GAIAGPS Fails to sync, Gaia Support no response

Are you using Gaia Classic the old version?

Using latest version: completed deleted and reinstalled iOS app, and still fails to sync.  All this happened after I upgraded to the Premium subscription.

Hmm. I have no idea. Go to the website and change your password and retry.

Thanks for the ideas Brad, appreciated.  And yep, changed pwd too.  Only thing I haven’t done (that I can think of) is to delete all my data and start from scratch; not really an optimal solution.  Keep waiting for Gaia support to respond but so far, not a peep from them.  Been trying to get this working again now for days, hours of wasted time.

They used to refer people to their subreddit for tech support. Is r/gaiagps (or whatever) still active?

@matthew it is but not with any reps responding. They stopped a while ago.

It seems Skurka gave up on that app after Outside bought them out.

I may have to give up soon it as well.  I just went thru the process of exporting all my data, deleting it from the website/cloud.  iOS app will still not sync, goes for hours and then stops saying sync incomplete.  The failure to sync started after I upgraded to Premium to access more of the overlays (slope angle, hydro data, …)  That is the real surprise, when paying for something like this you expect it to work and if something serious doesn’t work, like sync, one would expect some customer service / tech support.  So far, no support.  Very sad

I just upgraded to a premium Gaia account about two weeks ago after using CalTopo exclusively for two years. It’s syncing fine here. I know that doesn’t help you resolve your issue but it doesn’t appear to be a global issue.

I would be very upset if I was in your position.

Yes, very upset.  So as a test I created a free account.  Logged out of app and back in using free account. Sync worked fine.  So I then went thru thru process of importing all of my exported data folder by folder resyncing after each import to see if there was anything in any folder creating an issue.  Worked fine.  So I then installed the app on an iPad mini and with all the data already restored, did a sync on the iPad. Worked without a hitch.

so a big workaround just to get something functioning.  However, I still do not have access to all the added overlays I paid for since the account with the Premium membership won’t sync at all, with zero data in the account. Goes for hours. But the free account works fine.  Seems obvious that something has been corrupted in the Premium account but with still NO help from Gaia support, not much else I can do.  Would be happy if they would just transfer the Premium to the newly created free account I’ve created and is working fine, albeit without added benefits.

So disappointing, so frustrating. Especially since I’ve been trying to plan a trip out west starting Nov 1st.

if anyone has any ideas, I’m open. And if anyone has any tips on getting Gaia support to respond, beers on me.

I wouldn’t give up on it yet. I have found that depending on the device-13, 14-some apps don’t work as they should. One will work fine on iPhone 12, not on 13, etc. No rhyme or reason as both are exact same IOS. Even stock Apple apps have done this to me.

Nuclear option-backup your iPhone. Wipe completely, don’t restore anything. Install only Gaia- sign in and see if that works. If it does your current setup/backup isn’t playing nice with the app.

Is sync failing on wifi or cellular, or both? Knowing this might shed a bit more light.

Fails on both cellular and WiFi.  Tried disabling cell and using just WiFi and visa versa.  Repeated the process logging out of the app and back in between sessions and repeated again I deleted the app, restarted the phone and then tried just cell, and repeated for just WiFi.  No joy :-(

At least I was able to export most if my data and since I have received absolutely zero acknowledgement / support from Gaia, I am now importing it into CalTopo and cancelling Gaia account (wasted money).  Dunno what else to try: I’m not the brightest bulb on the tree but I’ve still got a few few watts coming out of these old filaments….

For what it’s worth, I’m experiencing the same problem as of 10/13.  I  opened a problem report yesterday, and am waiting for a response.  I’ve found they will respond in the past, but it usually takes a few days.  I suspect they are trying to get by with minimal staff, which means slow response time.  If two of us are having the same problem, a lot of others probably are, too, so I wouldn’t give up quite yet if I were you.  In the meantime, I’m accumulating tracks on my iPhone SE(Version 2) using the GAIA app and also an app written by a friend that produces an upload-able GPX file.  I figure sooner or later they’ll sort it out and I can catch up with one Mother of All Syncs.  If you’re interested, my friend’s app is in the AppleStore as a freebie.  It’s callled Hike Tracker.  It’s quite simple, with no bells or whistles, but is accurate, and does a better job of measuring total elevation gain, i.e. measuring the small downs and ups where elevation has to be regained that GAIA seems to overlook.

I’m a paying member, but not at the highest,( Premium?), level.  I pay something like $21/year

Hey Tom – thanks for the info, much appreciated.  Also glad to know it’s not just me, well, not happy to hear but good to know :-)  I do like the Gaoa phone app better than CalTopo, but on the web, CalTopo is much easier, so much easier to map and to organize, much better than Gaia.  And for a company to be so unresponsive, and this I have read from many, many other people… do I really want to support them.

If I could, I would cancel my Gaia subscription but I purchased directly from them, which means I can put in a request but I’ll never hear back.

I keep waiting and hoping but it’s not looking very promising at the moment.

Curious is I created a 2nd Gaia account, free version.  Imported all the data I exported from the Premium account and it synced no problem.  Problem is I do not get any of the features I paid for with the Premium (printing, other topos, slope angle, hydro, natgeo, ….).

Since I have an upcoming trip, looks like CalTopo it is.  Could possibly do like Ryan used to and use CalTop for planning, export it and import into Gaia for the actual trip.

In the free version you downloaded, is there an option to go to settings/account and restore purchases?

Yes, but it requires me to login using the premium account to actually perform the restore it it requires me to purchase another premium upgrade for the free account, so it doesn’t actually work for the free version..  can’t restore from one account to another. Good idea though.

Thanks everyone.  My Gaia is up for renewal and I canceled. Going back to the old dependable Caltopo +/- an old time gps.

Would Avenza be a good alternative to GaiaGPS? Seems a number of professional outdoor orgs. use Avenza.

Brian,

There is a work around to upload tracks from your iPhone app to the GAIA website, but it is rather cumbersome.  Select the track you want to sync from saved tracks;  select “share” from the toolbar;  swipe down to “export file”;  select GPX as file type;  select email as share option;  send an email to yourself(the GPX file will be an attachment);  open the attachment on a PC and upload the GPX file to “downloads” file type on the PC;  go to the GAIA website and select tracks;  click on “upload a new track file” in the upper right hand corner of the screen and follow the ensuing instructions.  This is cumbersome, but it will allow you to perform a manual “sync” which I think is tolerable as a workaround until the techies at GAIA get around to fixing the problem.  At least for a track at a time, performed after each hike, that is.  I haven’t got the picture upload completely figured out yet, but that is just a matter of time until I get around to it.  I hope this helps.

Tom

Fast breaking news, folks.  GAIA has fixed the problem.  I just checked my iPhone and noticed that a “sync” I initiated yesterday night, after recording a “Test” track just to see what might happen, was successful.  I repeated the exercise just now to be sure, and found that the sync function is working normally.  They must have gotten a ton of complaints for them to get after it this quickly.

@Tom:  Thanks for the idea, I have pursued that process already although I’m taking a slightly different approach.  Export can be done via AirDrop as well or simply saving to a NOTES file.  However, this is not really acceptable for me as I am still missing the benefits which I paid for.  I have used CalTop in the past and whenever I had an issue that I couldn’t easily find an answer to, they also responded in short order.  Wish I could say the same for Gaia.

So yes, I have done as you suggested, specifically with a couple of waypoints I created.  Exported via AirDrop to MacBook and then Imported into CalTopo where I am now doing my planning since anything I plan in Gaia won’t sync with the iPhone.  What gets my goat though is that it worked fine, until I upgraded to Premium and it failed immediately after initiating the Premium upgrade.  I get the paid for features on the web, but….

@Tom,  happy to hear your sync is working again.  Unfortunately mine is still kaput.  Tried again on 2 devices, both failed to sync.  So I took the extreme step of performing a full restore to one of the devices (iPhone) from a backup/time when GaiaGps was working for me.  Much to my dismay but not surprise, the sync still fails.  Does indicate that the problem is not on my end and lies with the Gaiagps folks.  Sooooooooooooooo frustrating!!!!  When it works, it’s good.  But paying for something and getting nothing doesn’t work for me

I’m sorry to hear that, Brian.  Have you considered refreshing the app, on the assumption that you would get a version which reflects the fix to the problem?