Four myths of using iOS devices

by  on  in Uncategorized

First it starts as a tip or rumor, and then it blows up into an integral way you use or believe you can use you iPhone or iPad. Here are 5 such myths.

  • Force quitting apps saves power and makes the phone run faster.
  • IOS devices can’t multitask.
  • The onscreen keyboard is terrible. It never types correctly.
  • You can’t create on iOS devices.

Force quitting apps saves power and makes the phone run faster

When you double-tap the home button on an iOS device, it will show you the recently used apps. Just because the app is in the list doesn’t mean the app is running. Apple has all sorts of tricks to maximize battery life and speed of the device. For starters, except for certain types of apps (GPS and music apps), iOS will kill the app after 10 minutes no matter what. When you click on an app and it launches right where it was, it doesn’t mean the app was running the entire time. Have you noticed that the app isn’t responsive for the first few seconds? That’s because the app wasn’t running. iOS will tell an app when iOS is getting ready to kill the app. It is the app’s responsibility to save what was happening. One of the things saved is a screenshot of the app. This screenshot is what is shown when you re-launch the app.

iOS devices can’t multitask

Of course it multitasks! Apple put several restrictions on what apps can and cannot do in the background to maximize battery life and speed of the device. Apps do run in the background for 10 minutes, and other factors can start up an app in the background (for example geofencing apps or VOIP apps). Music apps are also allowed to play music in the background.

The onscreen keyboard is terrible. It never types correctly.

Stop trying to type correctly and let autocorrect do its thing. You may have to type proper names correctly a few times, but it learns pretty quickly these words. I’ve heard of people even turning off autocorrect! The autocorrect will usually get the words correct, even if you mangle them pretty badly. It will also correct previous words, for example when I type star wars iOS will autocorrect it with the proper capitalization of Star Wars. I miss autocorrect when I’m working on other computers!

You can’t create on iOS devices.

This myth has been dying out in the last year, but it still persists. You can create documents with Pages, Google Drive, or Comic Life; presentations with Keynote; ebooks with Book Creator or Creative Book Builder; mobile websites with TouchAppCreator; music with Garageband; programming with Codea or Pythonista; and graphics/pictures with Paper by Fifty-Three, Procreate, or Sketchbook Pro.

It’s quite amazing what you can create now!

Any myths I’ve missed?