You're the one misunderstanding. The correct way to handle VOIP on iOS (as required by Apple) is for the App to declare that it is a VOIP app and for it to continue allowing certain connections to run in the background.
Push Notifications should not be used as they are too slow to create a reliable experience.
In this state, there's very little that the App can actually do in the background - so the battery usage should not be an issue.
Other than maintaining a simple network connection to check for incoming calls, VOIP Apps are only able to run for a maximum of 30 seconds no more frequently than every 10 minutes.
Thanks for the info. (But I’m pretty certain Apple doesn’t require VOIP-capable apps to work that way when not
doing VOIP. I have VOIP-capable games, and they don’t run VOIP 24/7, only when in use.
Receiving calls does not technically need VOIP—it needs some way to tell the app to launch and
start VOIP.)
The all-VOIP method (instead of Push plus VOIP) is great
if Skype can "run in the background" without side effects like memory use and battery use. But two side effects seem* to be real—and I hope they’re fixed in this version but they don’t seem to be in my testing:
1. Battery life.
2. Failure to stay online. People try to Skype me but the app is no longer running and I’m unexpectedly no longer online! (Maybe it quotes because iOS quits apps when it needs the memory? Will it quit a VOIP app? I’ve never had it quit my GPS app, say, while giving me directions.) Other apps pop up message notifications for me weeks after I last launched the app.
(I’d say 3. Memory use, but that’s hard to test. The main symptom of that would be other apps and games behaving badly.)
As a result, Skype is OK for outgoing, but I still want it to work better for incoming calls too.
I hope the VOIP service can be used as you describe, and that Skype can work the way it should, but if not, Push solves both problems. What’s your evidence that Push
has to be slow? Has Skype said they can’t use Push because Apple’s service is unreliable? (I’m really asking—I don’t know.) In my experience, some apps clearly use slow back-end servers, and Push notifications are delayed (like some turn-based games I play) but others—such as the IM apps I use—are instantaneous. Push signals have to come to Apple
from somewhere—outside Apple--so not all apps Push at the same speed.
One speed issue I can see is that if the app isn’t running, then to start an incoming call the app must load and launch. But apps can load fast, and Skype seems to. The person on the other end can wait 2 more seconds to see my lovely face
And eventually the app is going to quit—or else keep using up memory, which is worse.
I see no good reason why Skype couldn’t use a Push server and NO battery life to receive calls, with no loss of online status if the app is automatically quit. Then VOIP to handle the calls. The way they do it now may be legal (and it’s thoughtful of Apple to have a non-Push service for VOIP companies to use without a lot of work). But it seems to have the above problems. I’d rather Skype (finally?) do the work needed to integrate iOS Push with their back-end.
If there’s another way to achieve these same three goals: NO battery usage while able to receive, NO memory usage while able to receive (once the app auto-quits at least), and NO loss of online status over time, then I’ll be very happy
I don’t care what the solution is, Push or not, I just care that it’s solved—and I fear that it still hasn’t been
If my fear is correct, then I want users to know what ask Skype for for Christmas 2011
* Now the big question—the reason I raised the topic—is to get to the bottom of whether the problems were—and more importantly, ARE—really happening. People use their phones in a lot of ways, and battery life trends are hard to notice sometimes if you’re not really paying attention. If your battery is low, who’s to say what the culprit is? It’s hard to know sometimes.
So I’d welcome more user reports. My own experience: battery life doesn’t seem to be obviously affected! But my online status doesn’t last anyway. If it did (if I launched the Skype app more often) would I see needless battery drain even while not talking? I definitely want these answers—which may take time to pin down—before I bring Skype back into regular use.
Questions for all Skype iOS users:
1. Is your battery life affected when you’re logged in but not talking?
2. How long does Skype keep you online to receive, if you haven’t used the app?
does the skype app have to be open in the task switcher in order to get calls??
Good question! I hope not, because then the app can’t keep eating battery
When I quit and relaunch the app, Skype does say I’m “connecting” which makes it sound like I was offline... except it connects pretty quickly (which has never been Skype’s strength), and that gives me hope that maybe you were never offline even when the app was shut down. (But in that case, incoming calls would have to be triggered by Push. I hope they are! But it doesn’t seem so.)
