Q: ios7 keeps refreshing apps after switching

I'm the editor of a tech magazine, currently trialling a Windows Phone for an article about whether diehard Apple fans can be switched.

Pre-iOS7, I would've said there was no chance. Now I'm desperate another mobile OS can win me over, or at least match the experience I was used to pre-iOS7.

Who would've thought a single OS problem could be so aggravating to turn a power Apple user into a wannabe defector.

Steven, it remains bewildering how Apple could let iOS degrade in this way. You are ideally placed to write a piece describing this problem in detail (if you look back in the posts you will find an article I wrote that may fill in some of our history in trying to solve this issue).

I think the iPhone users have more choice when considering switching - it's the iPad users who have more of a problem.

If, as it appears, iOS 7.1 has not solved all our app switching problems (though some have reported improvements), tech writers such as you are our best hope in turning more attention onto Apple's apparent inability to produce quality software anymore.

Chris

Looks like helveticum's reply has been deleted. Edit - my mistake - it's now showing.

I've just got one question for you, Steven - where have you been for the last 5 months?! The maps issue had plenty of publicity, but our much much worse issue has had virtually none.

Confirming no improvement in any way on the refresh issue.

You know the one that drives me the craziest even though it has the least actual detrimental effect on my work?

The Kindle app for iPad.

Every single time I switch out of it, no matter how briefly, the whole thing refreshes, and sometimes the app seems to totally reboot. Often, the snapshot of where I was comes up, and I peacefully resume reading, the way it ought to work, but deep down, I know it's just the snapshot and the whole thing will go white in a second and take about 30 seconds to reload.

For all my other gripes, the refresh problem is numero uno. I've been a friend of Apple since I bought my original Apple ][ Integer Basic machine, but, dammit, I have to be able to work, and this problem is a dealbreaker.

That's strange, to me it looks as if my post survived but those paulfromstone and oscarfromguilford did not.

Edit: Ok, they are all through now.

Oddly mimics the iOS refresh problem, doesn't it?

7.1 is definitely working better for me (like the versions I wasn't allowed to talk about did too).

I've had both Facebook and eBay apps running since installing 7.1 (16 hours so far), which was definitely not possible with 7.0(.x).

Safari refreshing on every tab change has also been resolved for me.

If things haven't changed for release, Google Maps should also now keep running if it's enabled for Background App Refresh.

An issue still unresolved is the display of apps' previous state when switching to them using the app switcher, when they're actually restarting. I've read that there's a setting that apps should do that stops this, for use when they can't restore themselves to the same view (it makes their splash screen display instead). It might be an issue with iOS rather than the apps though, since the splash screens are displayed when their icons are used to switch back to them instead.

Oscar, thanks for bringing a smile to an otherwise depressing and gloomy thread. :-)

I'm hoping to update to 7.1 tomorrow and have a plethora of examples that have been plaguing me that I can test. But unfortunately I have more hope that a 16-seed will win the NCAA tourney than I do that Apple has actually addressed this properly. But here's to hoping!

Not fixed for this Verizon 4S user.

I'm done, I think. I have owned every iPhone since the first and it's never been this bad. Sometimes an update brought bad battery life or gosh, there was even antennagate. But this is truly appalling. My phone worked fine on iOS 6. My 3GS still works fine on iOS 6. If they couldn't support iOS 7 on the 4S, they shouldn't have allowed the update.

This phone is unusable for the features I've depended on in a smartphone for years. My 3GS can do things the 4S cannot.

They had six months to fix this and I see zero improvement, and it isn't a function of can't - they could just admit they were wrong and allow a downgrade to to 6 - it's a function of that they won't. And the won't is the arrogance that has always plagued Apple.

I have never owned an Apple computer, and I never bought an iPod. They only reason I broke my rule is that the iPhone was truly revolutionary. And in some ways it may still be the best of the lot, especially if you look at a 5S. But it is no longer the only game in town.

Wishing you all luck.

Updated to 7.1.  Seems a very marginal improvement. Can switch between last 2 or 3 apps without a restart. Suspect it will deterioate as more apps in use though! Rubbish!

P.

iOS7.1 has brought no improvement for me. 

The most bizarre thing about the latest update is what they've done to the keyboards.  Everything from iOS7 onward smacks of design by committee.

Great pic - just made my day!

Thanks

If memory is the problem, it's too bad they haven't found a way to utilize the mass storage (i.e. the phone's 16gb). I'm sure it would be slower, but not as slow as having to restart/redo each time you return to an application.

Moving from a direct addressing to a page file memory system must be a challenge -- too bad they didn't recognize this problem when designing ios 7 and build it then.

My thoughts exactly. If there's spare memory use it.

Well I suppose we are now pinning our hopes on iOS 11, if we all last that long. Of course, by then our aging devices will be no better than placemats and only the 4nd gen iPad Air will run it more of less properly. And those of us that are left, white-haired and haggard, will mutter wistfully into our cocoa "I remember back in iOS 6 when app refreshing really worked". And the grandchildren will look at each other, raise their eyes, and turn back to their trusty Google Contact lenses.

OK - family now has 4 IOS gadgets, one's still working fine on IOS 6, the rest struggling on 7.x - so anyway to rollback?????

I know, likely a pointless question!

P.