Sparrow for iPhone • Hacker News Board

Re: Sparrow for iPhone

#21

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Mar 15, 2012, 7:50 AM UTC

_frog wrote: post #20

dwynings wrote: post #19

I've been a beta tester of their iPhone app for over a month now, and while the UI is stellar, I still haven't found it to be a replacement for Apple's Mail app because of Sparrow's lack of push.

On top of that there's no way to set it as the default system mail client, otherwise a fantastic app.

[deleted]

Re: Sparrow for iPhone

#22

Post by farslan » Thu, Mar 15, 2012, 7:56 AM UTC

dwynings wrote: post #19

I've been a beta tester of their iPhone app for over a month now, and while the UI is stellar, I still haven't found it to be a replacement for Apple's Mail app because of Sparrow's lack of push.

Unless Apple change his policy about Push (API) there is little Sparrow can do. Spaarrow is aware of this. They have a page dedicated to this Push problem:

http://sparrowmailapp.com/push.php

Re: Sparrow for iPhone

#23

Post by zschallz » Thu, Mar 15, 2012, 7:59 AM UTC

I'm becoming very irritated with Apple's behavior in the app store. While it's nothing new, I hate that they're restricting apps that compete with native apps.

Sparrow? No push notifications for you. Dolphin? Here's an NC17 rating (wtf?) for you, and by the way-- no way to change the default browser.

I'd really like to see a reasonable explanation for both of these scenarios by Apple. My guess is the only reasonable explanation is that they want to restrict and "protect" the user experience for that critical functionality in a way that seems like an ornery chef who refuses to cook your steak medium well.

Re: Sparrow for iPhone

#24

Post by wattjustin » Thu, Mar 15, 2012, 8:06 AM UTC

dwynings wrote: post #19

I've been a beta tester of their iPhone app for over a month now, and while the UI is stellar, I still haven't found it to be a replacement for Apple's Mail app because of Sparrow's lack of push.

I've been a beta tester for the last month or so as well and I can definitely say this has replaced Mail.app for me. I feel relieved not seeing the red notification bubble growing. It's been freeing and I've got a much better way of managing my emails now. I hope Apple comes around on notifications though so this app will be even more popular(already broken the top 25 paid apps here in Canada.)

Re: Sparrow for iPhone

#25

Post by ivanstojic » Thu, Mar 15, 2012, 8:10 AM UTC

I have several (breaking) issues with the paid desktop version of the Sparrow.app. I've posted the most bothersome one on their support forums about two weeks ago: no reply at all. Nothing.

As a company that does epic UI, they should figure out that customer support is a form of user interface as well.

I'm not ready to give them any more money at this point.

Re: Sparrow for iPhone

#26

Post by vpdn » Thu, Mar 15, 2012, 8:16 AM UTC

farslan wrote: post #22

dwynings wrote: post #19

I've been a beta tester of their iPhone app for over a month now, and while the UI is stellar, I still haven't found it to be a replacement for Apple's Mail app because of Sparrow's lack of push.

Unless Apple change his policy about Push (API) there is little Sparrow can do. Spaarrow is aware of this. They have a page dedicated to this Push problem: http://sparrowmailapp.com/push.php

There's something that they can do, it's written as the first option:

"On our side: if Sparrow was to do Push today, we would have to store your credentials (login/password) on our servers to frequently poll your accounts, and send you notifications.

This is a responsibility we're not ready to take. As a startup focused on iOS/OS X development, we do not have the skills to secure your data on our servers and we do not want to put sensitive information at risk."

Re: Sparrow for iPhone

#27

Post by sleepyhead » Thu, Mar 15, 2012, 8:18 AM UTC

ivanstojic wrote: post #25

I have several (breaking) issues with the paid desktop version of the Sparrow.app. I've posted the most bothersome one on their support forums about two weeks ago: no reply at all. Nothing. As a company that does epic UI, they should figure out that customer support is a form of user interface as well. I'm not ready to give them any more money at this point.

I had severe issues too with the Mac app too, like lost email drafts. The problem is that email is difficult to handle. Sparrow does an excellent job with the UI and while that part was ready for a 1.0 release the email handling was not. It takes a lot of manual testing due to the way other email applications and servers abuses email standards. They released it to early for it to be labeled stable IMHO. The current release is decent though, but still found bugs and it has been a while since the latest update (they must have put all resources on the iPhone-app). Hopefully they haven't done the same mistakes with the iPhone-app. Looks great with my limited testing so far and I have replaced my main Mail-icon on my home screen.

Re: Sparrow for iPhone

#28

Post by Pheter » Thu, Mar 15, 2012, 8:27 AM UTC

drivebyacct2 wrote: post #16

bgentry wrote: post #2

I've been waiting for a decent iOS Gmail client for so long. This is an excellent first release, far better than Google's own half-hearted attempt. Let's hope they get some traction petitioning for an acceptable method to send push notifications: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3706993

I don't understand that page at all. It doesn't explain why the app was rejected or why they can't use the native iOS pushing. In fact, I'm quite unsure of what is unique about their use-case for push notifications that is different than... any other similar task in iOS.

The iOS push notification service works by having a remote server determine when a push notification needs to be displayed to the user. The only way for Sparrow to do this would be to store the gmail credentials of every user who uses their application on a server (instead of each individual users iPhone). This would obviously introduce a lot of security considerations that Sparrow don't want to have to deal with.

Alternatively, Apple provide an API that certain apps may use to regular check for updates by running code on the iPhone, but Apple are not allowing Sparrow to use this API.

Re: Sparrow for iPhone

#29

Post by tomkr » Thu, Mar 15, 2012, 8:28 AM UTC

vpdn wrote: post #26

farslan wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless Apple change his policy about Push (API) there is little Sparrow can do. Spaarrow is aware of this. They have a page dedicated to this Push problem: http://sparrowmailapp.com/push.php

There's something that they can do, it's written as the first option: "On our side: if Sparrow was to do Push today, we would have to store your credentials (login/password) on our servers to frequently poll your accounts, and send you notifications. This is a responsibility we're not ready to take. As a startup focused on iOS/OS X development, we do not have the skills to secure your data on our servers and we do no…

I like that they're being honest about this and are focussing on what they are good at. The request push option, useless as it may be with Apple in charge, might be just what is needed. As they already state, allowing an e-mail app into the app store in the first place is a step in the right direction. Why not try to prod Apple to take another one.

Re: Sparrow for iPhone

#30

Post by freshfey » Thu, Mar 15, 2012, 8:37 AM UTC

ivanstojic wrote: post #25

I have several (breaking) issues with the paid desktop version of the Sparrow.app. I've posted the most bothersome one on their support forums about two weeks ago: no reply at all. Nothing. As a company that does epic UI, they should figure out that customer support is a form of user interface as well. I'm not ready to give them any more money at this point.

Same thing happened to me. To be fair though, I had issues with the app around a year ago and they promptly answered. It seems like they are a bit swamped with support issues now.