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iPhone Background Manager

I bought this yesterday and so far it's working for me. What I've done is set the Global Setting Background Mode to None.

That has the effect of killing every app I exit, which is my preferred choice.

In the Each App Override setting I have added the apps I DON'T want killed when I exit by setting them to either Background or Native.

So, effectively I've placed every app in a kill immediately upon exiting state with a whitelist for the ones I want to either stay open or native.

Works for me.
 
Menneisyys2 said:
Guys, here's a complete chapter from my forthcoming article "The Keynote Projector Bible" dedicated to backgrounding and providing a mini-tutorial to Background Manager. It also provides the readers with a quick intro to the two other, pre-iOS6 methods.


I publish this tutorial now as a separate entry as I still don't know when the full article is finished.
Click to expand...

Ready! https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=17321186 - 43k characters :)
 
eyoungren said:
I bought this yesterday and so far it's working for me. What I've done is set the Global Setting Background Mode to None.

That has the effect of killing every app I exit, which is my preferred choice.

In the Each App Override setting I have added the apps I DON'T want killed when I exit by setting them to either Background or Native.

So, effectively I've placed every app in a kill immediately upon exiting state with a whitelist for the ones I want to either stay open or native.

Works for me.
Click to expand...

like this idea, gunna try it out if i buy this tweak.
 
linds15 said:
like this idea, gunna try it out if i buy this tweak.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I haven't had any issues so far. I've had one app that I was downloading with that I set up to background and due to this tweak I was able to lock my phone with the screen off and it stayed up and downloading. So, this is a win for me. Background Manager also let me remove two additional tweaks I was using so that's another plus for it.

The only limitation seems to be the apps themselves. The particular app I was downloading with timed out on the download (just need to hit "Play" again) but the app itself has stayed backgrounded and on since I set it.
 
quicklookd stays open

I've set quicklookd to "none" with everything set to disable auto load and all that stuff. Even after viewing a picture or video in messages app, and even after exiting out of messages, quicklookd stays open and uses up ram and you have to close it manually via the "processes" toggle in sbsettings.

How do I contact the dev about this?

Everything else works superbly, except sometimes bitesms will stay open even though I have it set to "none" in the settings. I don't really have any complaints other than the bitesms thing and quicklookd.
 
linds15 said:
can this be used to stream video from say nba or nfl apps, and not have to leave the screen on?
Click to expand...

I bet it can.

- If you want to listen to the audio only, it will most probably be heard. (At least this is the case with the media players I've tested.)

- If you want to (also) stream the video to a TV, it WILL be streamed, assuming the player has native (and not just the OS-mirrored) TV output support. (This has also been mentioned in my previous post at https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/17314781/ )

Note that, having no subscription to these streaming services, I couldn't test them myself. That is, I may be wrong (but I doubt it).
 
Really cool tweak.
Tested with Safari and Cydia.

Safari executes javascript in background. Not a good idea for battery life. But it may be needed if you download a file (with the help of Safari Download Manager).

Something I've noticed with both apps. In 'background' mode when switching back the window isn't redrawing instantly.. but in about 0.3-0.5 seconds. In 'native' mode it's instant. Hope this glitch will be fixed, a lil' annoying to the eyes.

Edit: just noticed that the redraw is even slower and it's frustrating if you're using Zephyr's app-switching gestures. Takes about 2 seconds :(
 
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Menneisyys2 said:
I bet it can.

- If you want to listen to the audio only, it will most probably be heard. (At least this is the case with the media players I've tested.)

- If you want to (also) stream the video to a TV, it WILL be streamed, assuming the player has native (and not just the OS-mirrored) TV output support. (This has also been mentioned in my previous post at https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/17314781/ )

Note that, having no subscription to these streaming services, I couldn't test them myself. That is, I may be wrong (but I doubt it).
Click to expand...

tried it this morning, couldnt get it to work for nba app, when i exit the app it stops playing on my ATV
 
linds15 said:
tried it this morning, couldnt get it to work for nba app, when i exit the app it stops playing on my ATV
Click to expand...

Are you absolutely sure you did enable true "Backgrounding" mode for the player, instead of the default (and, for TV playback, useless) "Native" one?

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DSF said:
Something I've noticed with both apps. In 'background' mode when switching back the window isn't redrawing instantly.. but in about 0.3-0.5 seconds. In 'native' mode it's instant. Hope this glitch will be fixed, a lil' annoying to the eyes.

Edit: just noticed that the redraw is even slower and it's frustrating if you're using Zephyr's app-switching gestures. Takes about 2 seconds :(
Click to expand...

The problem might be related to the fact that the life cycle methods of the app delegate don't get called back when entering /returning from forced background modes. At least this was the case back in the iOS 4.x times. I'll check this at once and post an update.

Basically, it could be possible to call these "revival" methods from BM.
 
Menneisyys2 said:
The problem might be related to the fact that the life cycle methods of the app delegate don't get called back when entering /returning from forced background modes. At least this was the case back in the iOS 4.x times. I'll check this at once and post an update.
Click to expand...

Yup, this is the case: applicationWillEnterForeground and, then, applicationDidBecomeActive aren't called when maximizing these apps. You can't force BM to call these methods either - the "Fallback to Native" and, with "Fallback to Native" being active, "Force Native Mode" switches don't have any effect on this.

At least one of these two methods that Safari (and other apps) use to know to refresh/draw their UI. This is why when returning from the background, these apps don't immediately refresh.

BTW, here's the quick test app I've written to test all this (directly deployable via Xcode):

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/81986513/052013/LifeCycleTest.zip

It'll add a new row of the called life cycle method upon every call. An example of a complete recycle (start / Home / reinvoke) in both the Native mode of BM (and without being added to BM at all):

IMG_0146t.jpg


(full screenshot: http://www.flickr.com/photos/33448355@N07/8872125738/sizes/o/in/set-72157633772255546/ )

In the "forced" Background mode of BG, only the first two entries would be present (called upon the first load), nothing else.
 
I installed it but it is not working for me.

Global
Background Mode: Native

in Native mode:

  • Force Native mode -> Yes
  • Enable at Launch: Yes
Chrome/Camera/Cydia/Youtube
Background Mode: Background

in Background mode:

  • Fallback to Native -> No
  • Force Native mode -> No
  • Enable at Launch: Yes
Tried respringing and restating, but as soon as press home button, current app stops.

Chrome does not load pages
Camera stops recording video
Cydia reloads informartion
Youtube stops the music

I have an iPhone 4 6.1 and Auxo installed.
 
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Forced background mode seems to be so ram and battery intensive that it isn't worth it for me. Just having the camera app forced causes massive battery drain and ram usage. I watched my battery go from 80% to 66% in 30mins of idle time.

Plus I still have the pesky scroll bug...three touches causes a pause...this is with no apps in the background too.

----------
Gaspertrix said:
I installed it but it is not working for me.

Global
Background Mode: Native

in Native mode:

  • Force Native mode -> Yes
  • Enable at Launch: Yes
Chrome/Camera/Cydia/Youtube
Background Mode: Background

in Background mode:

  • Fallback to Native -> No
  • Force Native mode -> No
  • Enable at Launch: Yes
Tried respringing and restating, but as soon as press home button, current app stops.

Chrome does not load pages
Camera stops recording video
Cydia reloads informartion
Youtube stops the music

I have an iPhone 4 6.1 and Auxo installed.
Click to expand...

Could auxo and related apps possibly be the cause of issues for some of us?
 
Mrg02d said:
Could auxo and related apps possibly be the cause of issues for some of us?
Click to expand...
I uninstalled Auxo and still it is not working.
I have the following tweaks installed:

  1. Auxo (Uninstalled now)
  2. Action Menu
  3. Activator
  4. AirBlue Sharing
  5. AllMail
  6. AnyAttach
  7. Axis
  8. Barrel
  9. BytaFont
  10. Color Keyboard
  11. Custom WidgetIcons
  12. Cyntact
  13. iFile
  14. Infinidock
  15. ManualCorrect
  16. MuteIcon
  17. Mobile Terminal
  18. NCSettings
  19. Pluck
  20. PushMod
  21. Reveal
  22. Safari Download Manager
  23. ShowCase
  24. SwipeSelection
  25. USB Drive
I thought that Auxo was incompatible, but uninstalled it and Background Manager still not working.
 
Last edited:
Mrg02d said:
Forced background mode seems to be so ram and battery intensive that it isn't worth it for me. Just having the camera app forced causes massive battery drain and ram usage. I watched my battery go from 80% to 66% in 30mins of idle time.

Plus I still have the pesky scroll bug...three touches causes a pause...this is with no apps in the background too.

----------



Could auxo and related apps possibly be the cause of issues for some of us?
Click to expand...

I'm not sure what you expected. You'd got the camera constantly refocusing and ready to take shots, of course it was draining battery.
 
I've emailed The developer multiple times and have not heard back. Hopefully he is just busy fixing problems, Because so far this feels like he poorly done hack...

----------
Ol!ver said:
I'm not sure what you expected. You'd got the camera constantly refocusing and ready to take shots, of course it was draining battery.
Click to expand...

I'll give you that one but what about the rest of problems?
 
I have a slight bug: I have the global settings to none, and I have the Clock app on the white list with Native and Force enabled. When I open the Clock app and look at the stopwatch, it's going at 1 hour+. I stop it, reset it back to 0 and exit the app. I open it back up, and the stopwatch is still going at 1 hour+ instead of 0. I can also tell it's not really backgrounding properly either since the app takes a little longer to open up.
 
Menneisyys2 said:
True Web shortcuts created by "Add to home screen" from inside Safari aren't killed by this. Unfortunately, even if you do add them in BM as "X", they won't be killed and can take up a LOT of memory (on the non-Retina iPad 2, for example, 12M for a simple blue screen like the one at https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...3/hdmi/i3.html (my test page for benchmarking purposes; for non-empty pages, a LOT more) on both the iPad 2 and 3). If this is a problem, don't use shortcuts created by "Add to home screen" at all. This only applies to pages with the <meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-capable" content="yes" /> metatag. Ones that don't have will run in Safari and, consequently, will be shut down by BM.
Click to expand...

BM seems to have another problem with these: it just lets them run in the background in the default Native mode, even without configuring the particular webapp in the tweak. This means if there's no way of refreshing the page (the case with pages with the <meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-capable" content="yes" /> metatag), you just can't get it refreshed other than manually killing it.

This is diametrically opposed to how iOS works - it'll always fully reload the page when you tap the icon on the Springboard.

I could only fix this by completely uninstalling the tweak. Should you not want to do the same, try creating home screen shortcuts on pages that do not have the above metatag. These will result in the Safari toolbar being displayed, where you can also refresh the page.
 
Mrg02d said:
I've emailed The developer multiple times and have not heard back. Hopefully he is just busy fixing problems, Because so far this feels like he poorly done hack...

----------



I'll give you that one but what about the rest of problems?
Click to expand...

What Cydia hack doesn't have problems? Be sensible and pragmatic not unrealistic when it comes to another's time and work.
It isn't anyone but your own fault the camera is draining. If there are other issues, report or list them here in further detail. Again be pragmatic, as I doubt this is the developers day job.
 
kalirob99 said:
What Cydia hack doesn't have problems? Be sensible and pragmatic not unrealistic when it comes to another's time and work.
It isn't anyone but your own fault the camera is draining. If there are other issues, report or list them here in further detail. Again be pragmatic, as I doubt this is the developers day job.
Click to expand...

Ive listed the problems, as have I contacted the dev. As for the battery draining, I gave you guys that one.

Again:
1) Camera, when killed by either myself or iOS and reopened by "BM" causes the camera to go straight to black screen mode, requiring a toggle to bring back normal operation. I can live without the camera being ready with shutter open, but cannot live with this.
2)After I install the app, and before I enable any operations for it, I get scroll breaking after three screen motions...."Swipe up, then down, then back up" causes the scroll to break immedatiately. This can become extremely annoying. It does this randomly but often enough to be a real drag.
3)Like many others are saying, it will eventually stop keeping apps in the background as well as stop reopening a closed app.

Ive been burned by several other PAID tweaks (auxo, axis, velox), so Im losing patience. I can understand a free tweak being buggy...A PAID tweak ought to have minimal bugs, and certainly not show stoppers. The camera is probably one of the most popular apps to have reopened once iOS closes it since the camera app takes 3-4seconds to open on a 4s.

The worst has to be the scroll bug thing,...
 
Mrg02d said:
A PAID tweak ought to have minimal bugs, and certainly not show stoppers.
Click to expand...

You're expecting too much from us devs. As I've also explained in the Quasar thread, JB programming is one of the worst things. No documentation at all, code can break at any subsequent iOS update, no guarantee at all that a certain function can at all be done in a future iOS version etc.

It's like programming a black box. You have much-much less info to reply on than during traditional iOS programming.
 
Menneisyys2 said:
You're expecting too much from us devs. As I've also explained in the Quasar thread, JB programming is one of the worst things. No documentation at all, code can break at any subsequent iOS update, no guarantee at all that a certain function can at all be done in a future iOS version etc.

It's like programming a black box. You have much-much less info to reply on than during traditional iOS programming.
Click to expand...

Then don't charge for it. ;)
 
Mrg02d said:
Then don't charge for it. ;)
Click to expand...

Yup, I don't charge because I "only" write small JB tweaks like camera enhancers, which

1, I too need on a daily basis (I exclusively shoot videos in my special video mode to fix the narrow-FoV problem)
2, I can use in teaching as a case study
3, I can release the sources of.

However, people that spend even months of creating a full-blown tweak / enhancer could, in some way, be paid, even if their app does have bugs. As I stated, JB programming is orders of magnitude harder than traditional iOS programming.
 
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