I just filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. The FTC and FCC are next. I've had enough of these app store shenanigans; time to make my voice heard. I'll email my senator if I have to.
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Apple: no more 'free memory' apps?!
- Thread starter mavis
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This is getting really ridiculous. For starters, the iPhone has WAAAAAAY insufficient RAM. The 3GS is much better, but the regular 3G is SIGNIFICANTLY INSUFFICIENT in the amount of RAM that it has. Consider loading a page in Safari and trying to scroll around the page at the same time. The RAM cannot keep up - it's insufficient. Yet, with the 3GS it works fine. So, because Apple had a deficiency in one of it's products, the public came up with a way to solve/patch the problem; by simply freeing the RAM. Now Apple says "you can't do that!!!!...because we say so!" Sounds way too much like Microsoft - they keep making Windows more and more bulky so that consumers have to buy a new PC everytime they come out with a new OS. So, is this Apple's way of forcing 3G users to buy new 3GS phones ? 
In addition to that, I have been having problems with AT&T over the past two weeks. For the past 12 months, I have had excellent 3G coverage in my house, and now over the past 2 weeks, it has gone to crap. It's completely unreliable!
I keep getting this message on a bunch of Apps:
In addition to that, I have been having problems with AT&T over the past two weeks. For the past 12 months, I have had excellent 3G coverage in my house, and now over the past 2 weeks, it has gone to crap. It's completely unreliable!
I keep getting this message on a bunch of Apps:
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This poses a great question. What happens to already purchased applications.
Reading through the thread users purchases iStat for it's memory freeing functionality. Now that Apple have requested and subsequently got it removed surely users are now entitled to a refund from Apple? At the end of the day the functionality of the application has fundamentally changed from what was purchased.
By the same token you wouldn't take your car into a garage for them to downgrade your engine. Nor would you take your iMac to a Apple Store for them to fix and then remove some RAM.
If you ask me, I'm going to complain to Apple about this. If they want to run a ridiculous app store then so be it.
Reading through the thread users purchases iStat for it's memory freeing functionality. Now that Apple have requested and subsequently got it removed surely users are now entitled to a refund from Apple? At the end of the day the functionality of the application has fundamentally changed from what was purchased.
By the same token you wouldn't take your car into a garage for them to downgrade your engine. Nor would you take your iMac to a Apple Store for them to fix and then remove some RAM.
If you ask me, I'm going to complain to Apple about this. If they want to run a ridiculous app store then so be it.
Another one that I haven't seen mentioned here: Memory Info. I use it for freeing up memory too, and only one crash in the last 3 months since I bought it.
After reading this thread, I checked for updates : none. Went to app store, and yes, it's been pulled. Now only Memory Info Lite is there, without the free memory functionality.
After reading this thread, I checked for updates : none. Went to app store, and yes, it's been pulled. Now only Memory Info Lite is there, without the free memory functionality.
Considering HOW the memory is being freed, and that half the point of the AppStore approval process is weeding out ill-behaved code, I'm with Apple on this.
If there's a memory management problem, fix the program that has the problem - don't write other programs that solve the problem by screaming at it until it goes away for a few minutes.
WTF? As an embedded systems developer, I find that, well, rude. Kinda like getting a nice quiet table at a restaurant by bussing in winos until the other legitimate customers leave, then vacating the winos.
If there's a memory management problem, fix the program that has the problem - don't write other programs that solve the problem by screaming at it until it goes away for a few minutes.
Agreed. Most likely Apple plans changes to the memory management which would be severely disturbed by this rogueish application behavior.
Hmm. Mommy says not to climb up and touch the crystal, and the children cry that mommy's just being mean.
--
"Online Fandom Rule #1: If a situation is ever unclear, assume whatever it would take to drive you into a blind rage."
--
"Online Fandom Rule #1: If a situation is ever unclear, assume whatever it would take to drive you into a blind rage."
The issue in this case though is it isn't a 'program' that has the problem, it's the OS. Safari is the biggest offender. Open it once and it'll sit there and hog all of the memory - even when you start another program that requires more memory. Hence the stuttering and slowness and subsequent crashing in many cases. Mobile safari is great, but it is a hog. The very fact that these memory- clearing applications were a hit is because the OS is flawed. If Apple's going to fix that, great. But I have my doubts.
System Activity Monitor 1.1 is still available in the app store. I just downloaded it and it still has the Free Memory option. Version 1.2 has no Free Memory option.
So if you want it, try to get it before it changes.
So if you want it, try to get it before it changes.
I'm in agreement with Apple on this one.
Wasn't there a rumour of better memory management in 3.1?
They might just be preparing for that.
Either way. It doesn't seem proper (or safe?) to flood the memory until other apps quit.
here is a tip for everyone
on Vista and Windows 7 you can find all the apps you downloaded
C:\Users\<myprofilename>\Music\iTunes\Mobile Applications
you will see all your apps there as .ipa files. you can copy them to another location and if you reinstall the OS on your computer or iphone you can just add them from iTunes without downloading them again
i'm not 100% sure but i think when you download an update it doesn't delete the old ipa file. i've seen multiple ones before for the same app. so if you updated and want the old one back then check this location
on Vista and Windows 7 you can find all the apps you downloaded
C:\Users\<myprofilename>\Music\iTunes\Mobile Applications
you will see all your apps there as .ipa files. you can copy them to another location and if you reinstall the OS on your computer or iphone you can just add them from iTunes without downloading them again
i'm not 100% sure but i think when you download an update it doesn't delete the old ipa file. i've seen multiple ones before for the same app. so if you updated and want the old one back then check this location
I had SongText as well. I emailed Apple about it and they gave me a refund. I believe it was only $.99 but that's not the point - if these apps don't function as advertised after we buy them, we should be entitled to a refund.
I probably won't update my istat right away but I may do it eventually since I'm jailbroken anyway. Apple can't tell me what I can and can't do on my jailbroken phone and SBSettings seems to do a pretty good job of freeing up memory for me. I'm sure there are other apps on the jb side that do this as well.
Am I the only one that just doesn't care about this? I've never used one and launch and re-launch apps day in and day out and end up restarting my phone maybe once every few days or so (it is a computer afterall). What's the huge problem with restarting? On a 3GS it takes like 1 min...
A good way to help this is to actually turn your phone off while you sleep. Forget the "it ruins your battery life!!!1!!!!eleven!!" stuff, because in my experience it's not even true.
Freeing memory by allocating as much as you can until the device closes other programs is a pretty lousy way to do it (but maybe the only way for a devoloper) IMO.
Perhaps the reason Apple is having this feature removed is because they are implementing that feature elsewhere in the OS. It would make sense under settings to have a button that simply sent a didReciveMemoryWarning to all running apps. That would work better and safer than anything a devoloper could do in an app.
If this is the case apple did the right thing, but should be disclosing that's why.
Perhaps the reason Apple is having this feature removed is because they are implementing that feature elsewhere in the OS. It would make sense under settings to have a button that simply sent a didReciveMemoryWarning to all running apps. That would work better and safer than anything a devoloper could do in an app.
If this is the case apple did the right thing, but should be disclosing that's why.
^^^
This kind of hack is bad. The free memory function is relying on implementation details of the operating system -- details that, (1) they have no way of understanding fully, and (2) will surely change over time. That means this function currently has unintended consequences -- possibly quite bad ones -- and will likely in the future have additional bad consequences.
Abusing the critically low memory feature probably results in performance problems (its prematurely flushing caches), and may even lead to unnecessary data loss (what happens to open Safari pages with partially filled-in forms open?) and who knows what else -- both now and in the future.
After you've been in software development for a while you learn not to rely on side effects, undocumented behavior, etc. of any API. It inevitably leads to more problems than it solves -- and your users suffer the consequences.
I hate Apple's heavy-handedness in regard to iPhone apps, but they are probably in the right on this one. I wonder if this "free memory" function has *any* real value at all. It might just be a placebo button. After all, if the OS frees memory & closes background apps as needed -- which the free memory function is depending on -- then there's no need to ever do it preemptively.
You may want to re-read the article and the thread. A lot of people use the feature exactly because the OS doesn't do a good enough job freeing memory automatically. There are numerous instances when you can't run a memory intensive application or the interface is running at a crawl when this feature is really handy. The only other alternative would be to selectively force-quit each persistent Apple application or reboot the device, both of which are time-intensive tasks.
Yea, I have to agree with this as well.
Given that apple has clearly inteded for the user to not manage such things, and has structured the OS in such a way that this type of micro management isn't (shouldn't, anyway) be needed, I never saw the real draw to "free memory" apps in the first place.
Don't get me wrong - I'm all for free market and to for Devs to create and prosper from good, useful apps. But at the same time, I don't want the App Store to end up looking like download.com. And, not that any of these apps are, but we don't really need any snake oil salesman on the app store either - stuff for sale that's not actually needed.
While this is true and you make a valid point in the case of ever-evolving Operating Systems over time, the iPhone is a little bit different. As a developer and programmer myself, I have witnessed first-hand instances where the iPhone apps (especially Apple's own Safari and the iPod player) did NOT release memory once you leave that App or go to another one. Instead, I have noticed numerous times where these Apps were still using this memory and no matter what you did, that memory would not be released without a hard reboot.
I think part of the problem is that Apple never developed a way to circumvent this problem from the get-go. OS X on the iPhone is an amazing little OS that uses very clever ways in the way that it threads certain items, but many people believe this issue or problem I should say (and if judging by the amount of apps dedicated to this issue is any indicator, one that is not going away) is one that is quite warranted.
I'm not saying that Apple doesn't have a point in how developers should use it's own OS, but it is something that Apple should address seriously or they are going to lose more and more people to Jailbreaking their phone.
you guys ever think because apple has made a huge deal about how much better the iphone was at memory management that having an app to fix there memory problems makes them look bad? i complained because they can't write software so they punish others to preserve their image. I don't care if you give Windows Mobile crap for having a task manager, id rather have that option than have to restart my phone so much
well, on my original 3G, i've noticed that after any graphic intense game I need to restart or everything is slow or if check my mail often it becomes slow and sometimes unresponsive, with push there is no reason to have some of these apps open at all times, my usage of the phone is too varied to keep some apps open incase I use them again, id rather have a few extra seconds of load time because even a freshly loaded app really doesn't take that long to open.
Agree - I updated the iStat program and knew before that the free memory would be gone but I will not update FreeMemory because I do notice significant improvement after use.
Until Apple can explain their reasoning, then this is quite an idiotic move on their part - why don't they just code their own app for freeing memory with the next firmware update? Prob because that would admit weakness in the OS...
Good thing Apple did this. Having the ability to free memory might give users the impression they have some control. Better remove it, as with Google Voice, because it might confuse and bewilder us.
Actually we should thank Apple for this, because we have the OS that has been kissed by Steve "Jesus H. Christ" Jobs, it is beyond perfection and any change to the intended plan of operation is an affront to the correct workings of the universe.
Actually we should thank Apple for this, because we have the OS that has been kissed by Steve "Jesus H. Christ" Jobs, it is beyond perfection and any change to the intended plan of operation is an affront to the correct workings of the universe.