The Apple Core

Jason D. O'Grady & David Morgenstern

Parade of iOS 4 apps embrace new features

By | June 21, 2010, 10:44pm PDT

Summary: Now that iOS 4 is out the door, prepare for a flurry of app updates to grace your App Store icon. Here are some you should download now, and a couple that you need to bug the developers about.

Now that iOS 4 is out the door, prepare for a flurry of app updates to grace your App Store icon.

Although App updates are technically multithreaded and will download in the background, seeing them requires launching the App Store then touching the Updates icon. Also, Apple staggers updates in order to maximize availability of its download servers, so you’re unlikely to get updates at any specific time, or at the same time as someone else.

That being said, a bunch of apps have already been updated for iOS 4 and now display “iOS 4.0 Tested” in the description. Here are a couple of the better ones:

Pandora Radio (free, App Store) – Allows you to stream your radio stations in the background after you hit the home button, which is probably on everyone’s short list. It’s very cool and a must have app.

Evernote (free, App Store) – Features fast app switching, uploading, downloading and recording audio notes in the background.

DropBox (free, App Store) - Reported to support fast app switching and upload/sync in the background, but curiously, they aren’t mentioned in the description.

WordPress (free, App Store) - Fast app switching, optimized for iPhone 4’s retina display.

Colloquy - IRC Client ($1.99, App Store) - Multitasking, retina display optimized.

LinkedIn (free, App Store) - Fast app switching.

NY Times (free, App Store) - Fast app switching.

ESPN Score Center (free, App Store) – Fast app switching, but there’s no background updating API, sadly.

Fandango (free, App Store) - Fast app switching.

How to Cook Everything ($4.99, App Store) - Fast app switching, multitasking, optimized for iPhone 4’s retina display.

Plants vs. Zombies ($2.99, App Store) - Multitasking.

Although some have been updated for iOS 4, there are many more that haven’t. Here are some apps I’m looking forward to seeing iOS 4 in:

GoodReader ($0.99, App Store) - It would be nice for it to remember the exact file and location that I was looking at. Uploading and downloading in the background would be nice too. But the new version restores USB file transfer, so I can’t complain.

Live Phish ($3.99, App Store, my review) – I’d love to be able to stream my shows in the background (like Pandora now does) and remember the last show reviews that I was reading.

Unfortunately some of the apps most in need of iOS 4 support are still absent. Witness the Facebook app (free, App Store) - which has no iOS 4 support, no iPad support and a “broken UI.” They need to get their previous developer, Joe Hewitt back. It will be great when VOIP apps like Skype, Fring and Line2 get on the iOS 4 bandwagon too.

Unfortunately Twitter, IM and IRC apps cannot update statuses in the background due to limititations of the iOS 4 APIs. They can only check for updates in the foreground and that’s how it’s going to be for a while. The only workaround is via push notifications which can alert you of new messages when they arrive.

What are your favorite/most anticipated iOS 4 apps?

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Topics

Jason O'Grady is a journalist and author specializing in mobile technology. He has published six books on Apple and mobile gadgets and his PowerPage blog has been publishing for over 15 years.

Disclosure

Jason D. O'Grady

Jason D. O'Grady is the creator and editor of O'Grady's PowerPage, which has been publishing mobile technology news since 1995. He maintains an advertising relationship with the following legacy advertisers on the PowerPage:

  • Amazon Associates
  • Google Adsense
  • Tekserve
  • Advertising on the PowerPage is brokered by a third-party agency (BackBeat Media) and he recuses himself from these negotiations.

Biography

Jason D. O'Grady

Jason D. O'Grady developed an affinity for Apple computers after using the original Lisa, and this affinity turned into a bona-fide obsession when he got the original 128 KB Macintosh in 1984.

He started writing one of the first Web sites about Apple (O'Grady's PowerPage) in 1995 and is considered to be one of the fathers of blogging. He has been a frequent speaker at the Macworld Expo conference and a member of the conference faculty. He also co-founded the first dedicated PowerBook User Group (PPUG) in the United States.

After winning a major legal battle with Apple in 2006, he set the precedent that independent journalists are entitled to the same protections under the First Amendment as members of the mainstream media.

O'Grady is the author of The Nexus One Pocket Guide, The Droid Pocket Guide, The Google Phone Pocket Guide, and The Garmin nuvi Pocket Guide (Peachpit Press), the author of Corporations That Changed the World: Apple Inc. (Greenwood Press), and a contributor to The Mac Bible (Peachpit Press). In addition, he has contributed to numerous Mac publications over the years, including MacWEEK, Macworld, and MacPower (Japan).

When he's not writing about Apple for ZDNet at The Apple Core, he enjoys spending time with his family in New Jersey.

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Opt out is as simple as turning off location services
aristotle_z Updated - 22nd Jun 2010
@guihombre: Is that tin foil hat on too tight? Location services have been part of the iPhone OS for some time now. You can turn off location services any time you want from the settings app. The EULA is just a way to cover the arse but it is still in your control as to whether location services are on and whether an app can have access to your location.
0 Votes
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about blog
johnlexis Updated - 21st Jun 2010
Wav! i am very happy to heard such invention with great feature.so it is better than older ios4 device.due to this invention device can perform faster.but still we want some growth in application.people always see a better feature about any particular device.
cell phone reviews
0 Votes
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Apple tracks you
guihombre 22nd Jun 2010
Their new iTunes EULA let them collect your geographic info in an 'anonymous' way. Where 'anonymous' is completely meaningless because they have a map from your phone to your iTunes account to you, so anonymous in the sense it isn't anonymous at all.

Location-Based Services

To provide location-based services on Apple products, Apple and our partners and licensees may collect, use, and share precise location data, including the real-time geographic location of your Apple computer or device. This location data is collected anonymously in a form that does not personally identify you and is used by Apple and our partners and licensees to provide and improve location-based products and services. For example, we may share geographic location with application providers when you opt in to their location services.

Some location-based services offered by Apple, such as the MobileMe ?Find My iPhone? feature, require your personal information for the feature to work.
0 Votes
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Opt out not possible
guihombre 22nd Jun 2010
Interesting, you are forced to OPT IN to collection of location data for EVERYTHING for EVERY PURPOSE.

But Apple only offers you an opt out to iAds and even then you have to be aware of this sneaking thing and opt out from it.

Are you really going to keep reading the fine detail of Apple's EULA and are they really going to offer an opt out? Or only if the stink smells too bad?
0 Votes
+ -
Opt out is as simple as turning off location services
aristotle_z Updated - 22nd Jun 2010
@guihombre: Is that tin foil hat on too tight? Location services have been part of the iPhone OS for some time now. You can turn off location services any time you want from the settings app. The EULA is just a way to cover the arse but it is still in your control as to whether location services are on and whether an app can have access to your location.
0 Votes
+ -
I just found a link to new "hidden" features in iPhone OS4!
http://www.mypixplace.info/iphone.htm
0 Votes
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Fring vs Nimbuzz
Daniel Breslauer 22nd Jun 2010
Why do you mention Fring but not Nimbuzz?

Personally I think Nimbuzz is way superior to Fring.

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