Complaints Mounting About iOS 13.2 Being 'More Aggressive at Killing Background Apps and Tasks'

[loll]

on my iPhone 7, if I have music in the background and using another app, the current song will finish but a new one won’t start, switching to the music app, it’s locked , can’t scroll,
Can’t play, resolves by fully closing app and reopening , it’s not just on the music app But that one is particularly noticeable

 

[Naaaaak]

As an app developer it is more obvious to me that there's been a massive re-write in 13, probably a re-write from ObjC to Swift, which is why it is quicker and slicker and buggy as hell.

Swift is Apple's greatest developer disaster. Almost 5 years of sunken dev cost and it's still lacking a lot (and has awful tool support). It divided dev efforts, required devs to learn and use a young and very-complicated second language, ruined documentation (look at all the crap from the Swift 1-2-3-4 era which lingers in search results), and created tons of extra work for very little benefit.

ObjC is simple, practical, and gets the job done. You learn a few rules atop of C, some naming conventions, and a little about the runtime and get going.

Swift is as complex as C++ and nothing like the "Objective C without the C" it was lied as. There's Swift code I look at that is so complex I have to stop and find the 'clever' (not a complement) esoteric feature some show-off/degenerate decided to use. Instead of fixing a few problems that ObjC had because it was tied to C (like the crappy block syntax or the legion of whiners who couldn't get used to the beautiful square brackets), they threw away *everything* and produced something *nobody* asked for. Nobody pushed back on Lattner's little research project because he could do no wrong (if only they knew he'd be gone in a couple years).

Swift has a couple of things that make for a cool demo, ***some*** (triple-emphasis) nice improvements here and there (if you're willing to internalize hundreds of new rules and the pain of awful tools and error messages), and the biggest cult of apple advocates I've *ever* seen. They go around parroting their code is "Swifty" and "safe" a minimum of 50 times a day (like a religion) and insta-downvote anyone who criticizes their dumpster fire language like it's a personal insult.

tldr; Swift is an awful language Apple went all-in on with little in common with ObjC (which every dev knew and proved itself time and again). I think a lot of devs adopted Swift because they didn't think they had a choice. With all the new crap coming out that's Swift-only, now they kind of don't.

To lost productivity and frustration 🍸

 

[fairuz]

Swift is Apple's greatest developer disaster. Almost 5 years of sunken dev cost and it's still lacking a lot (and has awful tool support). It divided dev efforts, required devs to learn and use a young and very-complicated second language, ruined documentation (look at all the crap from the Swift 1-2-3-4 era which lingers in search results), and created tons of extra work for very little benefit.

ObjC is simple, practical, and gets the job done. You learn a few rules atop of C, some naming conventions, and a little about the runtime and get going.

I don't like Swift, but ObjC is definitely not just "a few rules atop of C." Yes, it's a superset, but the synytax you usually use is different, and the way it's generally used is super different. At no point was I using ObjC, trying to figure out how to do something, and think "oh yeah, it's like in C."

Overall Swift felt quicker to use than ObjC (maybe just cause of the stupid header files), but the transition to Swift was so bad that it warranted not using it for several years.

 

[Paradoxally]

tldr; Swift is an awful language Apple went all-in on with little in common with ObjC (which every dev knew and proved itself time and again). I think a lot of devs adopted Swift because they didn't think they had a choice. With all the new crap coming out that's Swift-only, now they kind of don't.

Oh, you're one of those devs.

 

[nameischarles]

I'm not noticing this on my 11 Pro Max, I have tried watching YouTube videos, switching over to Facebook, Chrome and others. Tried to replicate this and I'm not getting the app refreshes. Only Instagram will reload its feed for me but that's normal.

 

[Paradoxally]

I don't like Swift, but ObjC is definitely not just "a few rules atop of C." Yes, it's a superset, but you use it so differently. That and the syntax is super different, complete with the ugly-as-hell [obj func: arg] thing (Polish syntax). At no point was I using ObjC, trying to figure out how to do something, and think "oh yeah, it's like in C." Honestly I don't know which I disliked more, but the transition to Swift was so bad that it warranted not using it for several years.

Swift is the future. I commend Apple for ditching the horrid ObjC syntax. Every time I have to maintain one of those legacy projects I am grateful that Apple decided it was time to start sunsetting the language. It is nothing like C, in syntax or usability.

The only good thing about ObjC is its dynamic runtime. That's it.

 

[CPx]

Knock on wood but I'm not seeing any problems yet (XS Max and 10.5 iPad Pro).

 

[fairuz]

Swift is the future. I commend Apple for ditching the horrid ObjC syntax. Every time I have to maintain one of those legacy projects I am grateful that Apple decided it was time to start sunsetting the language. It is nothing like C, in syntax or usability.

The only good thing about ObjC is its dynamic runtime. That's it.

Yep, every time I go back to it, I think dang, I remember so little about this language. I'm just trying to log something and it's already screaming at me to use `@` and not use `printf`. Why are there 10 square brackets in a row here? Which one of 9999 different ways am I supposed to create an instance variable? Screw this.

 

[Paradoxally]

Yep, every time I go back to it, I think dang, I remember so little about this language. I'm just trying to log something and it's already screaming at me to use `@` and not use `printf`. Why are there 10 square brackets in a row here? Which one of 9999 different ways am I supposed to create an instance variable? Screw this.

Exactly. ObjC's syntax is nothing like a modern day language because it isn't one. Even Java - yes, that verbose mess - is easier to understand than ObjC for newcomers because it doesn't force you to learn the obscure square bracket syntax to call a function (or in ObjC fashion, "send a message"), let alone figure out how to write a method with arguments.

That said, to me the best thing they did with the Swift transition was getting rid of headers. Screw headers.

 

[Ramchi]

I was facing performance issue with my iPhone 11 while browsing(also few apps like OLX, SplashID) but while using Edge browser or chrome MR site rendering was lightening fast! Not sure Safari engine or underlying controllers responsible playing differently or not efficiently. But apps are slower than my Mate 20 Pro...

This may be a different issue not related to memory management but still thought of posting it

 

[jonblatho]

That IS true. A very vocal number of users.

No, I’m suggesting the usual suspects on these forums are conjuring up more Apple hate. I’d put money down that half of them aren’t even having issues. It’s a trolling opportunity. It doesn’t take a genius to see who those 15-20 people are.

I’m certainly not one of the “usual suspects” on these forums for Apple hate. I’ve often defended Apple’s point of view and also often challenged it. I’m not here to troll against Apple, and I’m absolutely experiencing the issues mentioned in this article.

It’s seriously not hard to see that this fall’s OS releases have been a ****show, from the rapid-release sequence from iOS 13.0 to iOS 13.1.2 — by far the fastest in iOS’s history — to bricking HomePods, from memory management issues in iOS 13.2 to watchOS 6 initially not being available for Series 1 and 2. Need I go on? Seriously, this is a mess, it’s well beyond the “oh, they do this every year” trope at this point, and I don’t buy for one second that most of it wasn’t widely reported in beta. It’s inexcusable.

I’ve usually advised people that it’s fine to update iOS in the face of usually overblown media reporting regarding bugs every fall. This time around, I’ve advised people to avoid updating to iOS 13.2 and macOS 10.15.1 if they haven’t already updated. At this point, it’s simply not worth the risk…and that’s the first time I recall ever saying that about Apple OS updates.
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What are the betas for if they don’t catch bugs like this?

I don’t know, because it was certainly an issue in the 13.2 betas. I specifically recall seeing it starting with beta 2.

 

[pika2000]

The iOS 13 saga continues.
Was holding off on iOS 13, and just updated my iDevices to 13.1.3, and things seem to be fine.
Now I need to hold off on 13.2 then.

Come on Apple, you’re better than this. Stop putting too much of your attention to become the next Netflix. You’re slipping off your own core competencies.

 

[Seoras]

Swift is the future. I commend Apple for ditching the horrid ObjC syntax. Every time I have to maintain one of those legacy projects I am grateful that Apple decided it was time to start sunsetting the language. It is nothing like C, in syntax or usability.

The only good thing about ObjC is its dynamic runtime. That's it.

I don't think Apple can "sunset the language". Too many large scale apps are still written in ObjC.
The documentation (which I find not bad, don't really understand the beef there) is available in both languages.
I've avoided Swift so far primarily because it is still immature and evolving.
If you'd written your app in Swift v1,2,3 etc then you'll have had to re-write it with each new iteration.
That's the cons.
The pros are that Swift compiled code is faster which was my original point about iOS 13.
That's not a significant enough advantage for me to want port my largest app to Swift from ObjC.

You might hate it and prefer Obj C, or like me, not hate it but still prefer Obj C (I've been writing in C for 30 years) but it isn't really that much different from other modern programming languages.

 

[sideshowuniqueuser]

What blows me away is how many people upgrade to the latest version of any Apple OS without waiting to find out what bugs or mess ups it has or hasn't got first. Slow learners? I mean, seriously seriously slow learners!

 

[cloudswimmer]

Well IOS 13.1.2 and 13.1.3 are still available signed at the IPSW site if that working for some of you. Me I’m sticking with 11.3.1 and 12.3.1 on both my 12.9 Pro’s ..... both run smooth as silk for me for my music production apps and multitasking Safari and YouTube split screen, etc. If it works don’t fix it .. or go back to what worked .. while you still can.

 

[MacBH928]

What is a computer, Tim?

 

[joelhinch]

What blows me away is how many people upgrade to the latest version of any Apple OS without waiting to find out what bugs or mess ups it has or hasn't got first. Slow learners? I mean, seriously seriously slow learners!

If no one updates, how will we find out about the bugs? Because Apple sure haven't been finding them, nor are the beta testers.

 

[Muzzakus]

Apple employees use Samsung confirmed

 

[rjjacobson]

I’m so glad this thread exists. I thought it was just my 11 Pro Max. It’s flushing apps/memory waaaaay too aggressively. This reminds me of RAM issues when I had my iPhone 6 Plus. In the case of that phone it was a literal RAM shortage.

I am only having problems on my 12.9 iPad Pro iTB. My 11 Pro Max is not having much of an issue in this area. I have the 512 GB model but do not think that should make a difference.
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I'm not noticing this on my 11 Pro Max, I have tried watching YouTube videos, switching over to Facebook, Chrome and others. Tried to replicate this and I'm not getting the app refreshes. Only Instagram will reload its feed for me but that's normal.

Same for me. I have this issue on my 12.9 iPad Pro gen 3, although not as bad as some. my 11 Pro Max like you is hard to get this to happen. I can load maybe dozen apps and finally get one refresh on Safari with it but it is so minor as to not be noticeable for my daily use of my 11 Pro Max. Not sure why some say they are having such issues with the new phone.

 

[macfacts]

That's as much Adobe's fault as it is Apple's. Apple's own dev guidelines say that an app should expect to be killed any time without warning and should constantly save user data to "disk" (flash) as the user makes changes.

Not saying this isn't a serious problem with iOS 13 but this SHOULD NOT result in data loss if apps are written correctly.

And the reason for safari tab refreshes

 

[Naaaaak]

Oh, you're one of those devs.

Pragmatic?

Someone who didn't want to waste more time re-learning and updating projects between versions 1 and 4 while Apple waffled around figuring things out?

Someone who didn't want to ship an extra 10-30 MB of swiftLib cruft with each app (until earlier this year)?

Someone who values productivity and things that work over being a 4-year alpha tester?

If Swift didn't have Apple forcing it down dev throats and marketing it as the coolest thing ever, it would be a pretty unremarkable language. If Apple had put the same effort a serious ObjC improvement as they put into Swift, think of how much further we would be. They killed the baby to appease Lattner's ego. As an application language, outside of a few demo cases, Swift is a hard downgrade from ObjC, and perhaps the quality of recent Apple software shows it. There's more Swift than ever in Apple's OSes. Anyone can code -- especially those unexperienced interns who seem to love Swift!

 

[hellopupy]

I have had this happen a few times on my stock ios13 that came with the 11 pro but not as bad as some are reporting with the new updates.

I always thought the 4GB ram was the weak link in the 11 pro, how do they even justify such minimal ram in a pro product.

Glad I didnt update so quickly, would hate to have apps die on me right after switching out.

 

[audiophilosophy]

Seems like with the exception of dark mode, iOS 13 is a big regression. I used to be able to click a photo, exit the photos app, then re-enter the photos app with the same photo I was on, but now when I re-enter the app, it takes me to "Albums." Also, I really hate the new cursor experience on iOS 13. Apple removed the magnifying glass, and now when I try to put the cursor in between words, it just selects multiple words and won't let me put the cursor where I want it. It's a big step backward. There was nothing wrong with how the cursor worked in all previous version of iOS. Why did they have to go and break it?

 

[thomamon]

Noticed it too since 13.2. Very annoying, hope they patch this quick

 

[Ramchi]

Seems like with the exception of dark mode, iOS 13 is a big regression. I used to be able to click a photo, exit the photos app, then re-enter the photos app with the same photo I was on, but now when I re-enter the app, it takes me to "Albums." Also, I really hate the new cursor experience on iOS 13. Apple removed the magnifying glass, and now when I try to put the cursor in between words, it just selects multiple words and won't let me put the cursor where I want it. It's a big step backward. There was nothing wrong with how the cursor worked in all previous version of iOS. Why did they have to go and break it?

I just posted this few days back on the editing improvement post, where is the magnifying glass? I have just gotten back to iPhone after using iPhone 7 Plus for 10 months, few years back.