First iOS 4 Multitasking Aware Apps Appearing in App Store

[DARKJ3DI]

This is great news! Now if only I had a compatible device...

 

[sunfast]

Here's hoping WunderRadio gets sorted out in time for the remaining test matches this summer

 

[spazzcat]

iOS 4 didn't just freeze it and unfreeze it for me at all.

It saves a decent amount of state on relaunch as it always did in OS 3.x state but doesn't remember the scroll position.

Which phone do you have?

 

[ValSalva]

This is great! It will probably take weeks before all the apps that would benefit from 'multitasking' are updated but nevertheless this is huge.

 

[M.a.r.k.]

it's really "just" fast app switching;
task completion seems to be not working; i tried uploading a file and switching to mail, and then back to dropbox and the bar didn'nt move...

 

[Unrealmac]

great news: It seems to work on my jailbroken iPhone 3G. I was a bit afraid that the 3G devices would get a "no multitasking" version of every app but it seems to work for me


can anyone confirm this as well?

 

[someonevague]

this may sound like a silly and uneducated question, but iOS4 supports texts through apps in the sense that you can be playing Peggle for instance, get a SMS, respond, and not have Peggle close to do so, correct? Or does it just close and then give you the option to quickly re-open without losing where you were? I sure hope the first.

 

[ChrisTX]

Too bad theres no support for multitasking on the iPhone 3g, looks like I'll have to wait till the 24th when I get my iPhone 4!

 

[diamond.g]

this may sound like a silly and uneducated question, but iOS4 supports texts through apps in the sense that you can be playing Peggle for instance, get a SMS, respond, and not have Peggle close to do so, correct? Or does it just close and then give you the option to quickly re-open without losing where you were? I sure hope the first.

It is the second option. When you respond to text you leave the app you are in and open Messages. If the app is iOS4 aware it saves state, if not it exits.

 

[TheCheapGeek]

Its nice to have multitasking finally, the lack of background uploading and downloading is a little frustrating but I am sure it will show up eventually.

 

[gazzrenn]

Its nice to have multitasking finally, the lack of background uploading and downloading is a little frustrating but I am sure it will show up eventually.

I just tested the Dropbox update which has support for iOS4 and it downloaded a file in the background (continued to download a 'favorite' file after pressing the home button)

 

[smiddlehurst]

Apple wrote a specific targeted API for dealing with background audio. They don't have one for IM (although they do for VoIP). I think push notifications is the better way to implement IM. You would absolutely notice a battery hit if your phone had to open another persistant connection to a third-party IM server.

It's multitasking in a very limited and targeted way. It's not perfect, but it's really close, and protects your battery and CPU. I imagine iOS 5 will build on this support (but really, push is the way to go for apps like this).

That's just the way IM+ works now and it's fantastic. As you can't see the app when you switch to something else anyway you're going to have to get a notification of new messages anyway so why not implement it via push notifications? Add in fast app switching so you don't need to reload the app from scratch and I really think you'll see pretty much the exact same user experience as you would if the app stayed open in the background.

 

[PhoneI]

Just saving the current app state makes a huge difference. It is a little frustrating to see an apps splash screen every time I need to quickly leave the app and come back. Drop Box works great now.

 

[blizaine]

That's just the way IM+ works now and it's fantastic. As you can't see the app when you switch to something else anyway you're going to have to get a notification of new messages anyway so why not implement it via push notifications? Add in fast app switching so you don't need to reload the app from scratch and I really think you'll see pretty much the exact same user experience as you would if the app stayed open in the background.

yep, this will make IM'ing much more enjoyable on the iPhone.

 

[NickK1066]

this may sound like a silly and uneducated question, but iOS4 supports texts through apps in the sense that you can be playing Peggle for instance, get a SMS, respond, and not have Peggle close to do so, correct? Or does it just close and then give you the option to quickly re-open without losing where you were? I sure hope the first.

* removed .. thought it was today! *

 

[Nicolasdec]

I bet skype will take more than two months to implement multi-tasking.

 

[Stratus Fear]

Its nice to have multitasking finally, the lack of background uploading and downloading is a little frustrating but I am sure it will show up eventually.

What app is that?

 

[stickyd8]

No, leaving an application completely running on a network for an indefinite amount of time is exactly the kind of battery-hungry usage Apple is trying to avoid.

Apple's recommendation is still for developers to use push notifications for instant messaging applications- that way there isn't constant network and application activity...

Meebo and Beejive both work great with Apple's current Push Notification System. you're instantly alerted of a text, so no need for it to run in the background. However, they both need to implement the fast-app switching so that you don't have to reload the app everytime you click back on it to check the notification. Once they do that, those will be perfect. Excellent idea and implementation of multitasking by Apple!

 

[Lord Vader]

What app is that?

iStat. There is also a Mac app to monitor your Mac(s) from iPhone or iPod Touch.

http://bjango.com/apps/istat/

 

[Stratus Fear]

iStat. There is also a Mac app to monitor your Mac(s) from iPhone or iPod Touch.

http://bjango.com/apps/istat/

Sweet, thanks. I've had the iStat Dashboard widget for quite a while but completely forgot that there was an iPhone app.

 

[QCassidy352]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7E18 Safari/528.16)

No, leaving an application completely running on a network for an indefinite amount of time is exactly the kind of battery-hungry usage Apple is trying to avoid.

Apple's recommendation is still for developers to use push notifications for instant messaging applications- that way there isn't constant network and application activity...

Thanks, I wish this wasn't the case.

I don't see the difference. You launch the IM app. Then you switch away. An IM comes in. You're instantly notified by push. You switch back to the IM app and find its state perfectly preserved.

If you didn't know that it wasn't "real" multitasking, how would you even be able to tell the difference?

 

[acslater017]

I think push notifications themselves are a good idea to save device battery life instead of having apps running in the background and using the network all of the time.

But- I sure do wish they'd improve the notifications system in general. Interrupting pop-ups just don't scale if you've got a lot of em coming your way...

Yes, IMO notifications are one of iOS' remaining weaknesses. They're so intrusive and ugly. Fortunately they hired back the guy who did WebOS' system!

https://www.macrumors.com/2010/06/09/inventor-of-webos-banner-notification-system-returns-to-apple/

 

[j-a-x]

Are there any other apps besides DropBox that support iOS 4.0 APIs?

 

[diamond.g]

Are there any other apps besides DropBox that support iOS 4.0 APIs?

Family Tree does. So far it seems like save state is supported.

 

[LoganT]

Am I the only one who can't get background audio to work? If I'm listening to something and switch to Safari or close the app, the audio stops. What's happening is the audio is still playing in the App, but it's not playing when I switch to another App.