Biggest complaint about iOS 5 notifications (no icons in the status bar)

[DDustiNN]

...no icons in the status bar.

The whole point of a notification, for me at least, is to be reminded of something that you missed, while you weren't looking at your phone. Or maybe something that you wanted to look at "later" (which they have a button for), but still want to be reminded that it's there. So when you turn your phone on, or are doing something else on your phone, you have that constant little reminder at the top of the screen, so you don't forget to check your unread message, or whatever it may be.

So let's say I'm doing something in an app, and I get a text message. The little notification pops up on the top of the screen, but I click "later" because I want to respond to it when I'm done. A few minutes later, I finish doing whatever in my app, then I move on to something else, and now I've already forgotten about the text message. Now the problem is... the only time I'm going to see that notification, is if I manually pull down the notification center from the taskbar. Or of course if I turn off the phone, then turn it back on and see it on the lock screen. A tiny icon would be completely unobtrusive, could be optional for each app (just like the lock screen notification), and would be perfect for a quick glance to see what you missed.

Now is it just me, or does that simple little feature (taskbar icons) seem like it's actually pretty important and should have been included? That was my #1 reason for jailbreaking my phone, and I was hoping iOS 5 would eliminate my desire to jailbreak...

Personally, I would just want status bar icons for Calendar, Messages, Email, and Missed Calls... everything else I could just leave to the regular Notification Center.

I plan on reporting this on the Bug Reporting website, and I ask that you other developers do so as well if you feel the same way as me.

What do you all think?

 

[MultiMediaWill]

I like the feature in biteSMS where i can click on the taskbar where the number of text messages i havent read is and the messages pop up.

 

[Marconelly]

My biggest complaint is that Twitter messages don't seem to work with the new notifications. I'm pretty sure I've set everything up correctly, but the messages are simply not showing up in notifications.

 

[Jordan921]

...no icons in the status bar.

The whole point of a notification, for me at least, is to be reminded of something that you missed, while you weren't looking at your phone. Or maybe something that you wanted to look at "later" (which they have a button for), but still want to be reminded that it's there. So when you turn your phone on, or are doing something else on your phone, you have that constant little reminder at the top of the screen, so you don't forget to check your unread message, or whatever it may be.

So let's say I'm doing something in an app, and I get a text message. The little notification pops up on the top of the screen, but I click "later" because I want to respond to it when I'm done. A few minutes later, I finish doing whatever in my app, then I move on to something else, and now I've already forgotten about the text message. Now the problem is... the only time I'm going to see that notification, is if I manually pull down the notification center from the taskbar. Or of course if I turn off the phone, then turn it back on and see it on the lock screen. A tiny icon would be completely unobtrusive, could be optional for each app (just like the lock screen notification), and would be perfect for a quick glance to see what you missed.

Now is it just me, or does that simple little feature (taskbar icons) seem like it's actually pretty important and should have been included? That was my #1 reason for jailbreaking my phone, and I was hoping iOS 5 would eliminate my desire to jailbreak...

Personally, I would just want status bar icons for Calendar, Messages, Email, and Missed Calls... everything else I could just leave to the regular Notification Center.

I plan on reporting this on the Bug Reporting website, and I ask that you other developers do so as well if you feel the same way as me.

What do you all think?

It's only the first beta of iOS 5. Maybe they'll add it

 

[DDustiNN]

It's only the first beta of iOS 5. Maybe they'll add it

That is my hope, and that's why I posted here (so other people could report it).

I posted the same thread in the official Apple Developer Forum.

 

[drwatz0n]

My biggest complaint?

It's nearly impossible to "swipe to read" the first notification on the lock screen. Apple's insistence on having every area where scrolling could possibly occur be elastic has lead to me moving around the damn icon and notification text. You literally have to land your thumb EXACTLY on the smaller-than-it-should-be icon just to swipe it across. God forbid you move one pixel in the vertical direction, though, because you then end up off the notification area, and you're back to square one -__-

 

[DDustiNN]

My biggest complaint?

It's nearly impossible to "swipe to read" the first notification on the lock screen. Apple's insistence on having every area where scrolling could possibly occur be elastic has lead to me moving around the damn icon and notification text. You literally have to land your thumb EXACTLY on the smaller-than-it-should-be icon just to swipe it across. God forbid you move one pixel in the vertical direction, though, because you then end up off the notification area, and you're back to square one -__-

I actually don't like that feature at all. The reason my phone is locked is because I don't want it to do anything. I don't want random notifications to get dismissed in my pocket. Not likely, I know. But the only thing I want my phone to be able to do from the lock screen is unlock the phone. That's it. That's why it's locked in the first place, you know?

 

[drwatz0n]

I actually don't like that feature at all. The reason my phone is locked is because I don't want it to do anything. I don't want random notifications to get dismissed in my pocket. Not likely, I know. But the only thing I want my phone to be able to do from the lock screen is unlock the phone. That's it. That's why it's locked in the first place, you know?

I feel ya. That being said, swiping to read the notification really makes it difficult to accidentally dismiss, and if it's really not your cup of tea, you can disable lock screen notifications entirely.

 

[DDustiNN]

I feel ya. That being said, swiping to read the notification really makes it difficult to accidentally dismiss, and if it's really not your cup of tea, you can disable lock screen notifications entirely.

See but the problem with disabling the lock screen notifications is that I wouldn't be "notified" of all of my missed stuff. Waking the phone and seeing all of your notifications on the lock screen serves as a good reminder that you have a missed call/text/whatever. If you disable those, then the only way you'll ever know is by manually pulling down the Notification Center (or seeing the badges on the app icons)... Which brings us back to my original post, and my reason for creating this thread

 

[xAnthony]

It's definitely not 'my biggest complaint' but it would be a nice feature to have. I would definitely miss it from my jailbroken iPhone.

 

[BHP41]

I'm assuming you guys are devs, right?

In that case, instead of bitching about it on macrumors why not create a thread for ideas and submit them to apple. I've already done that on a few tweaks I'd like to see.

Threads that complain serve no real purpose in this stage as it is still beta 1.

 

[DDustiNN]

I'm assuming you guys are devs, right?

In that case, instead of bitching about it on macrumors why not create a thread for ideas and submit them to apple. I've already done that on a few tweaks I'd like to see.

Threads that complain serve no real purpose in this stage as it is still beta 1.

I'm assuming you can read, right?

In that case, instead of bitching about this thread, why not read it and see that I've already stated my exact purpose for posting this thread here, and see that I posted the same thread on the developer forum, and see that I'm reporting it as an enhancement?

Reading is your friend, friend.

 

[Yumunum]

...no icons in the status bar.

The whole point of a notification, for me at least, is to be reminded of something that you missed, while you weren't looking at your phone. Or maybe something that you wanted to look at "later" (which they have a button for), but still want to be reminded that it's there. So when you turn your phone on, or are doing something else on your phone, you have that constant little reminder at the top of the screen, so you don't forget to check your unread message, or whatever it may be.

So let's say I'm doing something in an app, and I get a text message. The little notification pops up on the top of the screen, but I click "later" because I want to respond to it when I'm done. A few minutes later, I finish doing whatever in my app, then I move on to something else, and now I've already forgotten about the text message. Now the problem is... the only time I'm going to see that notification, is if I manually pull down the notification center from the taskbar. Or of course if I turn off the phone, then turn it back on and see it on the lock screen. A tiny icon would be completely unobtrusive, could be optional for each app (just like the lock screen notification), and would be perfect for a quick glance to see what you missed.

Now is it just me, or does that simple little feature (taskbar icons) seem like it's actually pretty important and should have been included? That was my #1 reason for jailbreaking my phone, and I was hoping iOS 5 would eliminate my desire to jailbreak...

Personally, I would just want status bar icons for Calendar, Messages, Email, and Missed Calls... everything else I could just leave to the regular Notification Center.

I plan on reporting this on the Bug Reporting website, and I ask that you other developers do so as well if you feel the same way as me.

What do you all think?

If I chose how it'd be, I'd have a red circle with a white number (the number of notifications) in it next to the time, and it's always be there. Because if you go with the separate icons for each app route, you could run out of space on the top, and third party apps would get screwed if Apple decided to only allow the built in apps to have the icons at the top. The number would work for all types. But either way, I hope some sort of feature like either of out suggestions is implemented.

 

[BHP41]

I'm assuming you can read, right?

In that case, instead of bitching about this thread, why not read it and see that I've already stated my exact purpose for posting this thread here, and see that I posted the same thread on the developer forum, and see that I'm reporting it as an enhancement?

Reading is your friend, friend.

I read your post where you said that, sure did.

I'm not bitching at all, just offering a suggestion. There are a ton of people on here, including you that have great ideas for enhancements to what's in beta 1.

Your OP and thread title make it attractive for people to start complaining instead of pulling thoughts and ideas into a constructive thread.

 

[DDustiNN]

If I chose how it'd be, I'd have a red circle with a white number (the number of notifications) in it next to the time, and it's always be there. Because if you go with the separate icons for each app route, you could run out of space on the top, and third party apps would get screwed if Apple decided to only allow the built in apps to have the icons at the top. The number would work for all types. But either way, I hope some sort of feature like either of out suggestions is implemented.

Have you ever used an Android phone? You'll notice they do something similar, but it's kind of like both of our suggestions combined. On Android, each app has its own icon in the status bar. But if there are too many notifications to fit them all, the last one turns into an arrow/icon indicating that there are more icons/notifications than what can fit on the bar. Then when you pull down the status bar to see your notifications, they are all listed there. I don't recall if there is a number though.

I like your idea and I'll suggest it in addition (or in substitution) to the icon enhancement when I report it later.

Thanks for the reply!

 

[DDustiNN]

I read your post where you said that, sure did.

I'm not bitching at all, just offering a suggestion. There are a ton of people on here, including you that have great ideas for enhancements to what's in beta 1.

Your OP and thread title make it attractive for people to start complaining instead of pulling thoughts and ideas into a constructive thread.

My intention was to explain my stance, rather than complain, so I hope I didn't come off the wrong way in the OP.

I would rather not see complaints, but definitely suggestions (like the one just mentioned above, which was a great idea).

My main reason for posting here was because the forum seems more active than the Apple Developer Forum, and I know there are devs here as well, so I'd just like the maximum amount of exposure for this idea/enhancement.

Do you have any other suggestions? No one has replied in the dev forum, although I posted it in the "Installation" topic since that seems to be where the most people are talking, and none of the topics seem to cover what I want to discuss.

I just want more people to report this instead of just myself... Then maybe Apple will listen

 

[aleni]

who doesn't check their iPhone all the time

 

[Rodimus Prime]

It's only the first beta of iOS 5. Maybe they'll add it

given how this is apple that is not going to happen and it is safe to bet we will have people screaming how it is not needed soon because the icons have it but not all icons are on the given page of apps you are on.

I think it is rather sad that they did not include this feature. They improved notification from the joke that they were but clearly left out a very huge feature. That little thing where you have icon appear up there and say 3 icons max and you set the order of presidences on how they appear so face book for example would get shoved off by SMS, VVM and an Email as often times those will be higher on the list.

 

[thelookingglass]

given how this is apple that is not going to happen and it is safe to bet we will have people screaming how it is not needed soon because the icons have it but not all icons are on the given page of apps you are on.

I think it is rather sad that they did not include this feature. They improved notification from the joke that they were but clearly left out a very huge feature. That little thing where you have icon appear up there and say 3 icons max and you set the order of presidences on how they appear so face book for example would get shoved off by SMS, VVM and an Email as often times those will be higher on the list.

Agreed. I noticed this too as a glaring omission from the notification system. It loses a lot of its usefulness if I can't tell at a glance and whether and which notifications I've missed. I cannot believe they overlooked this in all their testing. Nor does this strike me as something that would be difficult to implement.

 

[acedickson]

So, you want a persistent notification if you disregard an alert. Am I understanding correctly?

 

[Project]

I actually think the OP is proposing a much worse, and intrusive solution. Notifications notify you and get out of your way. That's how it should be. When I am ready to pick them up I can pull down the tray.

What I don't want is a million icons in the status bar, a la Android.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

It's only the first beta of iOS 5. Maybe they'll add it

So, you want a persistent notification if you disregard an alert. Am I understanding correctly?

No more it sits up there until you clear it. That way if you miss an alert when it first pops up you will still know you got one.

 

[acedickson]

No more it sits up there until you clear it. That way if you miss an alert when it first pops up you will still know you got one.

Ok, but it is always technically sitting up there just without any notification past the original one. When I was on Android the same occurred but I had the inclination to check often enough. I believe I turned off persistent notifications. I guess it became a habit to check my notifications bar.

 

[thelookingglass]

I actually think the OP is proposing a much worse, and intrusive solution. Notifications notify you and get out of your way. That's how it should be. When I am ready to pick them up I can pull down the tray.

What I don't want is a million icons in the status bar, a la Android.

Someone above already proposed a solution that wouldn't clutter up the status bar. Have ONE icon with a number in the middle indicating the total number of notifications. At a glance then, you at least know that you have a notification.

 

[Eso]

What do you all think?

I think you're right and that iOS needs a better UI.