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Folder doesn't close when app is launced, why?

F

frosse

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 23, 2007
843
165
Sweden
I like folders, they're really great but there's one thing that bugs me. When I open a folder and launch an app and then quit it (press home button) the folder doesn't close, it stays open. So for me to close an app and go to the "main menu" I have to press the home button twice, once for quitting the app and once for closing the folder. Me no like.

I'm on iPhone 3G, maybe it behaves different on iP4...
 
I think this was an odd way to go for Apple.
I'm sure they have their reasons for doing it but it would seem much more logical (to me) to go straight back to the home screen.
I guess some people could also try to say that pressing the home button should take them back to the first home screen rather than the one they were on before.
 
I've noticed that too but it hasn't bothered me... I just tap out of the folder rather then the home button (BTW - should I be paranoid about over-using my home button??) - but I agree.. that can be an annoying little extra step....

I have folders for my work apps, travel apps etc... so usually, if I'm quickly going from one app to another, it's likely in that same folder and I'd probably be complaining that it DIDN'T stay open...

sigh... it's no wonder Fandroids hate us iPhone users... all of our complaints are so simple and petulant sounding, yet we refuse to complain about an antenna issue when they tell us we should! :rolleyes:
 
They should have an option for this in Settings.

And sure, it's not the end of the world but it's these little things that usually bothers me.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_0_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8A306 Safari/6531.22.7)

I'm betting the decision to return to the last app's folder was driven by the desire to keep the UI simple.

Think about what it would be like ffor "average Joe/Jane" to find something under a submenu and then click out, only to return to the main screen and wonder how/where to find that app again.

Annoying, but simple.
 
TruckdriverSean said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_0_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8A306 Safari/6531.22.7)

I'm betting the decision to return to the last app's folder was driven by the desire to keep the UI simple.

Think about what it would be like ffor "average Joe/Jane" to find something under a submenu and then click out, only to return to the main screen and wonder how/where to find that app again.

Annoying, but simple.
Click to expand...
Well actually, it's not simple as it requires extra action to get back to square one.

Imagine when you take out something from a drawer, unless you want something more from that drawer you close it right away when you've removed whatever thing you're about to use, not after you're done with it. Atleast that's not how I do it, in general of course.

I think that average joe/jane opens a folder for a specific kind of app and then goes on to use it and then open another folder with another type of app. I'm only guessing though. And with this is mind I think it would be better to have the folder close at launch.
 
I think it does it this way for consistency.

Think of it this way:
Before folders, when you pressed the home button to exit a program, did it automatically take you to page 1 of the springboard? Not necessarily. It took you back to the page you opened the app from.

Now that we have folders, pressing the home button still takes us back to where the app was opened. i.e. its folder.

Whether this is the best way is of course up for debate. However I do understand why the OS behaves this way.
 
I think it makes perfect sense to do it this way.

If I open my sports folder, I'm interested in more than one sport, I get the info I need from that first app, close it, it puts me right back where I was, I can open my next sports app. Simple and logical. If it took me back to the home screen or closed my folder then I'd say, what is up with that?

You don't to put an app in a folder, if you only use that one typically from whatever folder it's in, it's probably best for you to leave it out of a folder. For you it's faster to get to and get out of that way.
 
i do like this function actually. It does feel right with the overall UI. It works well for me because sometimes i click the wrong app in the folder and its easy to get back to right folder. I also dont click Home twice, i click Home and then touch above the folder to close it.
 
I honestly stopped using folders for this reason. Too much delay in opening and closing them. To me, pages is faster.
 
gloss said:
Would be nice if there were an option. It annoys me to no end.
Click to expand...
I used Categories on my previously JB 3G and it's folders did not stay open. I bugged the heck out of me - I always wished they would stay open because, like someone else said, you are often doing work on similar apps that reside in the same folder.

That said, I think Apple should have added a switch for it. I know they want to keep it simple, but they could have added an "Advanced Options" menu under general settings that 95% of the users wouldn't even bother with.

I have the same complaint with Spotlight Search. I know there are folks who swear by it and use it all the time, but I have never used it - not even once. It's totally useless to me and the fact that I have to deal with it popping up all the time (due to an extra button push or ill-advised swipe) is my #1 complaint with the OS. How many lines of code would be required to add an option to turn the damn thing off?
 
dgstan said:
I used Categories on my previously JB 3G and it's folders did not stay open. I bugged the heck out of me - I always wished they would stay open because, like someone else said, you are often doing work on similar apps that reside in the same folder.

That said, I think Apple should have added a switch for it. I know they want to keep it simple, but they could have added an "Advanced Options" menu under general settings that 95% of the users wouldn't even bother with.

I have the same complaint with Spotlight Search. I know there are folks who swear by it and use it all the time, but I have never used it - not even once. It's totally useless to me and the fact that I have to deal with it popping up all the time (due to an extra button push or ill-advised swipe) is my #1 complaint with the OS. How many lines of code would be required to add an option to turn the damn thing off?
Click to expand...
Funny thing, I actually used search for the first time ever today. I had added a couple of songs from an album that all carries the same album name but for some reason didn't count as an album. What did I do? I searched for the album name and all the songs popped up and I could happily enjoy the album and didn't have to bother about listening to any other songs, whatever that was good for... Hehe.

But as I said, never used it before and probably never will.
 
Darth.Titan said:
I think it does it this way for consistency.

Think of it this way:
Before folders, when you pressed the home button to exit a program, did it automatically take you to page 1 of the springboard? Not necessarily. It took you back to the page you opened the app from.

Now that we have folders, pressing the home button still takes us back to where the app was opened. i.e. its folder.

Whether this is the best way is of course up for debate. However I do understand why the OS behaves this way.
Click to expand...
This is correct. I totally agree.
 
I was just thinking this the other day too. I find it really irritating, but I can see why they did it. I almost just want to split my folders back into pages, but it won't look as organized. Ah well.
 
Darth.Titan said:
I think it does it this way for consistency.

Think of it this way:
Before folders, when you pressed the home button to exit a program, did it automatically take you to page 1 of the springboard? Not necessarily. It took you back to the page you opened the app from.

Now that we have folders, pressing the home button still takes us back to where the app was opened. i.e. its folder.

Whether this is the best way is of course up for debate. However I do understand why the OS behaves this way.
Click to expand...
This is correct. I totally agree.
 
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