Can Kiwix be excluded from the iCloud backup?

[Popolechien]

A user reported this peculiar issue:

I’m using Kiwix on iPad and had the problem that my iCloud backup no longer worked because it grew to over 50 GB. After deleting the ZIM file, the backup worked again without any issues, so it seems directly related to the ZIM files.
I also noticed that Kiwix does not appear in the list of apps that can be excluded from the iCloud backup.

[kelson42]

At least the ZIM files shoukd be indeed excluded.

[BPerlakiH]

We have a setting toggle for this specific issue, although it is inside the Kiwix Application Settings (last item), instead of the system settings:

[kelson42]

Where is this option usually (system or inapp)? Can we have it in both? Maybe we should have a labeling with "iCloud" in it?

Probably the default value (enabled) is not the correct one?

[Popolechien]

Additional feedback from user:

I just checked and it was turned off anyways.
It’s also strange that the I deleted a 48GB archive and the backup size only reduced by 45GB.
I’m sure I didn’t turn anything else on/off during by backup troubleshooting.

[BPerlakiH]

Ok, I will double check this, how it really works at the moment.

Btw, this is the system level list of applications where iCloud backup can be turned on/off:

Kiwix is not there, so will double check as well why is that, and how can we make Kiwix appear on that list.

[BPerlakiH]

I've checked it, and it seems we have the right mechanisms in place.
We use the Apple recommended way of excluding files from iCloud backup: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/foundation/urlresourcevalues/isexcludedfrombackup

We do re-apply these exclusions on each app launch. Therefore ZIM files should not sync to iCloud, unless it was set explicitly in Kiwix Settings. The default value is false, so that is fine as well.

@Popolechien The user can search for ZIM files in the "Files" app, by entering "ZIM" into the searchbar and then selecting "OpenZIM Content File" from the auto suggested drop-down.

This way it will list all possible ZIM files. For the sake of this issue, we are interested in the files that are iCloud synced, and we want to know in which folder they are in. Long pressing on the file, from the drop down menu, select Get Info, and see the location of the file. The usual place we put them is "On My iPhone > Kiwix", which should not sync with iCloud.
If the file is somewhere else, maybe it has been moved by the user, and that might trigger a sync with iCloud:

[BPerlakiH]

It also seems that the System level settings is related to additional iCloud data (user settings or shared DB), that we are not using in Kiwix. Therefore the Kiwix app is not appearing on the list for iCloud on the System level.

[kelson42]

It also seems that the System level settings is related to additional iCloud data (user settings or shared DB), that we are not using in Kiwix. Therefore the Kiwix app is not appearing on the list for iCloud on the System level.

Kiwix has user settings.This is actually what should be backuped. Therefore I don't understand this last comment.

[BPerlakiH]

Ok, to be more precise we use:

• UserDefaults - for user preferences (such as language, style theme, and so on) across app launches

We do not use iCloud API - which is to automatically synchronize data among a user’s (iCloud) devices (eg: between a mac and an iPhone having the same iCloud user), if we used this option, Kiwix would appear as one of those application on that list.

[kelson42]

We do not use iCloud API

Why we don't? Are all these data not backuped at all in iCloud?

[BPerlakiH]

iCloud API was never implemented.
IMHO, if we decide to implement it, the driver for it should be the capability to synchronize between devices. Only backing up user preferred settings, for which we have default values, does not seem to me a good enough driver for this feature on its own.
I think we should move the iCloud API discussion to a new issue, it's not directly related to the ZIM file back-ups mentioned here.

[BPerlakiH]

@Popolechien I think it's worth to do some trouble shooting on the users iPad as well, there were similar issues reported to Apple, as they've changed the location where the full size of the iCloud back-up can be checked. Please see it here for example: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/252278035?sortBy=rank