on iPhone seems to be repeating counts (not 100% sure of this) on items to sync. Have tried uninstalling/reinstalling the app but makes no difference. As there's no way to enable background app refresh for Joplin, not sure how I can fix this.

Entire notebooks do not appear which are there on the Windows app. Was hoping this was going to be an Evernote replacement, but starting to wonder now!

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**Author:** ![JackGruber](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/jackgruber/32/3231_2.png) [@JackGruber](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/JackGruber)\
**Post date:** [7 December 2020 15:43 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/new-user-sync-on-ios-not-working/12947/2 "2020-12-07T15:43:03Z")

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Has the syncroinization ever been completed (iOS: Configuration-\>SYNC STATUS, PC: Help-\>Syncronisation Status)?  
Joplin has no background sync, so if the app is not running in the foreground it will not be synchronized!

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**Author:** ![srm39](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/87869e/32.png) [@srm39](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/srm39)\
**Post date:** [7 December 2020 16:03 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/new-user-sync-on-ios-not-working/12947/3 "2020-12-07T16:03:40Z")

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Not completed as far as I can see. I keep going back to the app (for more than 1 day now) but it never completes and may even re-start. The phone will lock eventually and I don’t keep the screen unlocked for more than a few minutes at the time. It seems an odd requirement to have the screen ‘on’ for hours (if that’s what’s necessary)?

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**Author:** ![tnwn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e79b87/32.png) [@tnwn](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/tnwn)\
**Post date:** [7 December 2020 16:06 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/new-user-sync-on-ios-not-working/12947/4 "2020-12-07T16:06:29Z")

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> [@srm39](#):
>
> if that’s what’s necessary

While you are waiting for iOS users response I can confirm that it is necessary on Android. It took two nights for me.

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**Author:** ![srm39](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/87869e/32.png) [@srm39](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/srm39)\
**Post date:** [7 December 2020 16:19 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/new-user-sync-on-ios-not-working/12947/5 "2020-12-07T16:19:49Z")

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Thanks for letting me know!

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**Author:** ![srm39](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/87869e/32.png) [@srm39](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/srm39)\
**Post date:** [7 December 2020 16:55 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/new-user-sync-on-ios-not-working/12947/6 "2020-12-07T16:55:26Z")

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- quick update - it's working now I've set the screen lock timeout to 'never'. Thanks again.

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**Author:** ![sprague](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/sprague/32/5605_2.png) [@sprague](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/sprague)\
**Post date:** [8 December 2020 00:54 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/new-user-sync-on-ios-not-working/12947/7 "2020-12-08T00:54:15Z")

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My OneDrive sync with iOS was working fine until today, when I'm receiving a "Invalid API or Resource" error on my Mac and what appears to be a never-ending series of "Fetched items" messages on iOS.

I haven't done the obvious "restart" or export everything and start over, but posting this in case others are having similar difficulty.

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**Author:** ![gumby](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/gumby/32/6043_2.png) [@gumby](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/gumby)\
**Post date:** [8 December 2020 03:40 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/new-user-sync-on-ios-not-working/12947/8 "2020-12-08T03:40:43Z")

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Having this **exact** problem.

My sync target is OneDrive.

Endpoints are Apple devices.

- Mac : Catalina (10.15.7) running Joplin app 1.4.19
- iPhone : iOS 13.3.1 running 10.4.1

Both go into endless sync mode.

iPhone seems to increment number of items to fetch, fetches those, then bumps up. (i.e, fetching "`x` of 32", then as `x` gets close to 32, it's "`x` of 48", then "`x` of 64", etc)

Mac shows "Last error: Error: Invalid API or resource"

![image](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/uploads/cozic/original/2X/1/1d368e054d49373a287cfc3d7e57809d8ba89ad1.png)

Worked flawlessly until about 2 or 3 hours ago.

* * *

Update 1: I tried removing Joplin from phone, rebooting phone, and reinstalling Joplin to phone. Phone starts sync but goes into a never-ending series of "Fetched items" messages as described above. This is new behavior and I've been using Joplin for . . . awhile. Back in the dark times before `vim` support was in the Mac client. 🙂

* * *

Update 2: prior to this problem Joplin has worked flawlessly on phone and laptop with sync target as OneDrive.

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**Author:** ![Yann1ck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/439d5e/32.png) [@Yann1ck](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/Yann1ck)\
**Post date:** [8 December 2020 09:23 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/new-user-sync-on-ios-not-working/12947/9 "2020-12-08T09:23:55Z")

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I have exactly the same problem on my iPhone since yesterday. Today it stopped working.

The error message on my phone is: Invalid API or resource

I cannot find an option to export my sync log on iOS. I could send you screenshots of the log instead.

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**Author:** ![srm39](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/87869e/32.png) [@srm39](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/srm39)\
**Post date:** [8 December 2020 09:43 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/new-user-sync-on-ios-not-working/12947/10 "2020-12-08T09:43:59Z")

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Update: After getting some issues with encryption, and having only just imported data from Evernote, I decided to delete Joplin and start again. Uninstall did not remove everything, so a search/delete of C drive for 'Joplin' was required.

Was looking promising, but I've imported one notebook to a 'clean and empty' Joplin install but now getting this error: "Last error: Error: Item does not exist".

Seriously thinking that maybe Evernote wasn't so bad after all!!

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**Author:** ![gumby](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/gumby/32/6043_2.png) [@gumby](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/gumby)\
**Post date:** [8 December 2020 09:49 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/new-user-sync-on-ios-not-working/12947/11 "2020-12-08T09:49:26Z")

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I did some testing.

1. wiped my OneDrive sync target (the `Joplin` folder in `/Apps` in OneDrive)
2. wiped Joplin desktop app's config directory (I'm on Mac so `~/.config/joplin-desktop`)
3. launched Joplin desktop
4. the default 5 "welcome" notes appear. I delete notes 1-4.
5. configure sync target to OneDrive
6. sync seems to work once or twice but after one or two syncs will return nothing but `Error: Invalid API or resource`

Attached is a log from when I click Synchronize. (the '`...`' are hex / GUID that I can't unpack, not sure if the bearer tokens are one use or long lived)

[prob.txt](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/uploads/short-url/3UKZ4QVd1c5BchIhaSHNTBho5J0.txt) (3.8 KB)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![srm39](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/87869e/32.png) [@srm39](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/srm39)\
**Post date:** [8 December 2020 09:56 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/new-user-sync-on-ios-not-working/12947/12 "2020-12-08T09:56:51Z")

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Wondering if there has been a new build of Joplin recently? I'm willing to invest a bit more time but with the Evernote v10 problems seemingly getting resolved, I'm not sure how much more effort it's worth to get Joplin working properly. A shame as it's a better product in some way (encryption) but not in others (search inside attachments such as images).

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**Author:** ![srm39](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/87869e/32.png) [@srm39](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/srm39)\
**Post date:** [8 December 2020 10:40 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/new-user-sync-on-ios-not-working/12947/13 "2020-12-08T10:40:57Z")

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Now also have everything synced but getting the same "Invalid API or resource" error. ☹

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**Author:** ![blank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a4c791/32.png) [@blank](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/blank)\
**Post date:** [8 December 2020 10:55 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/new-user-sync-on-ios-not-working/12947/14 "2020-12-08T10:55:57Z")

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I wonder if this could be a problem with Onedrive, not Joplin ?  
All the posts above mention the same target : Onedrive.

It just happened to me too (Windows 10 PC, Joplin 1.4.19 portable), trying to sync to Onedrive :  
=\> "Last error: Error: Invalid API or resource".

I also run another instance of Joplin portable (for testing), synchronized with a Nextcloud server, and there, I have no problem.

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**Author:** ![gumby](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/gumby/32/6043_2.png) [@gumby](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/gumby)\
**Post date:** [8 December 2020 15:10 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/new-user-sync-on-ios-not-working/12947/15 "2020-12-08T15:10:26Z")

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> [@blank](#):
>
> I wonder if this could be a problem with Onedrive, not Joplin ?  
> All the posts above mention the same target : Onedrive.

Absent a way to test, this is my theory too.

I didn't change anything on my end. No updates to laptop, or to Joplin. Looking at the log the `Invalid API` errors started on 7 Dec.

OneDrive API looks reasonably static, but OneDrive is part of Microsoft Graph which updated their Change Log on . . . 7 Dec. [Changelog - Microsoft Graph](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/changelog#december-2020)

But reading through the Change Log I quickly realize I'm out of my area of expertise. ☹

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**Author:** ![srm39](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/87869e/32.png) [@srm39](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/srm39)\
**Post date:** [8 December 2020 15:41 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/new-user-sync-on-ios-not-working/12947/16 "2020-12-08T15:41:49Z")

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Just ran a test - swapped my sync to DropBox and it works without error. So, it is OneDrive related.

Only problem is I don't want to use DropBox, as I have a 1TB OneDrive allowance and don't want to pay for DropBox.

Any way to report this as a bug and hopefully get a fix?

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**Author:** ![johnny](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/johnny/32/3492_2.png) [@johnny](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/johnny)\
**Post date:** [8 December 2020 15:48 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/new-user-sync-on-ios-not-working/12947/17 "2020-12-08T15:48:02Z")

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It is a bug from Microsoft. It is already reported [https://github.com/OneDrive/onedrive-api-docs/issues/1408](https://github.com/OneDrive/onedrive-api-docs/issues/1408). But who knows when Microsoft fix this.

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**Author:** ![gumby](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/gumby/32/6043_2.png) [@gumby](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/gumby)\
**Post date:** [8 December 2020 20:07 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/new-user-sync-on-ios-not-working/12947/18 "2020-12-08T20:07:51Z")

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Thinking out loud here.

tl;dr: the following is probably a non-solution.

For **desktop** installs, I could point Joplin at a **local** proxy and intercept the broken response from MSFT, transform as follows:

received from MSFT: `drives('66d53be8a5056eca')`  
transformed: `drives/66d53be8a5056eca`

Doesn't seem too tricky. But this workaround doesn't offer any assistance for mobile.

Rats.

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**Author:** ![sprague](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/sprague/32/5605_2.png) [@sprague](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/sprague)\
**Post date:** [11 December 2020 15:47 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/new-user-sync-on-ios-not-working/12947/19 "2020-12-11T15:47:22Z")

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FWIW my OneDrive sync problems seem to have gone away without me doing anything. All's well with Joplin now.