iOS 4 Multitasking (Fast App Switching Support)

I too would like the fast app switching feature of ios 4 added to an upcoming release. Any info is appreciated.

On iOS 4 apps without explicit background support are held in a kind of stasis, ready to go when you switch back to them (as long as there's RAM available). So unless you manually quit it from the multitasking window, it is automatically 'kept open'. This is the behavior I'm seeing in the simulator with an app I'm developing.

As it stands now the iPhone version of the Gospel Library restores itself to its last state. It doesn't currently run anything that would qualify for iOS 4's background tasks (voip, audio, special notifications, etc.), except maybe library downloads (which are automatically terminated in the background if the app doesn't finish them soon enough).

In other words, I don't think you should expect to see a huge change in performance or behavior for this particular app if/when iOS 4 background capabilities are added.

The behavior I'm seeing currently on my iPhone 4 is the app restarts from the beginning every time I switch back to it even when using the multitasking pane.

kombismoke wrote:The behavior I'm seeing currently on my iPhone 4 is the app restarts from the beginning every time I switch back to it even when using the multitasking pane.

Interesting! I am using it on an iPod touch and it remembers where I was when I switch away to a different app and switch back.

Yeah, I have devices with 4.0.1 (iPhone 3G & 3GS), 3.1.3 (first gen iPhone), and 3.2 (iPads) and they're all behaving as expected. Did you try uninstalling and reinstalling the latest version of the app?

the original version of the lds library app stayed in the exact place you left it but after the upgrade i had it go to the top of the chapter when i close the program it starts from the start then goes to the top of the chapter i was last on if it was multi-tasking it should be exactly where i left off and not come with the start up screen then the top of the page i left off

sirbryan wrote: except maybe library downloads (which are automatically terminated in the background if the app doesn't finish them soon enough).

Apps are normally given 10 minutes of background execution time before they are terminated. The nice thing about implementing this feature is if you get a phone call or need to switch to another app to look something up, the download will continue. An app can also query to find out how much time is left so if time does run out the app can shut down what it needs to in order to restore the state later.

This really should be added!