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iOS 4 - serious Multitasking Implementation problem

robweg said:
yeah, maybe its just me. I just find it anoying after using an app that uses GPS (and i have about 12 of them) to:
- press the home button to close
- check the top bar, if there is the GPS icon still active
- double click the homebutton to open the taskswitcher
- hold an icon for 5 seconds fro the minus to apear
- press the minus
- and press to the homebutton again to close the switcher
every time(!) i use one of these apps. Because its extremely seldom that i want one of these apps to stay active in the back.

But hey, maybe thats just me.
It just dont find this process very iphony. :)
Click to expand...

How about you make sure you weren't in the process of navigating before you close the app? GPS will only background if the app is actively tracking or navigating you. MotionX even has a setting in the options where you can determine when the program should background.

Not to mention that the entire process you mention takes less than 5 seconds total to perform. Try exploring your options instead of whining about them.
 
gloss said:
Easier way is just to bring up the multitasking menu, hold the GPS app icon until the minus badge comes up, and close it. It'll get rid of the GPS use.

And you can tell when your GPS is being used in the background by the little compass arrow icon that'll pop up next to the battery percentage. It's really not that complex.
Click to expand...


I disagree with the compass arrow icon. I deleted all my applications on the multitasking tray but I still can see the compass arrow. Does this mean the GPS still being used? if yes by which application?
 
I agree that it's not hard to tell if you have something running in the background. Still, for the less technical folks, it would be nice to overlay some graphic on the app icon in the multi-tasking bar that indicates which are running and which are just quick links to recently used apps. Like how an X is overlayed when you can delete apps. Put a pair of shoes or something in the upper right to show you the app is active.
 
MEJHarrison said:
I agree that it's not hard to tell if you have something running in the background. Still, for the less technical folks, it would be nice to overlay some graphic on the app icon in the multi-tasking bar that indicates which are running and which are just quick links to recently used apps. Like how an X is overlayed when you can delete apps. Put a pair of shoes or something in the upper right to show you the app is active.
Click to expand...

I do like this idea.
 
gdlcjr said:
I disagree with the compass arrow icon. I deleted all my applications on the multitasking tray but I still can see the compass arrow. Does this mean the GPS still being used? if yes by which application?
Click to expand...

I've tested it several times now, works like a charm. Dunno what to tell you. Screenshot?
 
robweg said:
yeah, maybe its just me. I just find it anoying after using an app that uses GPS (and i have about 12 of them) to:
- press the home button to close
- check the top bar, if there is the GPS icon still active
- double click the homebutton to open the taskswitcher
- hold an icon for 5 seconds fro the minus to apear
- press the minus
- and press to the homebutton again to close the switcher
every time(!) i use one of these apps. Because its extremely seldom that i want one of these apps to stay active in the back.

But hey, maybe thats just me.
It just dont find this process very iphony. :)
Click to expand...

You don't need to do all that. In the B.iCycle app, just hit the big button labeled "Stop". "Pause" probably works too. Kinda like when you want music to stop playing in the iPod app.
 
I see 3 solutions:
  1. Multitasking tray should only show apps running in the background (not recently used apps). At the very least, provide a setting.
  2. iOS should terminate apps using excessive amount of power for prolonged period or when battery life is below certain mark (e.g., 50%).
  3. Provide a centralized setting (similar to location and push services) to prevent background API for certain apps.
 
BaldiMac said:
You don't need to do all that. In the B.iCycle app, just hit the big button labeled "Stop". "Pause" probably works too. Kinda like when you want music to stop playing in the iPod app.
Click to expand...

does not work. Try it. It stays active. And there are a lot of other apps too. :)
 
nutmac said:
I see 3 solutions:
  1. Multitasking tray should only show apps running in the background (not recently used apps). At the very least, provide a setting.
  2. iOS should terminate apps using excessive amount of power for prolonged period or when battery life is below certain mark (e.g., 50%).
  3. Provide a centralized setting (similar to location and push services) to prevent background API for certain apps.
Click to expand...

i'm not sure about the second one, but yeah, any of this or the two i mentioned would be fine.
 
gloss said:
I've tested it several times now, works like a charm. Dunno what to tell you. Screenshot?
Click to expand...

I did something else, go to setting > Location services > Turn off one application CurrentTemp. After doing this the compass icon go away. So not sure how the Current temp works. It is not running and not in the multitasking bar. So not sure why it activates the icon.
 
All you have to do is hold onto an icon in the task switcher and close out the running application when the x's pop up.
 
robweg said:
does not work. Try it. It stays active. And there are a lot of other apps too. :)
Click to expand...

I don't have that app, but that's how it's supposed to work. I would be sending a note to the developer asking why it continues to track you in the background after you tell it to stop.

Out of curiosity, how do you know that it stays active?
 
So if you have 15 apps that use Fast App Switching, that has zero effect on your battery if they are all in a saved state? Seems like it would have an effect on the speed of your phone for sure...
 
Hmmm. Looking at this objectively there does seem to be a bit of a usability issue here that I can't blame solely on the OP.

By default, and app that uses GPS is going to be a somewhat heavy drain on battery use, and now with the advent of people wanting to do more with these phones Apple have created a semi solution ot the problem.

By allowing the app to track in the background it lets users switch to what I think is most important, the Phone, I hate being phoned by someone when using a GPS tracking app only to have it quit while I eneterain the call.

Apples solution is only halfway there in my opinion as although they have done a good job with the location icon in the status bar, there's mo easy way to see which app is actually using it without swiping through many apps in the multitask drawer or swiping across home sceens to see.

I think an app of this type should throw up a panel stating that it is going to keep tracking until ytou officialy close it. Some may want this extended to other types of apps that run in the background but since GPS is something of a battery drain, I would implore this be done for the user.

The panel will only appear once and then the user is informed over what's going in.
 
fluff said:
So if you have 15 apps that use Fast App Switching, that has zero effect on your battery if they are all in a saved state? Seems like it would have an effect on the speed of your phone for sure...
Click to expand...

These apps only use RAM. When the system requires more for a heavy duty application, the last recently used app is flushed from ram so that when next used, it boots up from scratch.
 
fluff said:
So if you have 15 apps that use Fast App Switching, that has zero effect on your battery if they are all in a saved state? Seems like it would have an effect on the speed of your phone for sure...
Click to expand...

No, they're loaded into the flash memory, which doesn't require power to store information.

When you re-open the app, it's loaded from the flash memory, just as if it has never been opened in the first place.
 
robweg said:
Hi all,

yesterday evening i sent my iP 4 to sleepmode with 65% battery load. Today it was off, zero battery load.
First i suspected a battery problem, but then i remembered that before i put it away yesterday, i shortly used the B.iCycle - app (a GPS tracker for bicycle tour). Obviously when i closed the app, it didnt close entirely, it was running in background and draining the battery the whole time.

I called the apple support and they confirmed my assumptions.

The problem is, there is no way to see wich apps are running(!) in the back because EVERY app you use goes to the task switcher.
So, to be sure that no app is draining your battery, you have to go to the taskmanager after using an app that utilizes GPS for example (an there are a lot of apps doing that), press the icons for some time that it starts blinking and "the minus" appears and close the app again.

Apple support agreed with that as well.
Their "workaround" suggestion was to put the Iphone in flightmode during the night, or kill all apps from the taskswitcher every now and then.

Really? I mean, really?
Not very Apple like, sounds more like Microsoft to me. :)

Thats a really poor implementation of multitasking i think. There has to be a way -when closing an app- to decide if it goes in the background or closes completely. In earlier OS versions you could just hold the main button for a longer time and you could kill frozen apps for example, but if you do that now the speech dial function comes on, so thats not an option.
So i hope they find another easy way to do that.
I just find it curious that nobody at Apple saw that problem.

I think it would help if more people filed that as a problem, so they will fix it soon.

cheers, rob

UPDATE: And on a sidenote, if your not interested in this or dont care, thats totally fine with me. But please: its really not neccessary to waste space by posting that. Thanks
Click to expand...


The problem is not Apple's Multitasking Implementation and no, it is not a serious problem. The problem is you.

You launched a "GPS Tracking" app. Of course it is going to keep running in the background when you close it, because...guess what...the whole point of the app is to "track you" using the "gps". If you were the developer of the app, would you turn off the gps tracking by default when a user closes the app? I don't think so, you would probably get complaints that it is not tracking properly or get requests to have the app continue its tracking even when you close it.

You were just naive of this fact and decided to come onto the forums and blame Apple. As if you were some hot shot programmer or had any full understanding of Apple's multitasking process that you are stating it is a "serious Multitasking Implementation problem."

Like all the others have already stated, when you closed this GPS tracking app, you would have clearly seen the Location Arrow on the top right. What more do you need? You want the apps to speak to you when you close them down and say, "I have not closed, I am still running"?

I'd hate to see a person like you using an Android phone that has "true multitasking" compared to the "smart multitasking" that Apple has implemented. You'd probably cry all day that your battery drains too quickly because all the apps you launch keep running in the background and that you have to close them down manually.

Most iOS apps will not run in the background. Just because you were unaware of the fact that the GPS tracking app kept running when you closed it and had a bad experience with it doesn't make it an Apple problem. The implementation is fine the way it is. The problem is you.

It doesn't get any easier and user friendly than an iPhone.
 
To the OP, since you obviously don't understand how Apple's iOS 4 backgrounding/multitasking process works, here's a chart for you.
Frame it and post it on your wall.

UIApplication_Delegate_post_4_v121.jpg
 
gdlcjr said:
I did something else, go to setting > Location services > Turn off one application CurrentTemp. After doing this the compass icon go away. So not sure how the Current temp works. It is not running and not in the multitasking bar. So not sure why it activates the icon.
Click to expand...

Huh, interesting. Don't have the app, so guess it makes sense I couldn't duplicate. Perhaps there's a bug in the implementation there.
 
I agree with some of the other posts. I think what apple should do is allow you to have a choice when hitting home to close or go into the background. I think the APP writer could possibly do this as well.

Or how about push home quickly to move to back ground and hold for 1 sec for close all the way.

I like the multitasking but something else needs to be done so you dont have to go into the task manager and close everything all the time.
 
fubar888 said:
The problem is not Apple's Multitasking Implementation and no, it is not a serious problem. The problem is you.

You launched a "GPS Tracking" app. Of course it is going to keep running in the background when you close it, because...guess what...the whole point of the app is to "track you" using the "gps". If you were the developer of the app, would you turn off the gps tracking by default when a user closes the app? I don't think so, you would probably get complaints that it is not tracking properly or get requests to have the app continue its tracking even when you close it.

You were just naive of this fact and decided to come onto the forums and blame Apple. As if you were some hot shot programmer or had any full understanding of Apple's multitasking process that you are stating it is a "serious Multitasking Implementation problem."

Like all the others have already stated, when you closed this GPS tracking app, you would have clearly seen the Location Arrow on the top right. What more do you need? You want the apps to speak to you when you close them down and say, "I have not closed, I am still running"?

I'd hate to see a person like you using an Android phone that has "true multitasking" compared to the "smart multitasking" that Apple has implemented. You'd probably cry all day that your battery drains too quickly because all the apps you launch keep running in the background and that you have to close them down manually.

Most iOS apps will not run in the background. Just because you were unaware of the fact that the GPS tracking app kept running when you closed it and had a bad experience with it doesn't make it an Apple problem. The implementation is fine the way it is. The problem is you.

It doesn't get any easier and user friendly than an iPhone.
Click to expand...

+1! This isn't a problem with Apple's multitasking implementation - it's a problem with the op not understanding how to use his phone.
 
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