Q: ios7 keeps refreshing apps after switching

Pmgreene - good example.  It seems the iOS has us multitasking instead of doing the work for us.  Now we have to break out the paper and pencil as well as the idevice.  This is as bad as the time there was no cut and paste way at the beginning.  Hope they get this figured out.  It starting to feel like windows... Constant reboot!

Thanks for the example pmgreene. I will download and try the Amazon app later.

However I was hoping to demonstrate the problem using the standard built-in apps so that anybody could try it out regardless of their app collection. And also note that "Apple's Weather, Stocks, Calculator, Compass, Phone, and Voice Memo apps, all front-and-center on the iPhone, are nowhere to be found on the iPad Air or iPad mini."

Any other ideas with these restrictions in mind?

We need to be able to convince people that this is not just a fault in the Amazon app, for example, but is present on Apple's own apps.

I may end up giving a short list, e.g.

- Amazon app losing its place

- Maps losing its place

- iBooks losing its place

(Though I do concede again that the problem is less severe in iBooks)

More examples? Remember that a reader should be able to recreate it.

Here's an example using Safari and Calendar - standard apps on any iOS-based machine:

1. Close all apps

2. Open Safari and Calendar.

3. In Calendar start to create a new event. I put a title of 'Doctor' and now want to look up the location in Safari.

4. Swap to Safari. Create 5 new tabs based at the Google News site (in my case news.google.co.uk). For each new tab, the blue progress bar shows that a fair bit of work is needed to populate the tab.

5. Swap back to Calendar. The entry disappears.

Can others reproduce this? Does it need more open tabs to trigger the effect on newer machines (these have double the memory of my iPad 2)?

I can then point out that this reset/refresh occurs on most (all?) apps creating varying degrees of frustration.

Example:

Open video

Play a film

Open safari

Switch safari tabs three or four times

Go back to film

The app gone to the start and you must reselect film

Miellino, that sounds like a useful example. So that I can recreate the scenario, what app are you using to play the video?

Official IOs Video app

Sorry to appear dim here! Do you mean the ability built in to iOS to play video? (I didn't think there was a named app for playing video in a default installation.) How are you initiating the play? Is it by playing a video embedded in a web page for example? I need to be able to reproduce your example.

@Helveticum

Great work so far and thanks for taking ownership of that article.

I would just like to add two comments / ideas.

I think it's essential that the bug is demonstrated using core Apple apps like mail, safari and maps. That strengthens the case significantly and makes sure Apple can't blame 'bad coding' of 3rd parties. And we all know that the error can be triggered with the core apps as well.

Second thought... why don't we record a video demonstration of an iPad performing the bug and upload it to youtube? The video needs a bit of editing (blurring password entries etc.) and maybe some subtitles to explain the steps. But other than that this will enable us to rock the online community in a much bigger scale. We might see a lot of hits on that video...

Comments?

Cheers

@viob

Thanks for the feedback. I completely agree with you regarding the choice of Apple apps to demonstrate the problem. This is why I am trying to focus on the standard iOS apps (all Apple apps) and also why I have chosen the Safari/Contacts example a few posts back.

That's an excellent idea regarding a video on youtube illustrating the problem. Also, your idea of using subtitles makes it easier for those for whom English is not a first language, even if we don't go as far as versions for the more significant non-English languages.

@all: Does anyone the time, kit and inclination to give this a go? I would suggest using the Safari/Contacts example or any other using core Apple apps.

It's great to see so many good ideas coming out of this community.

Chris

ehi but do you use your phone?

Apple has built a video APP

look at this photo

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02586/ios7_2586297b.jpg

The second row, last app

<embarrassment ...> Videos! I don't think I've opened that app since I first got my iPad and had forgotten it even existed.

This is an excellent example. I have just reproduced exactly what you described.

Thank you!

I have revised the problem description following the feedback I received after the first draft and hope I have captured the essence of what was intended. I have introduced a concept called the Safari Shuffle (swapping between, and refreshing, 6 non-trivial tabs).

Can I ask for owners of new devices (iPad Air, new iPad Mini, iPhone 5) to road-test my problem recreation to see whether the Shuffle needs more tabs to cause the problem in devices with more memory.

I fear that this article has become fairly long but the problem is a subtle one and if I had made it any shorter we may not have got the message across.

Feel free to respond if you see any glaring inaccuracies. I have a new respect for tech writers ...

Chris

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Given your involvement in all things iPad and iOS-related, I thought you might be interested in a serious iOS 7 bug that has somehow managed to escape the attention of the tech press. This bug is widely discussed in the following Apple forum (https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5380124) and has reached over 20 pages of discussion and references at least two other threads discussing the same problem.

The problem

The issue is an inability of iOS 7 - on iPhones and iPads - to adequately maintain the state of apps that have been suspended when you swap to another app. When returning to that suspended app, the state of the app is not always fully restored. This worked fine in iOS 6. Some examples:

• When returning to a Safari page after swapping to Mail to get some info, the page will often refresh taking the user to the top of the page. This is particularly annoying when returning to a partially filled form in Safari only to lose all the filled-in data.

• One user reports starting to enter a new shipping address in the Amazon app and then going to Contacts to look up an address.  On swapping back to the Amazon app, the user had been returned to their shopping cart and the checkout process had been cancelled.

• Others have reported problems returning to Maps when driving where taking a call or swapping to another app will reset the route.

The list goes on with an increasing number of very frustrated users. The problem appears to be a memory management issue and if you reset or turn the device off and on again, it seems to clear the memory giving improved app swapping until things start to degrade again. This is why each minor iOS 7 upgrade has appeared to fix the problem for a short time - it's the memory reset that does it. There have been suggestions that the older devices that only have 500MB memory are particularly vulnerable to the problem.

Recreating the problem

Most of the problems that occur, appear to based around Safari which for the demo should be set up with 6 non-trivial tabs, e.g. Amazon, news, eBay, Weather, etc. - not just a simple Google search page. This is a typical set up for many users and will be referred to as the Safari Baseline. What interferes with the suspended apps is a sequence I have called the Safari Shuffle:

1. Swap to Safari

2. Switch between each of the 6 tabs, refreshing each tab as you go (using the curved reload icon if it doesn't happen automatically)

Here's a simple example using Safari and Calendar - standard apps on any iOS-based machine:

1. Close all apps.

2. Open Safari and Calendar

3. Set up the Safari Baseline

3. In Calendar start to create a new event. Partially populate the form and now swap to Safari as if to search for an address.

4. Perform the Safari Shuffle

5. Swap back to Calendar. The entry disappears.

Consider the following two more examples in Apple apps:

• Maps: Create a route; perform the Safari Shuffle; return to Maps; the route has been reset. 
• Videos: Start watching a movie; perform the Safari Shuffle; return to Videos; the app has reset to the list of movies and you must reselect the film.

The Safari Shuffle is involved in the loss of state or the loss of data in numerous other apps as well but I have concentrated on a few Apple apps to avoid the argument over whether it is third-party apps that are to blame. Returning to an app after a Safari Shuffle can also result in an annoying delay while the app refreshes itself (an open book in iBooks for example) though this is not as serious as the loss of state and data described above.

Why does the issue have such a low profile?

There are perhaps two main reasons why the profile of this problem is not greater:

• It's a hard problem to describe so users often fail to find appropriate forums via Google searches.

• The problem manifests itself mainly with power-users, i.e. those users who frequently swap between apps. This will often be the case for those who use their devices for work. Many have reported that their devices are no longer fit for business use.

In general it appears to be power-users who are IT-literate enough to know how to describe the problem who are reporting it.

Apple's response

A number of us have been to Genius Bars for advice where we have been encouraged to carry out a DFU reset and restore. No Genius has admitted to encountering the problem before. The reset and restores failed to fix the problem.

Many more of us have contacted Apple support to log the problem. At least one has been requested to provide logging information but not one of us has had a response back from Apple on this.

It's not just older machines

Interestingly, according to a recent study, the iPad 2 accounts for 38 percent of all active iOS tablets and Apple continues to sell the iPad 2 so one would assume that iOS 7 has been tested against such models and would be expected to run on them satisfactorily.

However, users have reported similar problems with the iPad Air and new iPad Mini. One user had an iPad 2 on iOS 6 with no problems and an iPad Air on 7 exhibiting these problems. He then upgraded the iPad 2 to iOS 7 and has the same issues.

Will it be fixed in the next release?

Unlikely. Initial reports on Beta versions of iOS 7.1, due for release in March 2014, suggest that Safari has been fixed so that the tabs maintain their states thus preventing forms from losing their data when swapping back to them. Apparently, however,  the general 'refresh' problem is still there, i.e. other apps are often unable to maintain their states.

What has happened to Apple?

It used to be that Apple kit just worked. After Steve Jobs died, we have seen decreased innovation and an increase in the number of bugs in iOS releases. iOS 6 was riddled with problems including the infamous Maps debacle. iOS 7 has not been much better; it has been equally bug-ridden and has been associated with performance problems on older machines. Many of the iPhone users on the forum are planning to jump ship after their contracts expire. If it were not for the fact that there is still no viable alternative to the iPad Air, I would be looking elsewhere too.

It used to be that Apple was proactive. Now they appear reactive; perhaps the artificial deadline of including iOS 7 with the new phones led to sloppy coding and poor testing. Whatever the reason for Apple's drop in standards, it shows cynical disregard for its customers.

Will Apple become the next Blackberry? I certainly hope not but I do know that, along with many others, my confidence in Apple's ability to deliver quality software has taken a large knock.

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Good afternoon.  I've been reading every post on this since page 1 via email alerts.  I haven't posted anything yet because I was hoping this would be resolved by now.  I am experiencing all of the same problems as everyone else.  It is extremely frustrating; even more so because iOS 6 worked so well!  I'm very glad to see the handful of you step up and attempt to take this to the next level.

Helveticum I have tried to recreate this using your Safari Shuffle as described above, however after switching between 7 tabs and reloading each my calendar entry was (surprisingly) still there and intact.  It wasn't until I added a third app, the native messaging app (receive and send about 7 texts), that I was able to create the problem and have the calendar entry disappear.

I have an iPhone 4S with the iOS 7.0.4.

Thanks Sithman00, and though this is very frustrating, it's best we know before releasing this into the wild. We are in danger of having people asking that if the problem is this hard to reproduce, is it really a problem.

However, we do know this is a major problem for so many of us. This thing is, even if it only happens one in three times it still gives us a platform we don't trust.

Does anyone else have any ideas on this?

Do we 'simply' raise the threshold on the number of tabs in the Safari Shuffle? Why does it readily demonstrate the problem on my iPad but not on a 4S?

I am reluctant to go public with this article until we can back up our claims with reproducible experiments otherwise we will lack credibility.

We need more testers who can help come up with a relatively foolproof demonstration. I am pretty sure the Safari Baseline and Safari Shuffle is the basis for it. (BTW, sorry for the rather corny abbreviations but I had to call them something.)

Sigh ...

I have also been experiencing this problem ever since updating to iOS 7, but have only just discovered this thread. Just wanted to add my vote to getting this fixed.

I have found the problem definitely gets worse over time. Turning the iPad off and back on again doesn't clear the problem, all my previously open apps are still there even after recycling. Instead I explicitly close all apps and that clears it for a while.