Synchronizing to old version

I'm running into a lot of weirdness using Roomie on a new iPod Touch (latest iOS, latest version) and an old iPad Mini 2 which is stuck on iOS 12.5.2 and roomie 6.2.1

I understand that in a perfect world, "one" should not do this, but in my world where this is what I have, this is what I'm doing.

Is there a strategy for making it work better? The synchronization is weird and as I make changes things (devices, activities) appear and then need to be deleted, etc. Is there a way I can stop sync. and then batch sync., or any other strategy?

As it says as the bottom of the release notes for many years, do not mix versions. The minimum iOS requirement right now is iOS 13.4. That is expected to increase to something in the 14.X range (whatever the last major 14.X release is) by later this year as it increases by 1 major per year such that the goal is always to support "the last one and the current one". When updating, it is safe to be running slightly different versions for a short time while updating all devices, but other than brief exceptions like that, certainly massive gaps like you describe would not be expected to work.

Well... it does sort of work, and like I said it's what I have. I'm not plunking down another $400 for a new iPad Mini. I guess there isn't a way I could revert the iPod to 6.2.1?

We don't test downgrade scenarios like that (and wouldn't be able to fix them in most cases anyway). So what works and what doesn't is unknown especially with such huge gaps between versions. "Not supported" is the official response. You are likely to encounter major issues. Reverting a device to force the App Store to use an old version would first require you to get the old iOS on that device, and that is usually difficult to impossible.

Oh well. That's too bad. Thanks for the advice.

I feel @sritacco's pain. A few days ago, I decided to trash my 18-year old Compli Scenist hardware lighting controller for which I programmed custom IR codes back when Roomie was still in diapers, in favor of HomeKit-compatible Leviton Smart Dimmers (Mod 2). My main theater controller (for years) has been an iPad Air, which I belatedly discovered, was running iPadOS 12.5.4, the last version supported on the Air. Roomie was sitting at 6.2.1 Build 2104, from April 19, 2020. Attempts to upgrade it to something fresher failed. I figured Roomie matched itself to the OS.

To test this theory, I decided to download Roomie to my "walking around" iPad Pro 11", running iPadOS 14.6, and see which version I got. Sure enough, I got a year newer version. Then, disaster struck. This "test" version installed as an empty project, albeit in the correct household. I expected it to sync to the main theater controller. But it didn't. So I deleted the Roomie app, and went back to my original iPad, sitting in its pedestal kiosk, in the theater.

But it had been wiped clean, and Roomie appeared as a new project, as well. I attempted to restore it from backup, but that failed. I know how to swap in self-archived backups in iCloud, and that failed, as well. I lost nearly a decade and hundreds of hours of fine-tuned Roomie programming for a (very) complex theater.

I obviously didn't read the fine print, "Don't mix versions"! So, I'm starting from scratch -- a forced opportunity to "refactor" my code. But I also face a dilemma. The Catch 22 with Roomie's official policy of "the latest iOS plus one older" flies in the face of the fact that thousand of us generally use our <i>old</i> devices as controllers. For example, every time I buy a new iPad (~3 years), I move the OLD one to be my theater controller. My wife has been controlling her AV assets in the gym with a dedicated iPhone 6 and Roomie. The one in her purse is an iPhone 11. The problem with this practice is that we will "age out" of Roomie's window almost immediately. Every time.

I am now faced with the prospect of driving to the Apple Store and purchasing a brand new iPad, a custom kiosk enclosure on a pedestal to fit, and another brand new iPhone (or iPod?), maybe $1000, just to have the two dedicated control devices that our household needs -- and hopefully we can squeeze 2-3 years of life out of, before once again aging out. Those are expensive remotes. But nobody does what Roomie does, so I'll probably suck it up and slap down the credit card.