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App synchronization gap is too large

schmidtla

Hello,

A lot of iOS devices are not compliant because of this message - App synchronization gap is too large

The iOS device are synced but the SMC app synchroisation is not actual. So we also don't get position information for this devices. How can we force a SMC app synchronization?

Thanks Torsten

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    Hi Torsten,

    Sorry for the late reply.

    To successfully let the SMC app synchronize itself automatically, the following things must be given on the device:

    1. The "Background App Refresh" must be enabled on the device.
      To do so open "Settings | General | Background App Refresh" on the iOS device. Enable the feature and allow the "Control" app to use it.
      Note: This cannot be defined by Sophos Mobile Control. The device owner can activate and deactivate it any time.
    2. The "Control" app must be running in the task switcher
      To achieve this, user have to open the application once and let the app synchronize with the configured SMC server.
      Once this was done the app should be closed by pressing the "Home" button once. This way, it is sent to the background but not terminated completely.
      Note: When the device is turned off, all applications running in the background are terminated. After restarting the device, the app must be started once again and be set into the background

    If these things are given, the SMC server will send out a trigger every 24 hours to the device to trigger the sync of the app.

    Please be aware that this works iOS 7.1 and I recommend to use SMC 3.6.1. iOS 7.0 also supported the silent app sync trigger but they were not working correctly. Apple obviously provided a fix in the update which made it work.

    Furthermore, we will improve the app synchronization on our side with SMC 4.0 which should be released in May.

    Hope this helps.

    Best regards

    Stefan

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      Thanks for the reply. So I can understand the problems.

      But this isn't a safer mechanism because our user extremly rarely open the Control App.

      In version 4.0 there is the same mechanism?

      Thanks Torsten

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        Hi Torsten,

        within SMC 4.0 the same mechanism is used.

        There is no other possiblity to automatically synchronize an app. as far as I know.
        In that point, we rely on the functionality Apple provides.

        Best regards

        Stefan

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          Hi Stefan, 

          In your post you said QUOTE:  "The "Control" app must be running in the task switcher
          To achieve this, user have to open the application once and let the app synchronize with the configured SMC server.
          Once this was done the app should be closed by pressing the "Home" button once. This way, it is sent to the background but not terminated completely." END QUOTE

          Question 1: What if the user was not on the Home button, but let's say the Compliance button instead, and then they close the SMC app to the App switcher. Will the 24 hour sync still happen then?

          Question 2: What are the requirements and set-up for the normal syncronisation (Max. synchronization gap)? 

          Lastly, my comments ;) ...

          I always find myself looking for information on SMC using the following route:

          1. Sophos SMC documentation

          2. Sophos support KB

          3. This forum

          4. Eventually Sophos support.

          Unfortunately all too often with SMC it ends up being step 4; as there is a ton of missing information on how the SMC app actually works. This goes for the current 4.0.0.4 documentation too.  

          For admins to manage an environment they have to understand how the environment works. Unfortunately with SMC it's all smoke and mirrors!

          I think Sophos support are totally fed up with me now raising questions, trying to find out why something is not working "as expected".

          Thanks, 

          John

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            Hi Sandy, 

            Thanks for dropping me the mail. I've sent you a reply. 

            Now back to this post, I believe there is still some confusion...

            1. Excerpt from the 'Sophos Mobile Control Administrator Guide' (Product version: 4, May 2014), Section 12.1, "Available compliance settings", page 30:

            SMC app Synchronization gap: 

            Specify the maximum interval between iOS app synchronisation processes for devices. For further information, refer to the Sophos Mobile Control user guide for Apple iOS.

            Note: This setting only applies to devices with an iOS version below iOS 7. It has no effect on iOS 7 devices.

             

            2. Except from Sophos KB article 120888 'Requirements for the Sophos Mobile Control iOS app to support automatic sync and locate':

            Note: This article only applies to devices running iOS 7.1 or higher. Former iOS versions did not support the automatic background synchronization correctly

             

            3. SMC App sync DEFECT:

             

            From my knowledge and communication with Sophos support, the background refresh should work on iOS 7 devices, however there is a confirmed defect with the current version of SMC (4.0.0.4) in that the messages are being sent from the SMC iOS app back to the SMC server, but they are not being processed correctly by the SMC server.

             

            As a result, the phones become non-compliant because they don't appear to have contacted the SMC server within the timescale set in the compliance settings.

             

            I have been requested by Sophos to disable the compliance setting "SMC app Synchronization gap" until a fix is supplied, apparently "within a a few days"...

             

            NB: This maybe specfic to my set-up, so if you think you have the same problem, I suggest you raise a support case with Sophos technical support.

             

            4. Except from Sophos feature pages 'Ability to Force Sync of iOS SMC app'...

             

            With SMC 3.6 and iOS7, we can trigger the app to sync data back to the server. This works in all cases, the app is running in the background. If the app is completely stopped, it does not work. This is a limitation of the iOS platform.

             

            NB: In SMC v4, this is performed by a 'Refresh data' action.

             

            Regards, 

             

            John

             

            P.S. If you want a better understanding of the sync mechanism, my understanding is that the Sophos Mobile Control server tries to send out an APNS trigger once a day so the iOS Sophos Mobile Control app (which must be either active or running in the background) will synchronize.

             

            Here's a must read on APNS for techies who look after Apple devices: https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/NetworkingInternet/Conceptual/RemoteNotificationsPG/Chapters/ApplePushService.html

             

             

             

             

             

             

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              The SMC iOS app sync defect was resolved for us with the release of the SMC iOS app version 4.0.2.3. This was released on 26/June/2014 to the Apple app store.

              Regards,

              John

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