I'm realizing more and more as I go through the app store that there are some apps that really need to run in the background like radio apps, and one I saw that allows you to track your iPhone via google maps on your computer. This would be a brilliant feature for catching a thief or if you lost ur phone. However without the ability to keep it running it is rather useless. I have to think that apple has thought of.. Their solution is great for things like IM but doesn't cover these other concerns. I hope that this is much like when apple said they would only do web apps to tide people over while they worked on the app store.. Perhaps there might be some form of task management app that listed running apps and a simple red quit button. Also I think that any app that wants to be able to run in the background should have to go through a tougher review process so that apps that don't need the feature won't bog down the phone by running in the background.
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will apps ever be allowed to run in the background?
- Thread starter mtfield
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at the most current keynote, one of the apple executives said that that would take up too much battery power, so it will probably never happen.
yes, but they also said they wouldn't do native apps only web and look where we are now.. Can't really trust them to stick to their words.. And my answer to anyone who says they don't want them for battery reasons, then don't run them.. Options aren't a bad things.. Some apps are just useless in their present state. But I agree that most apps shouldn't be allowed to.. It would definatly have to be controled.
how could apple implement a system where some apps are allowed to run in the background and some are not
they will not allow them on the current and next few gens of the iphone
it will slow it down, and use battery
apple have also released a (beta) SDK for background push notifications, and have their servers set up etc
it would be too much for them to simply turn it all off
if you want multi-tasking, go get a WinMob phone
they will not allow them on the current and next few gens of the iphone
it will slow it down, and use battery
apple have also released a (beta) SDK for background push notifications, and have their servers set up etc
it would be too much for them to simply turn it all off
if you want multi-tasking, go get a WinMob phone
i would love to have it too but the battery life would suck big time. That is unless we have the option to carry a spare battery and change it whenever we need it. It'll probably work then. With the current iphone, with Apps running in the background, it'll probably drain the battery in half a day.
Look my friend I know about their push notifications and as I said prior it is a very good idea for some apps that need to run in the background.. But they are missing a group that still some how needs a fix.. And how would apple implement this? It could be done through a very simple application process where if your app is seen as needing to run in the background they grant you access to that part of the sdk.. Simple. They could also require the app to have a quit button in it.. Bottom line is there are many ways to do this. And the response of go get a win phone is one of the dumbest there is.. I completly agree that the iPhone is an amazing product, and it's still young and there will be short comings I'm not complaining about this. I understand why apple made the choice and like that they held back that power.. But truth is it is something that is needed in some cases and I'm sure they are aware. It wouldn't be hard to implement because they already have! Look at the iPod app.
Apple might have to solve at least 4 problems before it would even start to consider allowing applications (other than their own) to run in the background. PalmSource attempted to do the same with their now defunct Cobalt OS which never made it to shipping status.
1.) CPU use. A foreground application or game assumes that it has nearly 100% of the CPU, and that's what most customers want when they start the foreground app. Some mechanism needs to prevent all the background apps from taking more CPU the the tiny bit that won't slow down the foreground app (e.g. customers won't want to miss a phone call or have their movie glitch because they left some pig open in the background). This mechanism needs to work automatically and invisibly for the majority of casual phone users.
2.) Memory use. Similar problem. Maybe apps would only be allowed to leave a small stub or listener routine running within a limited memory pool size. What to do if this heap is full and the customer knows nothing about KB or MB or tasks, etc.
3) Battery use. Customers will complain if something they can't even see is eating their battery life (they already do for things such as location services and push email).
4.) Security. The sandbox would have to prevent apps from listening to any stuff going on in the foreground. Customers wouldn't want some free game memorizing their Safari bank password touch placements or somesuch.
The above problems are not trivial to both solve and to invent a clean, usable and futureproof API for.
1.) CPU use. A foreground application or game assumes that it has nearly 100% of the CPU, and that's what most customers want when they start the foreground app. Some mechanism needs to prevent all the background apps from taking more CPU the the tiny bit that won't slow down the foreground app (e.g. customers won't want to miss a phone call or have their movie glitch because they left some pig open in the background). This mechanism needs to work automatically and invisibly for the majority of casual phone users.
2.) Memory use. Similar problem. Maybe apps would only be allowed to leave a small stub or listener routine running within a limited memory pool size. What to do if this heap is full and the customer knows nothing about KB or MB or tasks, etc.
3) Battery use. Customers will complain if something they can't even see is eating their battery life (they already do for things such as location services and push email).
4.) Security. The sandbox would have to prevent apps from listening to any stuff going on in the foreground. Customers wouldn't want some free game memorizing their Safari bank password touch placements or somesuch.
The above problems are not trivial to both solve and to invent a clean, usable and futureproof API for.
I understand the battery issue, but still... there are some apps that are just dying to be made, but can't be due to silly SDK restrictions. For example, a TRUE Last.fm app (not the current one) which could scrobble songs live -- whatever you were playing on your iPod part of your iPhone -- would be brilliant and so logical. And yet...we apparently can never have it. Seems wrong...
There's another reason not to: system stability. Programs running the background can affect all other apps, and the memory they have. Windows Mobile devices are very unstable because apps can run in the background without limitation, and many apps are written by beginning programmers who don't know what they are doing. And that's not an issue that can be "worked out".
Anyways, since the OP claims to know about the push data, he should also know the answer to his question: no. The push data announcement was made at the same time that Apple said they would never allow third-party apps to run in the background; push-alerts were a way around it. Heck, Apple has talked about removing the ability to directly run programs in the background from the next huge update to Mac OS X!
Anyways, since the OP claims to know about the push data, he should also know the answer to his question: no. The push data announcement was made at the same time that Apple said they would never allow third-party apps to run in the background; push-alerts were a way around it. Heck, Apple has talked about removing the ability to directly run programs in the background from the next huge update to Mac OS X!
i doubt there will ever be background apps. if you watch the conference they were pretty much making fun of background apps and the need for task managers.
i come from a windows background but for this phone i personally don't want background apps.
i was thinking for online radio apps, maybe apple could have a way so the apps could tie to the ipod feature/api? since the ipod does run in the background it would allow online streaming?
i come from a windows background but for this phone i personally don't want background apps.
i was thinking for online radio apps, maybe apple could have a way so the apps could tie to the ipod feature/api? since the ipod does run in the background it would allow online streaming?
Oh, I absolutely believe it will happen.
Probably not until 2010, but eventually there will be newer hardware that makes this a no-brainer.
Whether it's then allowed on the older hardware...hard to say. But at some point it will definately be on the newer phones.
Probably not until 2010, but eventually there will be newer hardware that makes this a no-brainer.
Whether it's then allowed on the older hardware...hard to say. But at some point it will definately be on the newer phones.