Why Apple Cripples Apps

The lack of ability for apps to run in the background is becoming increasingly frustrating for me. I mean, the fact that Beejive IM has to resort to a workaround is bad enough, but more and more, I’m seeing and experiencing the limits that result in not allowing background processes to run on the iPhone.

The latest "crippled" app to catch my eye is a small utility called NotifyMe. NotifyMe is

an advanced speaking clock. Open this app and set up an alarm for the time of your appointment. Press start and from then on the phone will tell you how much time you have left. The notification
system is intelligent and can give you notifications more and more often as you get closer to the deadline. Alternatively, you can ask for notifications on fixed time intervals. E.g. every minute like a standard talking clock.

It strikes me as a potentially useful app, if only…

I could have it running in the background while I use my device to do other things.

One feature (and the thing that caught my eye with regard to background apps) is that the app "Will not interrupt iPod music playback". Translation – music CAN play in the background. The opposite, however, is not true. Unless the app is open, it can’t work – not through any fault of the app, mind you, but because Apple won’t allow it to run in the background.

Now I’m all for Apple not allowing things that will make the iPhone unstable, and maybe the processor on the iPhone can’t handle 10 apps running in the background, but surely one or two won’t crash the device. Until that happens, though, I’m afraid that apps like NotifyMe, which might otherwise be useful, will remain limited to the point of useless.

Here’s hoping Apple loosens up a bit or, perhaps, puts a beefier processor that can handle background apps in the next generation Phone.

Click to get NotifyMe.