Unsure why the optional badge counts for the OmniFocus app icon aren’t the same on all of your devices or aren’t updating as you expect them to? This article aims to explain the reason for such discrepancies and what you can do about it.
Check Your Settings
The first thing to check is the settings on each device for what OmniFocus includes as part of the badge counts found in Settings > Notifications. This is a not a synced setting, so the discrepancy you are seeing may simply be due to your devices counting different things.
Limitations on iPhone and iPad
On iPhone and iPad, the app icon badge count is not able update in the background based on the passage of time. The reason for this limitaiton is that OmniFocus allows for several things to affect the badge count, and the number of variables at play require a relatively complicated calculation that iOS does not allow to run constantly in the background — a restriction not imposed on macOS.
OmniFocus on iPhone and iPad, however, is able to update its app icon badge count in the background when the app is triggered to sync. So, if you make a change in OmniFocus on another device, if OmniFocus syncs in the background to pick up that change, it should also update the badge count, even if the synced change does not directly affect the badge count.
Background syncs are currently triggered by:
- Push notifications — Sent by OmniFocus on another device when changes are made.
- Background App Refresh — A feature that allows apps to sync in the background based upon your usage patterns.
Please be aware that OmniFocus’ ability to sync in the background — whether triggered by push notifications or Background App Refresh — is controlled by iOS and we can’t guarantee the exact behavior you will see. For instance, iOS may choose at times to not allow OmniFocus to sync in the background in order to prioritize system resources for a memory-intensize app you are using at that moment or to optimize battery life.
If you think push-triggered syncing is not working, please check out this related support article.
