Files.app on iOS is stuck on “Loading…” for ownCloud

iOS
1

I’m using ownCloud on iPad and I’m running into troubles with accessing the files from the Files app that comes with iOS. I noticed that there was a bigger redesign of the ownCloud iOS app and it seems to happen since then. (There were different issues with ownCloud before that update, but this is worse now.)

What happens is that trying to open the ownCloud section in the Files app most of the time results in a loading spinner being shown. This doesn’t seem to be a sync issue between the server and client because the files are always there and browsable in the ownCloud app. So it seems the iOS file provider extension is the problem here.

Some more info on my typical usage:

  • I’m mostly using Pages to edit Pages documents on ownCloud. This uses the single file format (i.e. a ZIP file), not the package format (i.e. file packages, which are directories). But I think it creates hidden, temporary files next to the actual document.
  • Some files have German umlauts (ä, ö, ü) or Eszett (ß) in their names.

What is the best way to debug this? I saw in ownCloud’s settings that there are various options for logging, but I’m not quite sure what I should be looking for. The log files are quite verbose and nothing jumped out at me.

Steps to reproduce

  1. Launch Files and navigate to the ownCloud section
  2. Navigate into a subfolder
  3. Open a Pages document in that folder
  4. Go back to the Files app
  5. Navigate into a different folder in ownCloud that wasn’t shown before (e.g. a sibling folder)

Expected behaviour

Files app shows the contents of the second folder.

Actual behaviour

Files app shows a loading spinner and never anything else. Killing the Files app or ownCloud, or removing and re-adding ownCloud from the sidebar in Files app doesn’t help at all. Only restarting the iPad seems to resolve this issue.

Server configuration

Not sure, this is a hosted ownCloud instance by world4you (.com) and I couldn’t find any version numbers.

Client

iOS version:

ownCloud app version:
12.0.1 build 268

Device model:
iPad (10th generation)

2

@marco.masser could you try with the TestFlight 269 build?

3

Thanks, I’m very happy to try out the TestFlight beta! I’m a developer for Apple platforms myself, so I’m also very familiar with that whole process.

Only one question: I saw that the ownCloud iOS app logs file paths. Are these logs in any way uploaded automatically to you? If so, that would be a problem because the iPad I would install it on (my wife’s) uses ownCloud to store sensitive patient data and the file names contain those patients’ names. I don’t have a problem with sharing logs manually because I could remove the patient names manually. Only automatic log sharing would be a deal breaker.

4

No, there’s no connection back to us. You’re in full control of the log file, and you can redact all sensitive parts before sending them to us.

12.0.2 was just released in App Store. Did you try?

5

Thanks for the info – I’ll try tonight and let you know how it goes.

6

I tired 12.0.2 and the behavior described above is still the same, unfortunately. I manually updated the app from the App Store and just to be sure, I restarted the iPad afterward. No luck. I see that the version on TestFlight is the same, so I guess there’s no difference in that version, right?

What can I do to debug this further?

7

@marco.masser please send us a mail from the Settings screen

8

Done. Thanks for the help so far.

9

@marco.masser Thanks for providing so much diagnostic data. While looking through the material, I noticed in the logs that your iPad seems to run an outdated iPadOS version. Can you please update it to 16.5.1 and check if that fixes the issue? It has for others.

10

Oh, thanks for the hint. I’ll update right away and report back.

11

From a quick test, it unfortunately still behaves exactly the same. I’ll upload another video and logs running on the updated iPad tomorrow.

12

Team published public TestFlight build 272 with a fix:

Please test and provide feedback.

13

Thanks for the hint! I already replied to the GitHub issue that I’m in vacation and will report back next week.