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Multitasking leaves apps open!!

cameljok

cameljok

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 3, 2010
6
0
Yes the subject line may make you think Duh, it's supposed to leave them open.

One of the many things I like about my iPhone compared to my Motorola Q is that fact that when I close an app it really closes. Now with multitasking, all apps stay open even when I hit the Home button to close them. Now I have to double click the Home button and hold down an app for the wiggle sensation and individually close all the apps that should closed automatically.

There needs to be a feature that allows Close All or double clicking the Home button from within the app hard closes the app.

I know it is just a couple extra steps but it feel counter intuitive.
Any thoughts??
 
cameljok said:
Yes the subject line may make you think Duh, it's supposed to leave them open.

One of the many things I like about my iPhone compared to my Motorola Q is that fact that when I close an app it really closes. Now with multitasking, all apps stay open even when I hit the Home button to close them. Now I have to double click the Home button and hold down an app for the wiggle sensation and individually close all the apps that should closed automatically.

There needs to be a feature that allows Close All or double clicking the Home button from within the app hard closes the app.

I know it is just a couple extra steps but it feel counter intuitive.
Any thoughts??
Click to expand...

Unless it offers some sort of backgrounding task like voip, location services etc the app is put in to a suspended state and use very very little, if any memory at all. Jobs himself even said there is no need to close them because it offers very little and stops fast-app switching.
 
ajnicho said:
Unless it offers some sort of backgrounding task like voip, location services etc the app is put in to a suspended state and use very very little, if any memory at all. Jobs himself even said there is no need to close them because it offers very little and stops fast-app switching.
Click to expand...

Also while suspended Apps may use a small amount more memory but they use NO processor/battery life.


ANY App that is using a background service will display an icon (play or arrow) in the top task bar. No icon(s), no background service(s) running.
 
the benefit of not multitasking is that your phone wont run out of memory, the good old days with windows mobile running 45 programs without you knowing it should have been a hint as to why multitasking is not a good idea for small devices. i remember going round and round in circles trying to find the program that showed all running programs then individually shutting them down, retarded - I thought apple had a better handle on the end user experience.

spaces is another counter intuitive concept, imagine getting someone unfamiliar into mac, having apple sell them the idea of spaces and then have them wonder why their computer has stalled.

folders on iphone, great idea although now to get to various apps i'm flipping pages opening folders just to hit one icon, folders are not that helpful
 
We could use a sticky on this since it keeps coming up over and over. Almost no one seems to understand the way Apple treats API's and background services.
 
cameljok said:
Yes the subject line may make you think Duh, it's supposed to leave them open.

One of the many things I like about my iPhone compared to my Motorola Q is that fact that when I close an app it really closes. Now with multitasking, all apps stay open even when I hit the Home button to close them. Now I have to double click the Home button and hold down an app for the wiggle sensation and individually close all the apps that should closed automatically.

There needs to be a feature that allows Close All or double clicking the Home button from within the app hard closes the app.

I know it is just a couple extra steps but it feel counter intuitive.
Any thoughts??
Click to expand...

one thought: you're wrong.

you have no idea about how the system works :(
 
i get thats its a different situation and apple has improved the handling of it immensley but its not as though you are running 5 things at once and juping back and forth, the background services that have been added are things which aren't even that noticeable. the way the phone handled moving back and forth between apps without multitasking was not much different.

now i see friends more engrossed in the process of using the phone and moving away from the base functionality that the iphone brought to the table. less animation more action I say
 
andrevanstom said:
spaces is another counter intuitive concept, imagine getting someone unfamiliar into mac, having apple sell them the idea of spaces and then have them wonder why their computer has stalled.

folders on iphone, great idea although now to get to various apps i'm flipping pages opening folders just to hit one icon, folders are not that helpful
Click to expand...

I love spaces. There's some things that spaces makes so easy, like photo editing. When I get back from a shoot, I have Bridge in one space and Photoshop is a space next to it. So much easier to hit command + arrow rather than hit a function button and/or click.

Also, folders has gotten my iPhone from 4 pages to 1 page of apps with folders on a second page. So much easier to organize and keep decluttered, methinks.
 
andrevanstom said:
folders on iphone, great idea although now to get to various apps i'm flipping pages opening folders just to hit one icon, folders are not that helpful
Click to expand...

You dont have to use folders, you can also use spotlight as well

I like folders just so i can organise my games in to strategy, sports, racing etc etc
 
andrevanstom said:
the benefit of not multitasking is that your phone wont run out of memory
Click to expand...

Your phone won't run out of memory with multitasking, either, which is why it's designed the way it is. The instant a foreground application needs more memory than is currently available the OS will terminate background applications to get it, without even notifying them first.

Free memory is wasted memory.
 
Wilcha said:
I love spaces. There's some things that spaces makes so easy, like photo editing. When I get back from a shoot, I have Bridge in one space and Photoshop is a space next to it. So much easier to hit command + arrow rather than hit a function button and/or click.

Also, folders has gotten my iPhone from 4 pages to 1 page of apps with folders on a second page. So much easier to organize and keep decluttered, methinks.
Click to expand...

why wouldn't you just use middle mouse button for expose all windows and keep everything visible in the background so you know what your computer has running?
 
ajnicho said:
You dont have to use folders, you can also use spotlight as well

I like folders just so i can organise my games in to strategy, sports, racing etc etc
Click to expand...

the trouble with folders is that you'll be swiping around and accidentally create a folder and then its 5 or so seconds entering the folder editing the icon positions, pulling it out and onto an available space just to get rid of it. its happened only a few times and its pretty annoying...
 
andrevanstom said:
the trouble with folders is that you'll be swiping around and accidentally create a folder and then its 5 or so seconds entering the folder editing the icon positions, pulling it out and onto an available space just to get rid of it. its happened only a few times and its pretty annoying...
Click to expand...

I understand, though once you've got everything in place that wont be much of an issue.
 
andrevanstom said:
why wouldn't you just use middle mouse button for expose all windows and keep everything visible in the background so you know what your computer has running?
Click to expand...

I use a magic mouse. I've just never had a problem with running out of memory. I usually monitor what I've got open with the dock.
 
Wilcha said:
I use a magic mouse. I've just never had a problem with running out of memory. I usually monitor what I've got open with the dock.
Click to expand...

I've never owned a Mac, I'm a PC. Do Mac's have issues with multitasking?
 
andrevanstom said:
the benefit of not multitasking is that your phone wont run out of memory, the good old days with windows mobile running 45 programs without you knowing it should have been a hint as to why multitasking is not a good idea for small devices. i remember going round and round in circles trying to find the program that showed all running programs then individually shutting them down, retarded - I thought apple had a better handle on the end user experience.

spaces is another counter intuitive concept, imagine getting someone unfamiliar into mac, having apple sell them the idea of spaces and then have them wonder why their computer has stalled.

folders on iphone, great idea although now to get to various apps i'm flipping pages opening folders just to hit one icon, folders are not that helpful
Click to expand...


Huh? How is spaces a counterintuitive concept??? It's a virtual desktop. apple is FAR from the first company to implement a virtual desktop system...and if you don't like it you can always turn it off... Personally, I LOVE spaces!!! Yes it can confuse the first time user until you explain to them what's going on and then they love it. For anyone who keeps a lot of windows open at the same time on a computer, spaces/virtual desktop is a godsend!!!

The folders thing, eh, some people like it some don't.. I don't keep 9000 apps on my iPhone so I don't really have much need for them, but others do. On a desktop machine, folders give you a nice way of organizing data and grouping it.

But as far a the multitasking stuff goes, I don't think you realize what's really going on. It isn't keeping all those apps up and running in the background... Unless they have implemented the called to the new multitasking Apis to keep stuff like voip or location stuff going, when you leave the app, it's being suspended, all it's resources are freed up back to the OS, and the app only gets them back if you reopen the app. It effectively is the same as shutting the app down, but not until the app has saved the current state to disk, so when it comes back up it can reload that state and return you back to where you were... This is NOT like multitasking on a full PC, nor like the crap that windows mobile or android does leaving everything up and running in the backound at the same time, each fighting for resources and computing power, sucking down battery...
 
What I find annoying about the new "multitasking" abilities of ip4 is that when you close a familiar app such as settings, it holds the place where you closed it instead of going back to the beginning. When you reopen the app either from the home screen or the tray (it makes no difference) the app restarts where you left off. While this is the intent of the feature it is actually annoying if you are expecting it to start up at the familiar beginning place. It would be nice if starting the app from the home screen would start it in its normal starting point and starting the same app from the tray after double tapping the home button would start it from its last suspended point.
 
Blorzoga said:
What I find annoying about the new "multitasking" abilities of ip4 is that when you close a familiar app such as settings, it holds the place where you closed it instead of going back to the beginning. When you reopen the app either from the home screen or the tray (it makes no difference) the app restarts where you left off. While this is the intent of the feature it is actually annoying if you are expecting it to start up at the familiar beginning place. It would be nice if starting the app from the home screen would start it in its normal starting point and starting the same app from the tray after double tapping the home button would start it from its last suspended point.
Click to expand...

Strange... my experience differs from this slightly...

I use the settings app regularly to turn bluetooth on and off when i get in and out my car and when i use my bluetooth speakers at home. It's nice when i can go in and out of settings and not have to naviate the the menu again.

However, for me and least, after about 10 minutes of the settings app being backgrounded, if i open it up again be in from the homescreen or the tray, it reverts back to the main settings page
 
ajnicho said:
Strange... my experience differs from this slightly...

I use the settings app regularly to turn bluetooth on and off when i get in and out my car and when i use my bluetooth speakers at home. It's nice when i can go in and out of settings and not have to naviate the the menu again.

However, for me and least, after about 10 minutes of the settings app being backgrounded, if i open it up again be in from the homescreen or the tray, it reverts back to the main settings page
Click to expand...

I haven't experienced that but I'll see if I can replicate it. Speaking of Bluetooth I have found it very surprising that apple didn't put a one button toggle on the home screen to turn on and off Bluetooth instead of having to navigate thru the settings menu. The same thing goes for location services. Both eat up valuable battery and need to be turned on and off frequently particularly while driving when you don't want to have to fiddle with menus.
 
Blorzoga said:
I haven't experienced that but I'll see if I can replicate it. Speaking of Bluetooth I have found it very surprising that apple didn't put a one button toggle on the home screen to turn on and off Bluetooth instead of having to navigate thru the settings menu. The same thing goes for location services. Both eat up valuable battery and need to be turned on and off frequently particularly while driving when you don't want to have to fiddle with menus.
Click to expand...

Yeah, thats why I miss SBSettings. I thought they would have implemented something similar. It is rather annoying - that's why i thought the backgrounding settings app would have done the job. For 10 minutes at least
 
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