One feature I was really looking forward to in iOS 7 was the background updating of apps such as mail. I haven't noticed this happening in iOS 7 the way it was described at the Keynote. From what I understood whenever you got a new email the email app would update so the new messages would already be waiting there when you opened the mail app. I'm still noticing that when I open mail it still has to load new messages. Is the feature not working yet or did I misunderstand something in the keynote? I have found the background app refresh setting but it only has google maps, calendar, stocks and weather. I have weather turned on but it still has to update when I open the weather app.
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Background app updates not working
- Thread starter mjpearce023
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Mail doesn't follow this behavior. Mail either works with Push or Fetch schedules.
Ok, I thought it was one of the apps they used as an example but it might have been facebook or something like that. I turned background app updates off and back on to see if the weather will update in the background. It worked the first time I tried it but I'll have to see if keeps up. I wasn't sure if it was one of those features that havent been fully implemented in the beta or if it was just me.
It doesn't quite make sense to have mail work this way because they way they were demoing the background refresh it was "learning" when you launched these apps. IF you receive e-mail before the "learned" update period you wouldn't know about it until then. Not very effective if you ask me
It doesn't quite make sense to have mail work this way because they way they were demoing the background refresh it was "learning" when you launched these apps. IF you receive e-mail before the "learned" update period you wouldn't know about it until then. Not very effective if you ask me
That's not what I understood. You would still get emails when they come in. The messages would automatically update in the background and already be in your mailbox so you don't have to wait for them to load when you open up the email app. They said it would be based on times you check them and also whenever you receive a notification. So if you get an message in facebook the Facebook app would update right then so you didn't have to wait for it to load when you went into the app. The notifications would still work the excact same way.
This is is basically what they were saying in the keynote, I don't know what that guy above is talking about
And it's disappointing to hear that Mail is behaving that way.
As far as I know Mail has always had full background privileges in iOS, even since the original iPhone. The delay is not in updating the apps contents, but in the fetch interval from the server.
If you get a notification of a new mail the app should already be updated. If you haven't gotten a notification that means it hasn't checked for new mail yet.
If you get a notification of a new mail the app should already be updated. If you haven't gotten a notification that means it hasn't checked for new mail yet.
OP stated that when he receives a notification (which means it checked for new mail and found some) and he slides to open the mail app, it hasn't already been refreshed, it has to load the new message(s).
Wasn't super clear that that's what was happening, it sounds like they were just expecting it to always have their mail ready when they opened the app.
The only way that the Mail app would always have your mail ready would be if you had a push mail service. Otherwise it has to poll the server at intervals to check for new messages and you could always catch it between one of those.
I'm guessing that he's not catching it in between the polling interval, but rather checking it when he gets a notification.
I reall wish he could step in and let us know
I would try it myself, but I just downgraded back to iOS 6... Plus I use the gmail app and would have to set up Mail...
I'm guessing that he's not catching it in between the polling interval, but rather checking it when he gets a notification.
I reall wish he could step in and let us know
I would try it myself, but I just downgraded back to iOS 6... Plus I use the gmail app and would have to set up Mail...
That's correct. I get a notification saying I have a new email and when I go to the mail app it takes a second for the new message to load. Same thing for text messages. I was under the impression that in iOS7 it would already have your messages loaded when you open the app. That was the way I understood background app updates to work.
It does seem to be working for weather now. If I go into the weather app it has the current temperature instead of having old info and having to wait a few seconds for it to update. I'm guessing they just don't have it set up for mail yet because it's not one of the options in settings.
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2 things:
1. The Phone, Messages and Mail apps are always running in the background no matter what. If you close them they will re-launch. They are designed to work that way.
2. When I get a notification that I have received a new e-mail I just tap the mail app and its there. I don't know who actually waits for messages to load?
iOS has been doing this for me since my first iDevice on iOS 2. Anytime a new message came in, which i swapped over to the app, it was already there.
Does your email service provide Push or do you have to use iOS's Fetch? That could be the big difference. I've always had Push email, so that could be why.
On any version of iOS (including 7), using push email (with corporate accounts running directly off of Exchange as well as commercial ones from Yahoo!, Gmail, and Hotmail/Outlook), I've mostly had cases where email still had to load once I would access it from a notification. In a lot of cases when the email is small (and in plain text) it's almost instantly there, so it might look like it was already downloaded before, but with emails that have more content you can definitely see them loading when you access them after getting a notification.
Thank you. People are acting like I'm crazy or my phone somehow behaves differently than all other iPhones.