Apple needs to change the iPhones notification system

[Smrtphoneaddict]

Hey guys we just posted why Apple needs to change the iPhones notification system and a possible solution on our blog. Click the link below and check it out. We would love your opinion.

Thanks! :)

http://www.smartphoneaddict.com/?p=147

[AHDuke99]

This has been discussed in the past, and I very much agree with it. However, I think we need to be more concerned about push notification system actually happening before we worry about how the phone handles them. As of now, it looks like heavily volume may be delayed another couple of weeks. I'll worry about how many I get when I actually begin getting them.

[carson44]

no i would not like that, apples way is better. and you have the option to close it

[jnguyen4]

yea something like the growl notifications on our mac. that would be pretty sweet.

[milani]

The Pre method is far superior. The real problem with Apple's current push notification system is that if you get more than one notification in a short time (say within 1 second), you can only see one at a time, and thus you'll have to close one to view the next. Imagine if you got spammed with say 50 push notifications - you would have to press close 50 times in a row before you can do ANYTHING else with the phone. It's a terrible method.

[PNutts]

Not to be rude, but you can post the information here for discussion. Folks have previously linked just to get their hit count up. Sorry, but I won't click through to see it. Just a personal choice.

[joshellis625]

I agree with the fact the Pre method is superior as well. My brother has a Pre and I've used it. It is ten times better when it comes to notifications.

[Smrtphoneaddict]

Not to be rude, but you can post the information here for discussion. Folks have previously linked just to get their hit count up. Sorry, but I won't click through to see it. Just a personal choice.

Sure not a problem. Sorry about that.

[Pedromiguel20]

you don't have to be interruped while surfing on safari.

you can choose the badge/sound option without the message coming out : You get the notification and are not interrupted.

The argument is not good.

[SpaceKitty]

Not to be rude, but you can post the information here for discussion. Folks have previously linked just to get their hit count up. Sorry, but I won't click through to see it. Just a personal choice.

Same, I refuse to click when people post blog posts here.

How does the Pre show notifications?

[milani]

you don't have to be interruped while surfing on safari.

you can choose the badge/sound option without the message coming out : You get the notification and are not interrupted.

The argument is not good.

Yah no. The noise doesn't mean anything. It's not a notification if you don't know what it is. The point of a notification is to tell you something important while you're doing something equally important. Updating a badge on the home screen means nothing if you're in an app - or if your phone is off. It's a half-assed solution at best.

[coolant113]

i agree.. its not the most convenient choice apple took.. but you know apple does not copy anybody, therefore they will not have the notification system like the pre.. Instead apple will come out with some way of delivering those notifications to us in a state of the art way that will just blow the pre's notification system away. Something that none of us would ever think of Thats how apple is the leader not the follower.:apple::apple:

[Hardcoredan52]

You people bitch all the time. First about apple not having push, then delaying it and now that they do have push, you still have to bitch about something. I think their system is fine. If you don't want to be interrupted you don't have to be. Just don't open up the app. When your finished with what is more important then go back to it. There will be the badge on the app waiting for you. I just don't get why people can't be happy for a new thing... always bitching.....

[themiracle]

Yah no. The noise doesn't mean anything. It's not a notification if you don't know what it is. The point of a notification is to tell you something important while you're doing something equally important. Updating a badge on the home screen means nothing if you're in an app - or if your phone is off. It's a half-assed solution at best.

The sound can actually be customized by the app maker, so it seems like it'd be extremely useful. I'd still like to see status bar icons. Like maybe being able to chose up to three icons for notifications that will stay there until you look at them. If you've ever used Status Notifier on a jailbroken phone, you'd know how effective this is.

[Mad Mac Maniac]

You people bitch all the time. First about apple not having push, then delaying it and now that they do have push, you still have to bitch about something. I think their system is fine. If you don't want to be interrupted you don't have to be. Just don't open up the app. When your finished with what is more important then go back to it. There will be the badge on the app waiting for you. I just don't get why people can't be happy for a new thing... always bitching.....

that is what drives innovation. if everyone was satisfied with the way things were nothing would ever be improved.

[skwoytek]

I've seen quite a bit of talk about Palm's notification being superior to Apple's, and I agree. However, Apple already has a subtle notification bar they use regularly, just not for notifications. And it's just as good as Palm's and the best part is since it's always been there... it's not copying.

It currently works throughout the OS (any app that keeps the status bar), unless the application or the user changes to completely full screen. In which case, I'm not sure either notification is the best choice. For example, if I'm playing a game I don't want the edge of the screen which I was tapping to fire a weapon to suddenly become a notification and take me to an incoming SMS.

http://appleservedup.com/images/Notify1.png http://appleservedup.com/images/Notify2.png http://appleservedup.com/images/Notify3.png



Mock-ups of iPhone with notification bar implemented in Apple's current style... Incoming call, scrolling SMS, and calendar notification.

http://appleservedup.com/images/Notify4.png http://appleservedup.com/images/Notify5.png http://appleservedup.com/images/Notify6.png

[milani]

^ this idea is FAR superior to Apple's weak implementation.

The sound can actually be customized by the app maker, so it seems like it'd be extremely useful. I'd still like to see status bar icons. Like maybe being able to chose up to three icons for notifications that will stay there until you look at them. If you've ever used Status Notifier on a jailbroken phone, you'd know how effective this is.

I keep my phone on vibrate, thus sounds are useless. You have to think about it in a general sense. Does it make sense to have to deal with notifications one by one before you can do anything else with the phone? No, it doesn't. It's an annoyance, and quite frankly it has the potential to cripple the phone. God forbid an app has a glitch and sends out notification after notification... then you're in real trouble. I really think Apple needs to revisit the notification system. It works fine for text messages and event reminders, but push notifications is not the same, and I predict a lot of problems. And for the guy who said we're just bitching... GTFO the thread.

[aluren]

very good idea indeed. we would all be in heaven if apple implemented palm pre's multitasking and push notification system. with all the gripe about apple release a netbook/tablet, i'm sure that apple will have to put that into consideration and therefore translating it to the iPhone OS.

[Eallan]

Agree entirely with the pre's notifications being terrific.

Those mock ups are great, nice work!

Send them to apple feedback.

[thelordnyax]

It's completely up to the user which apps they want to allow push notifications, and which kind to add
if you're worried about popups, just leave badges and sounds turned, then you can easily see which apps have the red circle with a number...
sounds easy enough to me

[Michael CM1]

skywotek wants to turn my iPhone into the CNN crawl. Ack!!! :)

Actually, it doesn't look like a bad idea. There are definitely areas of improvement, but I'm all for seeing what exactly Apple has done in the first place. When there's some AP breaking news alert, it pops up just like advertised as does a badge. But when I open the AP news app, there's no area to tell me about the breaking news -- it's just normal. Maybe that's more on AP than Apple.

However, I think all of these IM apps are going to kill the PN servers unless Apple has a literal farm of these somewhere. That's going to be a massive deluge of data as all of us 20- and 30-somethings get ahold of AIM, etc. I think all the kiddies use SMS and don't know what AIM is, but my generation would swamp to it on a phone. I honestly don't even use AIM on my computer anymore because I'm never there long enough. If you want me, I've got my iPhone more often.

[skwoytek]

skwoytek wants to turn my iPhone into the CNN crawl. Ack!!! :)

Better than feeling like I have Vista's security... "Cancel or Allow?"

[milani]

It's completely up to the user which apps they want to allow push notifications, and which kind to add
if you're worried about popups, just leave badges and sounds turned, then you can easily see which apps have the red circle with a number...
sounds easy enough to me

Useless if you're in an app... as I already pointed out. Badge cannot be seen, sound doesn't necessarily distinguish which app has a notification, and you don't know what it is exactly, so you don't know if it's worth viewing or not (as opposed to the solution posted above, which gives you some indication of what the notification is about, not simply which app it belongs to).

Better than feeling like I have Vista's security... "Cancel or Allow?"

No kidding!

[aristotle]

Better than feeling like I have Vista's security... "Cancel or Allow?"
Then turn off the popups. Problem solved.

If you like the Pre so much, get one instead.

[milani]

Then turn off the popups. Problem solved.

If you like the Pre so much, get one instead.

Epic fail. Read the post above yours. If you love the iPhone so much why did you bother reading the thread at all?

To repeat myself:

Useless if you're in an app... as I already pointed out. Badge cannot be seen, sound doesn't necessarily distinguish which app has a notification, and you don't know what it is exactly, so you don't know if it's worth viewing or not (as opposed to the solution posted above, which gives you some indication of what the notification is about, not simply which app it belongs to).

To expand my point:

A Facebook chat notification is not the same as a Facebook inbox notification... there is a natural hierarchy of importance. As such, it's hardly practical to just associate a badge or a sound with the application, since that doesn't at all indicate how important the notification is (in terms of whether it needs to be addressed immediately - as is the case with a chat notification - or it can be addressed later - as is the case with an inbox notification).

[Eso]

Epic fail.

Oh, hi there! Still think there will be no new iPhone in 2009? :D

Just some friendly teasing :p

[Smrtphoneaddict]

I've seen quite a bit of talk about Palm's notification being superior to Apple's, and I agree. However, Apple already has a subtle notification bar they use regularly, just not for notifications. And it's just as good as Palm's and the best part is since it's always been there... it's not copying.

It currently works throughout the OS (any app that keeps the status bar), unless the application or the user changes to completely full screen. In which case, I'm not sure either notification is the best choice. For example, if I'm playing a game I don't want the edge of the screen which I was tapping to fire a weapon to suddenly become a notification and take me to an incoming SMS.


Mock-ups of iPhone with notification bar implemented in Apple's current style... Incoming call, scrolling SMS, and calendar notification.


Very nice mock ups.

[Rat-Boy]

Yes, the Mockups are nice.

So what happens when I am playing Flight Control and a notification comes in? It is a full screen game and that bar doesn't exist on the screen.

Now, as far as the current push notification system, I can turn off the pop ups. That keeps my game from getting paused without me pausing it. But then I have to scroll through pages and pages of apps to see which one sent me the notification.

Sorry, but of all the things the iPhone can do, this is one area where just about every other brand beats out the iPhone.

The notification system on the iPhone stinks as it currently is and I hope they develop it over time and make it better.

[milani]

Oh, hi there! Still think there will be no new iPhone in 2009? :D

Just some friendly teasing :p

Yes, I was wrong about the new iPhone. On the other hand, there was no unibody aluminum design, no pull out keyboard, no video conferencing, and none of the other ridiculous crap that people here predicted.

Let's get back on topic though. Obviously the notification system as it stands is a broken design. The real question is what route Apple ought to take. The mock-ups in this thread are pretty good, I think.

As far as games go, it wouldn't be too hard/interruptive to impose that black line at the top (when there is a notification). It's not exactly stealing all that much real-estate.

[mciarlo]

Great mockups. The only comment I have about them is showing multiple notifications and distinguishing between applications. For example, if I receive a text message and a Calendar reminder, how would it look?

Perhaps the application icon would need to be shown like the Search results.

[rez07]

yea something like the growl notifications on our mac. that would be pretty sweet.

You mean this? http://code.google.com/p/networkpx/wiki/GriP

It already handles email on jb iphones...

The dev told me it can be made to handle ALL push notifications annoying stuff

[gloss]

I agree that the phone would benefit from more Growl-style notifications.

[kainjow]

Please do not use MR to promote your blog.