Apple decided to make the default picture format HEIF/HEIC for iOS 11 and iOS 12 cameras that support it. This change is affecting other photo-sharing apps as well because only Apple is using this format so far. SimsUshare uses JPG and PNG pictures. Needless to say, this is frustrating for our customers and for us, as we search for a way to make SimsUshare compatible. Here are some options at this point:

1. Use “Take New Photo” from inside SimsUshare – that should still work to take a JPG photo
2. Change the Camera setting to store pictures as JPG – Settings > Camera > Formats > Most Compatible. http://osxdaily.com/2017/09/29/change-iphone-camera-default-image-format-jpeg-heif/
   1. Go to Settings → Camera → Formats and make your choice
      1. High Efficiency—Encode photos/videos you take using the efficient H.265 codec.
      2. Most Compatible—Always use JPG for images and H.264 for videos.
3. Converting HEIF to JPG using a computer
   1. Windows or Mac: https://imazing.com/heic
   2. Using Windows: https://www.tunesbro.com/convert-heic-to-jpg-windows.html
   3. For Mac: https://www.idownloadblog.com/2018/01/10/how-to-convert-heif-to-jpeg-preview-mac/

SimsUshare Mobile (iOS & Android) comes with the ability to create or edit up to 5 sims but play any number of sims. If you have made 5 already and want to create more, you will need to delete one or more of the first three.

To create/edit more than 5 simulations, you need to purchase a Platinum Enterprise license subscription. The Enterprise license allows you to create or edit any number of simulations on your mobile device, as well as use that license on any other platform, so long as only one device is activated at a time. If you login/activate your Enterprise license on SimsUshare Mobile, then create more sims, then logout/deactivate the license, SimsUshare keeps all the sims you have made so you can still play them–you may only edit the top three sims when the Enterprise license is not active on the device. Soon, the Enterprise license will allow you to use certain cloud features.

You can now use the SimCloud to transfer sims to and from mobile devices and computers. That is the simplest way to transfer them, though your SimCloud account will have a limited amount of space so you may have to transfer a few at a time.

The following instructions tell you how to copy/transfer sims for each platform, iOS, Android, and Windows/Mac without the SimCloud.

iTunes: Copying Individual Sims between Mobile and Desktop

[Here is a video that walks through the process]

The simulations you make or load onto your iOS device (iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad) are stored in a folder called SimsUShare, which you can access through iTunes. Whether you want to put sims on your device or take them off, first you need to have your device connected to your computer (Mac or Windows). On your computer, open iTunes if it is not open already, then:

1. Select your device (for example, “Jonathan’s iPad”)
2. Choose the “Apps” tab
3. Scroll down to the “File Sharing” area. You will see an entry for “SimsUShare” (on the left), and a folder named “SimsUShare” on the right (if you have not run SimsUShare Mobile yet, there won’t be a folder there. Run the application at least once before copying any sims onto the device, so that the folder gets created).

Getting Sims off Your iPhone or iPad

To copy your sims off your device, either to use them in the Desktop application or to keep them as a backup, scroll down into the “File Sharing” area. Beneath the box for “SimsUShare Documents” are two buttons, “Add…” and “Save To…”:

1. Select the SimsUShare folder
2. Click “Save To…” and select a location on your computer to save the entire folder of sims

Note: We suggest that you choose a location to store your sims somewhere on your computer you can easily retrieve

3. Your computer will save the whole folder in the location you chose.

If you want to put the sims into your copy of the Desktop application, continue with the following:

1. Locate that folder, open it, and you will see a folder called “sims” and a file called “catalog.xml”
2. Open the newly-saved folder (from the steps above) on your computer, then open the “sims” folder. You will see a list of all the sims you had made on your device, for example “RANCH1″. The folder names will be very similar to the sim names, unless you have renamed the sims inside of SimsUShare Mobile.
3. Copy the folder(s) you want to transfer. Let’s call this the “source folder(s)”
4. Simulations made and used in the Desktop application are stored within a special folder called SimsUShare in your Documents directory on your computer. Locate that folder, open it, and then open the “sims” folder. Let’s call the “sims” folder the “target folder.”
5. Paste the source folder(s) into the target folder.

The next time you start SimsUShare on your Windows or Mac computer, it will ask you whether or not you want to add the new sims to your catalog. If you choose not to add them, it will continue to ask you each time you restart the application. If you are already running the program, you can navigate to the main (home) screen and select the menu and menu item “Scan for New Sims” to cause it to process any sims adds since starting the program.

Putting Sims onto Your iPhone or iPad

You will use a similar mechanism as above to load any sim into iTunes, except you first need to zip (compress) your simulation(s) and then choose the “Add…” button in iTunes (pictured above). You have to zip the simulations because they have to go in a specific structure which iTunes does not permit you to control. Here are the step-by-step instructions:

1. On your computer, locate the folder in which your simulation resides, for example, “RANCH1″
2. For this step, you can select more than one folder at a time. Select the sim folder(s) you want to copy, then
3. Windows: right-click and select “Send To > Compressed (zip) file” from the pop-up menu, and it will create the zip file.
4. Macintosh: Control-click and choose “Compress” from the pop-up menu, and it will create the zip file.
5. In iTunes, from the screen above, choose “Add…” and select the zip file.
6. Important: click the “Sync” button in iTunes to ensure the files are added immediately.
7. On your device, if SimsUShare Mobile is running, go to the main (home) screen and select the menu and item “Scan for New Sims”, then it will prompt you to add the new sims it found. If SimsUShare Mobile is not running, start the app and it automatically will scan for new sims, then ask you if you want to add them.
8. If you add the sims, SimsUShare Mobile will erase the zip file.

Android: Copying Individual Sims between Mobile and Desktop

[Here is a video that walks through the process]

Simulations are stored within a special folder called SimsUShare in your Documents directory on your device or computer. Use any File Manager app to take a look there, after installing and running the app at least once). On all platforms, each sim you make is contained in a new folder within SimsUShare/sims, with an alphanumeric name automatically assigned based on the sim name you chose. For example, a sim you entitled “Ranch House 1″ will likely have the folder name RANCHHOUSE1, unless that was already in use at the time you made the simulation, then it will have a slightly different name. Needless to say, folder names have to be case-insensitively unique (i.e., no “Ranch1″ and “RANCH1″).

That sim folder (RANCHHOUSE1) completely contains the assets in your sim, so you simply copy the folder to/from your device and computer. Behind the scenes, when the app starts, it scans your sims folder to organize the sims it finds (you can also choose the menu item “Scan for New Sims”, from menu on the main screen). If it discovers a new sim, it will come up with a prompt asking you if you want to integrate the new sim(s) it found. You can choose to integrate them, or ignore them (it will keep asking you each time the app starts). If you have deleted a sim folder manually from your device or computer without telling SimsUShare Mobile, it will adjust its record of the sims.

Windows/Mac: Copying Individual Sims between Computers

[Here is a video that walks through the process]

The simplest way to copy/transfer sims among different machines is to use the “Change Base Sim Folder” option off the menu on the main screen to point to a shared folder from which you can edit or play simulations. Other people or computers you use SimsUshare on can also point this location, and thereby you can share your sims. Caution: By default, anyone who points to a shared location can copy, modify, or even delete that sim, but you can setup your network permissions to let others only copy or play your sims. Typically, you will want to keep your own sims in a private folder and create additional folders in which you copy sims that you want to share.

If you simply want to copy sims among computers, you should open your Documents folder and navigate into the “SimsUShare” sub-folder, then go into the “sims” folder beneath that. You will see a set of folders within, one for each of your simulations. Copy the sims you want, and on your other computer, place them in the same place (DocumentsSimsUSharesims). Run SimsUshare on your other computer, and it will detect the new sims and ask you to confirm that you want to add them.