Core Data managed object context thread synchronisation

I'm have an issue where i'm updating a many-to-many relationship in a background thread, which works fine in that threa, but when I send the object back to the main thread the changes do not show. If I close the app and reopen the data is saved fine and the changes show on the main thread. Also using [context lock] instead of a different managed object context works fine. I have tried NSManagedObjectContext: ``` - (BOOL)save:(NSError **)error; - (void)refreshObject:(NSManagedObject *)object mergeChanges:(BOOL)flag; ``` at different stages throughout the process but it doesn't seem to help. My core data code uses the following getter to ensure any operations are thread safe: ``` - (NSManagedObjectContext *) managedObjectContext { NSThread * thisThread = [NSThread currentThread]; if (thisThread == [NSThread mainThread]) { //Main thread just return default context return managedObjectContext; } else { //Thread safe trickery NSManagedObjectContext * threadManagedObjectContext = [[thisThread threadDictionary] objectForKey:CONTEXT_KEY]; if (threadManagedObjectContext == nil) { threadManagedObjectContext = [[[NSManagedObjectContext alloc] init] autorelease]; [threadManagedObjectContext setPersistentStoreCoordinator: [self persistentStoreCoordinator]]; [[thisThread threadDictionary] setObject:threadManagedObjectContext forKey:CONTEXT_KEY]; } return threadManagedObjectContext; } } ``` and when I pass object between threads i'm using ``` -(NSManagedObject*)makeSafe:(NSManagedObject*)object { if ([object managedObjectContext] != [self managedObjectContext]) { NSError * error = nil; object = [[self managedObjectContext] existingObjectWithID:[object objectID] error:&error]; if (error) { NSLog(@"Error makeSafe: %@", error); } } return object; } ``` Any help appreciated