More Rumors of Limited Third-Party Background Apps Coming to the iPhone?

[MacRumors]

Silicon Alley Insider has heard some rumors that seem to corroborate MacRumors' report from February that Apple is working on allowing limited background processes in a future version of the iPhone's operating system. Our sources had told us they would be limited to one or two additional processes, while Silicon Alley Insider suggests that it could alternatively be for specifically-approved apps.

Here's two potential scenarios we've heard. Treat these as anecdotal rumors for now, as we don't know how realistic they are.

* Apple might allow users to select two apps that can run in the background.
* Apple might selectively allow some apps to run in the background. We assume that developers could apply for permission to run in the background, and that Apple might approve or deny them based on the resources they need and how well they behave with the operating system's stability.

According to the report, it is not known whether this feature could make an appearance in iPhone OS 3.0 due this summer or if it might be under development for a later release.

In a blog post discussing Silicon Alley Insider's report, John Gruber writes that he has also heard rumblings about a similar feature:

Ordinarily I wouldn't link to something as sketchily sourced as this, but: I heard something very similar from a decent (but second-hand) source back in January during Macworld Expo. What I heard then was that Apple was working on a vastly improved dock for your most-frequently used apps, and that there’d be one special icon position where you could put a third-party app to enable it to run in the background.

Citing concerns over the effect of having applications run in the background on battery life, Apple is officially planning to deploy push notifications as a substitute for backgrounding, allowing delivery of alerts for applications that are not actively running.

Article Link: More Rumors of Limited Third-Party Background Apps Coming to the iPhone?

[TuffLuffJimmy]

Hopefully.


But not going to happen

[ziggyonice]

If this would enable multitasking, I'm all over it.

[iansilv]

persistent real-time MMO anyone?

[MacFly123]

iPhone OS 4.0 with revamped GUI on the home screen is what I would say!

[TuffLuffJimmy]

Originally Posted by iansilv

persistent real-time MMO anyone?

Anyone?

*chirp chirp*

I don't think so. I'd rather have Things alert me of tasks due, or Pandora play in the background.

[justflie]

I would love to have the option to allow one or two apps to operate in the background. I just want to be able to run Pandora or MLB app and be able to do something else at the same time.

Apple usually has a "We know best" attitude and sometimes deny options/choices to their customers. hopefully this indicates a small change in that attitude. Really, I'm not an idiot. Put a little warning that says that running background processes will result in lower battery life and let me determine if lower battery life is worth the tradeoff for increased functionality.

[vexious]

I don't get apple's theories. They say they won't due to battery-life drain. Well make it so we can enable if we so choose to let an app run in the background.

Of course a game app I wouldn't want to risk running in the background, but if we as the consumer are willing to accept the batterydrain so we can run apps like Aim or Pandora in the background, we so should be allowed to!!

I hate listening to Pandora and having to quit to answer a text msg, argh.

[iansilv]

Originally Posted by TuffLuffJimmy

Anyone?

*chirp chirp*

I don't think so. I'd rather have Things alert me of tasks due, or Pandora play in the background.

Oh ok well, I guess MMO is out as there is only room for one potential use for background apps.

[alexbates]

Yes, multitasking would be great.... and I would love to see an easy way that you could switch between the open applications without having to wait for them to load to make the iPhone more functional. (like using + TAB on Macs)

[SirOmega]

I'd have no problem with Apple certifying certain apps as background-able.

However I'd like to see how well the alerts system works with 3.0, as well as the ability to still turn off background apps on a per-app basis.

[twoodcc]

i don't know about this. maybe the dock thing. that might work. i doubt we'll see this at wwdc though

[iPhoneNYC]

This would be a step forward.

[Michael73]

I wish apple would spend some of it's vast resources on creating a better battery. Think of the benefits for all of it's mobile devices! Seriously, a *really* good battery for an iPhone would enable data heavy applications and all sorts of other stuff that the coming 4G networks will gobble up. It will enable lots of background processes. Not to mention the "phone" part of the iPhone...like really long talk and standby times.

[randomusername]

I'm more interested in how they'll pull this off. Will it just have some apps, like Pandora, play in the background and you access them through the home screen, like any other app? Or will it allow you to easily access open apps like the Pre does?

I just hope they'll introduce a notifications box soon where it'll have the number of new notifications (for all 3rd party apps and Messages and Mail) and you could double tap the icon to open a pop-up window where the currently open app is shown in the background. And in the notifications box you can browse through all notifications and even reply to things like MySpace messages, texts, emails, and IMs in the box...but that's a little too much to ask from Apple...

[RTee]

Originally Posted by Michael73

I wish apple would spend some of it's vast resources on creating a better battery. Think of the benefits for all of it's mobile devices! Seriously, a *really* good battery for an iPhone would enable data heavy applications and all sorts of other stuff that the coming 4G networks will gobble up. It will enable lots of background processes. Not to mention the "phone" part of the iPhone...like really long talk and standby times.

Couldn't have said it better myself. Get this nailed then look into not limiting anything.

[nagromme]

The universal push service still sounds like a much better and more resource-friendly option for most situations, and if I could only have that OR multitasking, I'd rather have that.

But some limited multitasking too, for certain other situations, would not be a bad option.

Originally Posted by Michael73

I wish apple would spend some of it's vast resources on creating a better battery. Think of the benefits for all of it's mobile devices! Seriously, a *really* good battery for an iPhone would enable data heavy applications and all sorts of other stuff that the coming 4G networks will gobble up. It will enable lots of background processes. Not to mention the "phone" part of the iPhone...like really long talk and standby times.

The laws of physics are a factor here Progress will come, though.

[TuffLuffJimmy]

The one thing I would kill for on the iPhone would be a notification menu system in the menubar. I hate the text message alert that pops up even when using apps. I think it would be appropriate if you were at the homescreen, but half the time it pops up when I'm in Safari or playing MonkeyBall and it obscures the whole screen.

It would work a lot better if some sort of alert came up on the menubar. It'd be stellar if I could just tap the menu (or pull it down ala the G1) and read/respond to the text without having to leave the app.


Being able to do that would save from having to run some third party apps in the background as I wouldn't have to back out of the third party apps I use to respond to texts (the main reason why I would want background apps)

[iamPro]

Really wanted to ask this question...

Winmo user's been bragging about true multi-tasking and better battery life.

How is winmo able to pull this off with decent battery life, while Apple is justifying push notification to be the ideal solution to multi-tasking? (and that's with a phone with barely usable battery life without push)

Obviously, I haven't seen a winmo phone in person to test out the multi-tasking abilities, but I assume it works like the palm-pre minus the slick interface and user friendliness.

The minor bump in processor speed and lack of detail on better battery life is greatly disappointing.. IMO.

[NinjaHERO]

Ah Pandora, your day of victory is near at hand.

I am also excited to see the new dock.




*edit* Thank you to whichever moderator deleted my double post.

[richard4339]

Apple's already said they're not giving all 3.0 features to the original iPhone (ie, mms). It could stand to reason that if they're worried about RAM issues, for example, that this could come in 3.0, but may not be enabled for anything less than the rumored 3rd gen iPhone which we assume would have more RAM anyway.

And while I think its a good idea, I would actually hope they'd go with both of those limits if they do go for this. Allow only x number of backgrounds apps to run simultaneously, and also require approval for background processes. Granted, since you have to go through the App Store anyway, you're already having to go through approval.

[bibhnarp]

hi guys, I've been reading these forums/articles for an absolute age, but never posted. Thought it was about time.

Just wanted to ask one question re background processes (as I'm seriously considering getting an iPhone, after the WWDC of course). To have music playing, do you need to just have the iPod application open? Once you close it, the music stops?

Sorry if it's a dumb question.

[dagamer34]

The likely problems are three-fold:

1) Battery life
2) Memory usage
3) CPU usage

All together tied into how "well behaved" an application is when running in the background. Personally, I think that letting the user run two apps in the background makes little sense. There are only a handful of applications at MOST that benefit more from running as a background process than using Push Notifications (i.e. Pandora). Simply letting the device run in the background will kill the battery life of the phone, especially for internet-dependent apps that can never go to sleep (RSS reader, etc...).

[divabimbers]

Originally Posted by bibhnarp

hi guys, I've been reading these forums/articles for an absolute age, but never posted. Thought it was about time.

Just wanted to ask one question re background processes (as I'm seriously considering getting an iPhone, after the WWDC of course). To have music playing, do you need to just have the iPod application open? Once you close it, the music stops?

Sorry if it's a dumb question.

No, you can close it and do other things since it's an Apple app. It's the third party apps that don't have background processing "yet".

[bibhnarp]

Originally Posted by divabimbers

No, you can close it and do other things since it's an Apple app. It's the third party apps that don't have background processing "yet".

thank god for that! iPhone coming my way in June/July then!

Thanks!