On March 25, 2019 March 7, 2019, Google will disable the APIs that forScore relies on to offer Google Drive upload and download support directly from within our app’s Services panel. As a result, the Google Drive service will stop functioning and we will be removing it entirely with a future update. We realize that this change will affect many of our customers, so we wanted to take a few minutes today to explain what’s happening and why we’ve chosen to end support for this service rather than update to Google’s replacement APIs.
In short, continuing to support Google Drive requires that we either sacrifice your privacy and our app’s stability by relying on third-party code, or that we spend a disproportionate amount of time and resources developing a custom solution of our own. We’ve never maintained user accounts and we believe that protecting your privacy is best done by never collecting any of your information in the first place, so the former choice isn’t one we’d even consider.
The latter choice is a tough sell, since we’d be working for weeks or months just to try and maintain functionality that’s already duplicated on a system level (more on that below) instead of working to make forScore better for everyone. Things change quickly on iOS, and our customers are best served by our remaining nimble and responsive. That’s how we’ve supported each new iOS version and device on day one almost every time, and we plan to continue doing so whenever possible.
Fortunately, as of iOS 11, Apple’s Files app provides a better way for our users to transfer files to and from their favorite cloud storage services. Instead of relying on us to add and maintain support for individual services, each cloud storage provider can include a File Provider extension with their own app. Each service handles communication to and from their server, while Apple provides a standardized interface for all of your accounts. When you download or upload documents using “Files” in forScore’s Services panel, that system interface is what you see. Or, on an iPad, just use Slide Over to access the Files app without leaving forScore and Drag and Drop files back and forth. Learn more about the Files app and File Provider extensions here.
While we wish we could have continued to offer Google Drive alongside these new enhancements to the Files app so that our customers could shift their workflow at their own pace, we think the benefits of this system are worth the adjustment period. Learn to use this system once and you’ll be set no matter which cloud storage providers you need to work with in the future. And since providers can add File Provider extensions on their own, the services you can connect to this way are always going to vastly outnumber those we could have supported directly.
Whether you use specific services like Amazon Drive and SugarSync or rely on generic protocols like FTP and WebDAV, apps that include File Provider extensions give you a better experience in almost every way. If you’re impacted by this change and have any questions at all, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us here. We sincerely appreciate your understanding and continued support.
Updated Jan. 29th, 2019: Google sent out more information today detailing that their APIs will be shut down by March 7th, not by the 25th as we originally reported. Additionally, this will be a phased shutdown and as a result forScore’s Google Drive integration will experience increasingly frequent failures. All affected users are encouraged to transition to using the Files app as soon as possible, learn more
here.
A new year has arrived, and with it comes the perfect opportunity to protect the library you’ve created and maintained with forScore. Whether you’re just starting out or you’ve been using the app for years, backing up is an essential part of the process.
We recommend backing up regularly, and especially after you’ve made extensive changes to your library or immediately before installing major iOS or forScore updates. Our knowledge base article on the subject includes detailed instructions on how to do this:
Backing up your data to your computer
For those who got their hands on a shiny new iPad this holiday season, the instructions for transferring your library are similar. The best way to move everything to a new iPad is to restore it from an iTunes or iCloud backup, but when that’s not possible it’s easy to move these files over manually. Here’s how:
Transferring your forScore library to another device
Don’t risk losing all of your hard work this year, back up regularly and turn a good practice into a smart habit. Happy new year!
This holiday week, we wanted to take a moment to recap all of the many features we’ve written this year and give our readers a chance to catch up on any they may have missed. So without further ado, here’s every feature we discussed in 2018:
The holiday season is here and one of our favorite features of the iTunes and App Stores is the ability to purchase content—like albums, movies, books, and apps—for other people. You can pay for the item, add a message, and even schedule the gift email to arrive on a specific date. When it arrives the recipient will get a download code that they can redeem with their own iTunes account.
It’s a great way to send last-minute gifts, or to share an app you’ve enjoyed with someone who perhaps can’t afford or wouldn’t choose to buy it on their own. For more information on app gifting, check out this page on Apple’s website. Happy holidays!
After the original Apple Pencil was announced, we were just as excited as our customers to learn more about it, how it worked, and what it could mean for apps like forScore. It wasn’t something we figured out overnight, since everybody’s needs are unique and can’t be addressed with one quick update or setting, but over the past three years our approach has evolved to help our users take full advantage of this stylus’ strengths.
iOS’ palm rejection is quite good, but it’s not perfect and after Apple Pencil was released we got a lot of requests for something more concrete, an option to completely ignore finger input when drawing. We knew that there would be times when the Apple Pencil wasn’t available, like if it was out of reach or its battery had drained, so we had to get creative. Apple doesn’t let developers know when an Apple Pencil is nearby or whether or not it’s fully charged, so the only time we know for certain that you’ve got one is when it’s touching the screen.
To solve this, we tied our “prevent finger drawing” option to another setting, “automatically enter annotation mode,” which lets you annotate by drawing on the page without having to activate annotation mode first. Since that mode only kicks in when you use Apple Pencil, we relied on it to make an assumption about whether or not to allow finger input.
Sometimes, though, a smart answer isn’t the right one. That setup was confusing for a lot of people and unnecessarily complicated. With forScore 10.5, we took a simpler approach: if enabled in forScore’s settings panel, the “prevent finger drawing” option now works all of the time, no matter how you enter annotation mode. As long as your Pencil has touched the screen within the last fifteen minutes, forScore will ignore finger input for drawing purposes.
A new icon in the center of the annotation toolbar shows you when this setting is active. If your Pencil stops working or wanders off, tap this icon to temporarily disable the option and allow finger drawing. The next time you touch the screen with your Apple Pencil, it’ll re-activate itself automatically. Instead of trying to work out whether or not to block finger drawing on its own, forScore gives you a clear view of what it’s doing and the freedom to override it if necessary.