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Multitasking..preventative?

esadb

esadb

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Nov 29, 2008
1,184
0
So i got my hands on a iphone4. My question is the multitasking in iOS 4, I never got to use as my 3G i left at 3.1.3

Im wondering is there a setting or way that i can disable every single APP that I open to go into the actual multitasking thing?

Im just wondering, i sure do love the speed of the i4 and i dont want to have to go through each entire thing closing apps individually. Now it does come in useful for an APP like wunderRadio I can keep it backgrounded and still playing.. but like lets say I open the App Store.. I dont really need that to stay open afterwards..

Is there some sort of cydia app that allows me to select upon closing wheter to completely close it or let it multitask.

Thanks!
 
Use the search feature. There are dozens of posts on this.

Short version: You don't know how iPhone multitasking works. Those programs aren't running. Stop worrying about them.

Find the other threads if you want more details.
 
i find the way they do multitasking pretty flawed.


even though all the programs in the list aren't technically running, i find it very annoying to have to scroll through all the apps i may have opened throughout the day to get to one that actually utilizes the "multitasking".

there is no reason for something like settings to remain open
 
jasonforisrael said:
i find the way they do multitasking pretty flawed.


even though all the programs in the list aren't technically running, i find it very annoying to have to scroll through all the apps i may have opened throughout the day to get to one that actually utilizes the "multitasking".

there is no reason for something like settings to remain open
Click to expand...

Well its more the fact that by the end of the day you could have like 30 things down there.. And then youd be scrolling across to find the one app. Also closing them down if you dont want 30 things in the list is a PITA.
 
I think you'll find the experience more palatable if you only use the multitasking/app switching bar to close apps. If you want to go back into an app, just tap it from one of your homescreens.
 
I love the iPhone and all, but I must say - the Palm Pre has had the best multitasking experience I've ever seen on a phone. I do agree that it isn't that great.
 
esadb said:
So i got my hands on a iphone4. My question is the multitasking in iOS 4, I never got to use as my 3G i left at 3.1.3

Im wondering is there a setting or way that i can disable every single APP that I open to go into the actual multitasking thing?

Im just wondering, i sure do love the speed of the i4 and i dont want to have to go through each entire thing closing apps individually. Now it does come in useful for an APP like wunderRadio I can keep it backgrounded and still playing.. but like lets say I open the App Store.. I dont really need that to stay open afterwards..

Is there some sort of cydia app that allows me to select upon closing wheter to completely close it or let it multitask.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

It's not real multi-tasking, more like quick app switching. The only apps that I know off and I could be wrong, that really run in the background are iPod & Pandora.

As for a Cydia App that will completely close apps when exited, Backgrounder is what you are looking for.
 
i just got my iphone this week, and i've been sitting here tonight trying to see what this "multitasking" accomplishes.

i pull up a game, start playing, and then hit home button. go back into the app...it starts back at main menu.

i at least thought that this version of multitasking was supposed to allow you to continue where you left off in games and such.
 
jasonforisrael said:
i just got my iphone this week, and i've been sitting here tonight trying to see what this "multitasking" accomplishes.

i pull up a game, start playing, and then hit home button. go back into the app...it starts back at main menu.

i at least thought that this version of multitasking was supposed to allow you to continue where you left off in games and such.
Click to expand...

Game has to be coded for that feature. It doesn't just work automatically
 
sammich said:
I think you'll find the experience more palatable if you only use the multitasking/app switching bar to close apps. If you want to go back into an app, just tap it from one of your homescreens.
Click to expand...

So if getting back to the tap means just re clicking the icon on the homescreen? Whats the point of it being on that multitasking list at the bottom?

And closing APPS using that multitasking thing is just tedious...
 
esadb said:
So if getting back to the tap means just re clicking the icon on the homescreen? Whats the point of it being on that multitasking list at the bottom?

And closing APPS using that multitasking thing is just tedious...
Click to expand...

Dunno, I don't use the MT bar except for relaunching apps that need to be refreshed to get new offers (like in TapTap or a whole bunch of ngmoco games). Just use apps like you did pre 4.0 and you'll be fine. There isn't any need to close apps manually at all. Over the normal course of the week, I'll get every single app in that bar (at least 40) and it doesn't impact on the performance of the phone (you know, unless it's an app doing a background task).
 
esadb said:
So if getting back to the tap means just re clicking the icon on the homescreen? Whats the point of it being on that multitasking list at the bottom?

And closing APPS using that multitasking thing is just tedious...
Click to expand...

The bar at the bottom is really a list of "recently used items". Think of it as an alternative way to launch Apps. (Other alternatives include scrolling through potentially many homescreen pages, or using Spotlight.)

Ideally you do not need to close Apps from the "recently used items" list, unless (a) you want to hide the fact that you have used an App, or (b) an App is not responding.

I say "ideally" because I think I have seen poor battery life after running a couple of Apps, but I do not have any concrete facts yet... :)
 
What apple did was provided a hamstrung method to running some processes in the background, but only those that were written to take advantage of certain small subset of APIs.

To that end, most apps do not multitask, their state is recorded and when you call them back up, via apple's task manager, their state is restored.
 
sammich said:
Dunno, I don't use the MT bar except for relaunching apps that need to be refreshed to get new offers (like in TapTap or a whole bunch of ngmoco games). Just use apps like you did pre 4.0 and you'll be fine. There isn't any need to close apps manually at all. Over the normal course of the week, I'll get every single app in that bar (at least 40) and it doesn't impact on the performance of the phone (you know, unless it's an app doing a background task).
Click to expand...

So what about an APP like Wunder radio and if you actually play a song and close it continues to play.. So technically if i stop the song and close it that APP is still closed but doing something?

So the true multi-tasking APPS you cant really close either all the way..

Like I just dont know what APPS are fully "multitasking coded" and which arnt.

So im sure some apps closed will still run which then will affect performance while others wont.. and certain APPS that do background once you open them youd actually like to completely kill them...
 
Only time I ever double tap the home button is to use the ipod controls or the orientation lock. I just work from the home screen. I also haven't closed any running apps and just let iOS handle as needed....
 
esadb said:
So what about an APP like Wunder radio and if you actually play a song and close it continues to play.. So technically if i stop the song and close it that APP is still closed but doing something?

So the true multi-tasking APPS you cant really close either all the way..

Like I just dont know what APPS are fully "multitasking coded" and which arnt.

So im sure some apps closed will still run which then will affect performance while others wont.. and certain APPS that do background once you open them youd actually like to completely kill them...
Click to expand...

The apps which are actively doing something in the background are fairly obvious. The three (off the top of my head) that you will experience the most are:

1) streaming music services (obvious, you can hear it)
2) background GPS services (has the arrow next to the battery)
3) task completion: things that take time, like uploading video's on Facebook (not as obvious, but it will suspend when it finishes or time's out.)

The other things assist multitasking like local notifications and etc, but these are done by the OS itself not the app.

In essence what I am trying to say is that, you do not need to worry about apps wasting power in the background. Any that will be doing backgrounding are obvious and it's up to you to have them on. If it isn't doing one of the three things above, then you are safe.
 
esadb said:
So i got my hands on a iphone4. My question is the multitasking in iOS 4, I never got to use as my 3G i left at 3.1.3

Im wondering is there a setting or way that i can disable every single APP that I open to go into the actual multitasking thing?

Im just wondering, i sure do love the speed of the i4 and i dont want to have to go through each entire thing closing apps individually. Now it does come in useful for an APP like wunderRadio I can keep it backgrounded and still playing.. but like lets say I open the App Store.. I dont really need that to stay open afterwards..

Is there some sort of cydia app that allows me to select upon closing wheter to completely close it or let it multitask.

Thanks!
Click to expand...


I’m gonna copy a previous post of mine here:

This explanation is purely from personal experience and logical thinking. If I were to design multitasking, this is exactly how I would map it out on a device like an iPhone.

When you exit an app with ‘suspend-on-exit’ functionality, the app saves it’s state to the RAM and waits to be reopened. When you open it up, it will load automatically as if it was running on CPU and RAM the whole time.

If an app needs more memory than is available, or if there are too many ‘running,’ iOS will take a screenshot of a running app and then save their state to a folder (most likely the apps .app folder). When you open up the app again, it shows the screenshot (the current status bar is shown but everything else is the screenshot) while it loads the app up to the point it was at before. When it is done loading, the screenshot goes away and you are left with the interface that you left with
 
maflynn said:
What apple did was provided a hamstrung method to running some processes in the background, but only those that were written to take advantage of certain small subset of APIs.
Click to expand...

While that was their intention, the "Background Completion" feature effectively allows anything to run in the background for up to 10 minutes.

Apple originally intended it to be used for task completion (e.g. continuing to upload a photograph to a website when you close the Flickr app), but instead many developers are using it to just keep running for as long as possible - Apple doesn't seem to be doing anything about those developers.
 
Daveoc64 said:
While that was their intention, the "Background Completion" feature effectively allows anything to run in the background for up to 10 minutes.

Apple originally intended it to be used for task completion (e.g. continuing to upload a photograph to a website when you close the Flickr app), but instead many developers are using it to just keep running for as long as possible - Apple doesn't seem to be doing anything about those developers.
Click to expand...

That problem is quite annoying. Maybe a TOS change stating that the task completion API must be used solely for the purpose of actually completing a task that the app must accomplish if backgrounded, not simply allowing it to "run in the background" regardless of what function it's doing.
 
Small White Car said:
Use the search feature. There are dozens of posts on this.

Short version: You don't know how iPhone multitasking works. Those programs aren't running. Stop worrying about them.

Find the other threads if you want more details.
Click to expand...
Well, having too many apps in the tray bar significantly reduces free RAM from 300MB to ~30MB.
 
chembox said:
It still can't hurt to clear up the tray bar manually every few hours...
Click to expand...

A few Apple reps say that it's always best to clear it up once in awhile, especially apps that you know/may know might run in the background and you'd like to save up on performance a touch or will not be using the function anymore.
 
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