A Mobile GeoLocation App That Doesn’t Give Location Updates Without User Intervention Isn’t a Mobile GeoLocation App

By Daniel Miessler on July 30th, 2009: Tagged as Technology

facepalm

I grow very tired of apps like Latitude on the iPhone that require you to actually open the application to update your own location.

You know what that means? It means that when you look at your friends’ locations, they’ll all be stale.

Why? Because people don’t go around opening these sorts of apps on regular intervals for the benefit of their friends. It’s occasional, therefore useless.

Give us the option to send out regular updates every 10, 30, or 60 minutes–without having to open the app–or don’t fucking bother. Seriously. ::

  • CarlM

    I'm not sure that this would have been any different if it was a regular app. The gripe here is with Apple for not allowing multitasking on the iPhone (except for the built-in iPod). I love my iPhone, but I'd be happier if I could:

    (1) Run more than one program at once (in the background obviously .. the screen size is too small for anything else). If the fabled tablet comes into existence and does NOT allow multitasking, it'll suffer.

    (2) Write my own programs for the thing without paying Apple $99 to join their iPhone Developer Program.

  • Brad W.

    Running applications in the background should solve this, but I wonder if the inclusion of background apps would destroy the already short battery life. I have been wondering about ways to include this without too much overhead, and am thinking of a few possible solutions. One would be to only allow programs to run in the background as jobs that update status and basic information, such as GPS info. This would be a limited implementation of backgrounding, but a good start. Think of this as a basic cron job. You set the parameters for frequency of updates, and this pseudo-cron is updated. The problem that I keep running into is the “sandbox”. Since the apps run in a “sandbox” and don't live outside of that, I am pretty sure that you would not be able to write an app that writes to the Core Services Layer. To finish this rambling, a single app that would allow you to set up these crons would most likely suffice. It would be a “nerfed” implementation of backgrounding, but could serve to alleviate some of the most common headaches.

    I agree with Carl about the $99 developer account for the most part, but I do have mixed feelings in some areas. I feel that if they charged $100 for XCode from the beginning and gave everyone access, it would seem more accessible. I have also been thinking about the possibility that the fee is in place to force a developer/developers to actually consider the value of the apps that they create. Imagine, if everyone had access to post apps for review, a) how much longer the (already very long) approval process would be and b) how many (more) redundant applications would be out there. We would end up with 500 fart apps because there is no skill in writing them. My ideal solution would be to pay per application submitted, but allow for free personal use and distribution to friends and associates.

    Also, if there are any other iPhone developers, tinkerers, or people familiar with the OS Structure, please let me know where I am wrong.

  • CarlM

    “I feel that if they charged $100 for XCode from the beginning and gave everyone access, it would seem more accessible.”

    Great point. I hadn't thought about it that way. I'd have bought Xcode for $100 .. but it's “free” so ..

    Quick question, is the $99 a one-time fee or an annual thing? (Yes, I could look this up from Apple, but if someone knows the answer it'll save me the effort.)

    “I have also been thinking about the possibility that the fee is in place to force a developer/developers to actually consider the value of the apps that they create.”

    I'm pretty sure that this is at least a part of Apple's reasoning. But, I'm not talking about programming for the app store. I'm just talking about writing my own programs for myself that I can run on my pocket computer (iPhone).

    I suppose that if everyone could do this for free then people would be sharing freeware code for people to compile themselves and run on their own iPhones and Apple would be out of the loop. By controlling distribution of the programs, they increase the number of programs in the app store. Even though many of them are free, the number of available apps makes the iPhone that much more attractive to new customers.

    Anyway, if it's a one time fee, I will likely pay it (the XCode cost argument convinced me).

    (Daniel .. see how easy it is to change my mind with a concise and strong argument?)

  • CarlM

    Grr. It's $99 per year. I'll have to think about this.

  • Brad W.

    If you haven't already done so, I would recommend getting the SDK set up and writing some apps before deciding. This is free, and you only have to pay once you are either ready to begin submitting work for approval or deploying to physical devices. The included emulator is nice and provides much of the basic functionality. It will also allow you to get familiar with the SDK before your “subscription” begins.

    The SDK is located in the downloads section at apple.com/developer. All you have to have to get it is a (free) developer account.

  • CarlM

    Yep, I've had the SDK for a while. I almost registered earlier today
    but decided to wait until I had something worth putting on a physical
    device.

  • CarlM

    “I feel that if they charged $100 for XCode from the beginning and gave everyone access, it would seem more accessible.”

    Great point. I hadn't thought about it that way. I'd have bought Xcode for $100 .. but it's “free” so ..

    Quick question, is the $99 a one-time fee or an annual thing? (Yes, I could look this up from Apple, but if someone knows the answer it'll save me the effort.)

    “I have also been thinking about the possibility that the fee is in place to force a developer/developers to actually consider the value of the apps that they create.”

    I'm pretty sure that this is at least a part of Apple's reasoning. But, I'm not talking about programming for the app store. I'm just talking about writing my own programs for myself that I can run on my pocket computer (iPhone).

    I suppose that if everyone could do this for free then people would be sharing freeware code for people to compile themselves and run on their own iPhones and Apple would be out of the loop. By controlling distribution of the programs, they increase the number of programs in the app store. Even though many of them are free, the number of available apps makes the iPhone that much more attractive to new customers.

    Anyway, if it's a one time fee, I will likely pay it (the XCode cost argument convinced me).

    (Daniel .. see how easy it is to change my mind with a concise and strong argument?)

  • CarlM

    Grr. It's $99 per year. I'll have to think about this.

  • Brad W.

    If you haven't already done so, I would recommend getting the SDK set up and writing some apps before deciding. This is free, and you only have to pay once you are either ready to begin submitting work for approval or deploying to physical devices. The included emulator is nice and provides much of the basic functionality. It will also allow you to get familiar with the SDK before your “subscription” begins.

    The SDK is located in the downloads section at apple.com/developer. All you have to have to get it is a (free) developer account.

  • CarlM

    Yep, I've had the SDK for a while. I almost registered earlier today
    but decided to wait until I had something worth putting on a physical
    device.

  • http://arik.baratz.org arikb

    My Google Latitude on the Android does it in the background, so I guess it's an iPhone limitation. I bet it's the background apps issue.

    – Arik


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