Your Files & Sync
Fix: changes from another device don’t appear (“Keep Downloaded”)
You edited on one device, opened another — and it shows yesterday’s canvas. Nine times out of ten the cause is the same: the cloud folder on the second device is only a placeholder, not the real files. Here’s the fix.
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What’s actually happening
iCloud and Dropbox like to save disk space: instead of the real file, a device may keep just a lightweight placeholder (“file exists in the cloud, download on demand”). macOS calls this Optimize Mac Storage; iOS offloads files automatically. When visualOS opens your folder on such a device, the newest canvas-data.json may not actually be on the device yet.
visualOS is deliberately careful here: it will never overwrite your folder based on a half-readable state — it waits, retries, and asks the system to download the file. But until the download happens, you’re looking at the last state that device knew about. The cure is telling your cloud: always keep this folder downloaded.
The one-minute fix
iPhone & iPad (Files app)
- Open the Files app
Browse to iCloud Drive and find your visualOS folder.
- Touch and hold the folder
In the menu, tap “Download Now”. If your iOS version offers “Keep Downloaded”, tap that too — it pins the folder permanently.
Mac (Finder)
- Open Finder → iCloud Drive
Locate your visualOS folder.
- Right-click it → “Keep Downloaded”
The little cloud icons next to the files disappear once everything is local.
Also worth checking on Mac: System Settings → Apple ID → iCloud → Drive — if “Optimize Mac Storage” is on, macOS may still evict other files, but a folder marked Keep Downloaded stays put.
Dropbox / OneDrive / Google Drive
Right-click the folder and choose “Make available offline” (Dropbox: “Make available offline”; OneDrive: “Always keep on this device”; Drive: “Available offline”).
Do this on every device that uses the folder.
Still seeing the old state?
- Give the cloud a nudge. On iPhone/iPad, open the Files app and pull down to refresh inside the folder — iCloud syncs on its own schedule, and opening the folder prompts it to hurry.
- Fully close and reopen visualOS on the device that’s behind. The app re-reads the folder every time it starts or returns to the foreground.
- Check both devices point at the exact same folder (Settings → Folder & Workspace shows the name) — and the same workspace.
- Check the other device actually finished saving. Its top bar should say “Saved”, and it needs a moment online for its cloud to upload.
- More diagnoses in Changes don’t show up on another device.
visualOS does ask the system to download the folder when it needs it — on iPhone and iPad it can even wait for the download to finish. But only your cloud decides when placeholders are refreshed, and only you can tell it to keep files local. “Keep Downloaded” is that instruction — one tap, permanent.