I did a search, but could not find the answer. Any theories? Has Apple made any promises or left any hints lately? Thanks.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
When will the iPhone get background apps?
- Thread starter bollweevil
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I am absolutely sure that background apps would be optional. Every app is optional.
You cannot build a good IM app or a good calendar app without the app running in the background. Without that, the IM app would never notify you that you received a message, and the calendar app would never remind you to go to your appointment, unless you actually took out the iPhone and launched the app.
A calendar app would use approximately zero battery power - it doesn't have to send any signals or anything. An IM app would have to use the internet, so that would use some battery. And what if you had SETI at home running as a background app? That would probably eat the battery AND slow down performance. That is why nobody would download SETI at home, the iPhone app. That would be a hilarious iPhone app.
My point is, if the support for background apps was introduced, people could pick and choose which apps they wanted running in the background based on how much they need the app and how much it would shorten battery life.
I doubt that merely introducing support for background apps would affect the battery life in a significant way, only INSTALLING such apps would have an impact.
You cannot build a good IM app or a good calendar app without the app running in the background. Without that, the IM app would never notify you that you received a message, and the calendar app would never remind you to go to your appointment, unless you actually took out the iPhone and launched the app.
A calendar app would use approximately zero battery power - it doesn't have to send any signals or anything. An IM app would have to use the internet, so that would use some battery. And what if you had SETI at home running as a background app? That would probably eat the battery AND slow down performance. That is why nobody would download SETI at home, the iPhone app. That would be a hilarious iPhone app.
My point is, if the support for background apps was introduced, people could pick and choose which apps they wanted running in the background based on how much they need the app and how much it would shorten battery life.
I doubt that merely introducing support for background apps would affect the battery life in a significant way, only INSTALLING such apps would have an impact.
That's exactly Apple's fear. They don't want the majority of people downloading apps that run in the background (IM) eating up the battery and then blaming Apple for making a phone with crap battery life.
This is exactly the reason they're working on the Push Notification Service as an alternative.
+1. Really, if you think about it, you don't really need background apps, with push notifications it will do what it needs to do without killing battery and processor life.
Terrific, I agree wholeheartedly, I DON'T need background apps, I just need push. Now, does push exist yet? When do we expect it?
According to Steve Jobs, september 2008, and no, I did not make a mistake on the date
To further clarify. The guess is that since MobileMe didn't get going so well Apple wants to make sure Push Notification is ready to go before launching. Who knows, it may be done and they're just waiting for some other announcement to launch it. It's all speculation at this point since Apple has been mum about it since they announced it and missed the Sept 08 launch date last year.