"Even a five second delay"
Optimizing response times seems like a better, more universal approach.
iOS7 is not about flat
31–40 of 135 posts
Re: iOS7 is not about flat
#32Just what I want: every developer of the 200 apps I have on my phone thinking theirs is the most important one and trying to take over my entire phone every 20 minutes to background process. The self-centered perspective of the article is even slightly disturbing, basically implying that their app needs to pre-load data because it's so important and can't make the user wait. A common perspective, sure, but this is th…
Commenters have pointed out elsewhere in the thread that there will be user options to disable the feature, and that the OS will schedule such updates per-app based on usage. Which is all good stuff.
But even without knowing that, I wasn't worried because I'm judicious on what apps I allow on my phone. And I would like it if my podcasts were downloaded without me having to explicitly open the app in the morning, FB is already updated when I open it, or the NY Times already has the news.
Re: iOS7 is not about flat
#33I think this speaks to something really important that's rarely touched on directly; people hate waiting for software. I despise it. Many ordinary consumers use their phones as a way to solve "waiting" in general (just look what happens when you have a bunch of people in line: they take out their phones to pass the time).
To date, the way most developers solve this (Aside from optimizing for performance where possible) is to use loading indicators of some kind, but that's a bandaid at best. Some work will definitely have to be done to manage the battery drain concerns that can arise from this, but more time spent in your app actually doing stuff, and less time waiting for the app to update will be a huge gift of time back to users (basically 2 - 5 seconds every time you open an app is about to be given back to you). Add that up over many app opens every day over many days every year; its substantial.
Re: iOS7 is not about flat
#34Sounds like another way for apps to drain my precious battery life.
It will not. First, it doesn't do this by default. Second, it does it based on your patterns, and even then it will pool connectivity to that apps aren't just firing off requests whenever they see fit (in other words, keeping the radio spun down as much as possible). Lastly, you can disable it. Battery saved.
Re: iOS7 is not about flat
#35Sounds like another way for apps to drain my precious battery life.
This sort of behavior is one of the primary causes of battery drain on Android systems, so yeah, it won't at all surprise me when certain apps start getting fingered as battery hogs.
Re: iOS7 is not about flat
#36Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's the thing. It will be in the background. You won't even notice.
But we've been told for years that Android is fundamentally broken because it allows this. I guess everyone changed their mind?
As has been pointed out elsewhere in this thread, it's not exactly the same: iOS is still much more strict about what runs and when. Apps get woken up only when the system decides to wake them up, and it decides based on current battery life/power state, other system activity level, and the user's usage patterns of the app. Then, once woken up, apps get a limited time to run.
Re: iOS7 is not about flat
#37IMO iOS 7 is a textbook case of fixing something that's not broken.
Have you used it? Are you familiar with what it's doing or how it's doing it? Or just immediately dismissing it for no reason? For me, as a developer, it's fixing tons of things that were broken and allowing me to do lots of amazing new things with my apps that I haven't yet - while still letting the user dictate behavior and usage.
Re: iOS7 is not about flat
#38Forgive my complete ignorance on the topic: Can't you just push down the information the customer needs? I get that it might be more difficult to use the push API but could an app theoretically have achieved the same experience via push? Also, I'm not quite sure API enhancements are what a release is "about". Admitting that the crazy 3D designs were over the top and adopting a design similar to Metro and Android Holo…
Although you're right that iOS7 also introduces silent push notifications to wake up the app in the background to let it fetch what's needed.
Re: iOS7 is not about flat
#39Apple’s guidelines have always said that developers should avoid splash screens ‘or other startup experience.’ That's nothing new, but many developers ignore it anyway.
Easier said than done. This is trivial for single-purpose apps like Calculator or Weather, where it's easy to predict what the post-launch UI will look like (hint: there's only one screen...) For much larger apps the "fake screenshot" is harmful. Take the Facebook app for example - what should the "fake screenshot" be? iOS does not differentiate between a completely fresh launch vs. a simple restore from background,…
Background fetch actually provides a solution this exact use case. If the user uses your app enough for iOS to let you run in time, the app should be able to "get ready" before the user opens it.
Re: iOS7 is not about flat
#40"Even a five second delay" Optimizing response times seems like a better, more universal approach.
Agreed, especially loading time to encourage repeat use.