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location based reminders don't work in ios7 ?

after upgrading to ios7 on my iphone 4s the location based reminders don't work if the reminder-app is not open in multitasking.


on ios6 the location based reminders work fine even if the reminders-app is not open and not in background.


is this a bug? the background update option for reminders is activated in the options.


any ideas?

iPhone 4S, iOS 7

Posted on Sep 19, 2013 11:08 AM

Reply
124 replies

Sep 20, 2013 2:50 PM in response to glod glodson

In iOS7, location-based reminders won't fire if the Reminders app is explicitly terminated by the user.


That is if the user removes an application from the Multi-Tasking application list (brought up with a double-press of the Home button), iOS 7 will conclude that the user doesn't want this app to get any more run-time. That implies that Reminders won't be launched again to display your location-based reminders.


The Reminders app needs to be running in the foreground or to be put in the background for location-based reminders to work.


This is not a bug. This is intended behavior.

Sep 21, 2013 4:12 AM in response to laurentfromcupertino

If the Reminder-App has to stay in background to work for locations-based reminders, why is there an extra setting in "Background Activitys" (In German

"Hintergrundaktivität") where i can switch the background activity for the Reminders on and off? in this settings it says that the reminder app will use geofencing even if it's not started.


that sounds not logical to me.


In ios6 the reminder-app must not be startet and the location-based reminders did work fine. Now in iOS7 i must take care of the reminder-app that i not terminate ist. The Calendar App for example does work (alarm on Calendar-Entrys) even if it's not running in the multitasking view.


@Apple: please change this and make the location based reminders usable again without running in multitasking-view!

Sep 24, 2013 9:21 AM in response to glod glodson

Hi,


Could you clarify which "Background Activitys" setting you're referring to?

Are you referring to the following?

Settings > General > Background App Refresh


One of the statements I made in my previous post is inacurrate. Below is a correction:

"That is if the user removes an application from the Multi-Tasking application list (brought up with a double-press of the Home button), iOS 7 will conclude that the user doesn't want this app to get any more run-time iOS7 won't monitor geo-fences for this app."


Even if the Reminders app is removed from the app switcher, its time-based reminders will work (like Calendar).

Sep 24, 2013 11:05 AM in response to laurentfromcupertino

Sorry, but I don't understand this.


  1. in iOS6 the Geofencing-Function works fine even if the Reminder-App was not working (not in Multitasking-Mode). Now I have to take care not to close the Reminder-App accidently in the Multitasking-Window. That's really uncool!
  2. In Settings > General > Background App Refresh stands the following Sentence: "Erlauben Sie Apps über WLAN oder das mobile Netz, im Hintergrund Inhalte zu aktualisieren oder Ortungsdienste zu verwenden". In English that means something like: "Allow apps over Wi-Fi or the mobile network to update content in the background or use location services". The Switch for "Reminders" is on. So I can't really understand your Statement. :-(

Sep 24, 2013 11:21 AM in response to glod glodson

The text in English is the following under Settings > General > Background App Refresh:

"Allow apps to refresh their content when on Wi-Fi or cellular, or use Location Services, in the background. Turning off apps may help preserve battery life."


The "in the background" part applies to refreshing content and to using Location Services, not just to refreshing content.


So, in order to have location-based reminders to work on iOS7, you need:

- Reminders to be either in the foreground or in the background

- The general switch under Settings > General > Background App Refresh set to ON

- The Reminders switch under Settings > General > Background App Refresh set to ON

Sep 24, 2013 12:30 PM in response to glod glodson

I'm in agreement that despite it being "intended behavior", this is terrible behavior. The idea of a reminder is that I created it because I don't remember. Needing to specifically keep an application running in the background so it remembers is silly and a regression from how it worked in iOS 6. In fact, all apps work the same way on iOS 7. I use a pedometer app and Google Now to track location and movement. On iOS 6, neither needed to be in the multitasking bar for them to work. Now, they need to always be running in the background to receive updates.


Bottom line: Background App Refresh absolutely shouldn't require that we clutter up our multitasking list to reap the benefits.


I'll be posting to Feedback in hopes it is seen and eventually addressed. If you also disagree with current behavior, I suggest you comment at http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html

Sep 25, 2013 8:25 AM in response to glod glodson

Glod,

I also have the same problem and I have a call into Apple and they allegedly forwarded the info to an engineer, so hopefully it will be resolved soon. This is definitely some sort of bug because one of my co-workers also has an iPhone5 with io7 and his location based reminders work even when the app is closed through the app switcher. Another way we can tell this is a bug and not the intended design is this: Try to create a location based reminded through Siri, such as "Remind me when I get home to call work". Siri will give you the confirmation showing that a reminder has been created to activate at a location. However, Siri never actually opens the app when you do this, and therefor if your iPhone is suffering from this bug you will never be reminded when you arrive home. Also, the Find my Friends app, another native Apple App, does not function unless it is open and running in the background on my phone, with my coworkers phone it shows no matter what state his app is in (open/closed). Hope this helps and that they get a fix soon!

Sep 26, 2013 6:24 AM in response to glod glodson

I HATE HOW THEY CHANGED THE REMINDERS APP... I do not see or understand the meaning behind the change.. I also ask siri to remind me at a certain location and nothing happens..When I do have the app running in the background it will remind me.. I do not see how this change is helpful.. i guess it has something to do with saving battery life..

Sep 26, 2013 8:38 AM in response to vanillathesloth

@vanillathesloth: Background App Refresh allows you to configure which apps can continue working when they're not front and center. Think Google Maps giving navigation assistance while you're in Mail. That would be Background App Refresh. However, and this is the issue, it completely ignores apps which are closed from the multitasking area. Those cannot refresh whatsoever, at all, no matter what the settings are. This is why location-based reminders don't work unless you also remember to open Reminders and leave it in the background.


@vitico: Agreed. But I never had an issue with battery life on iOS 6, so it's really puzzling why they changed it as they did. Surely it's not more intuitive.

location based reminders don't work in ios7 ?

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