Push It!
Posted Jun 23rd 2009 2:41AM by Edwin Aoki
After long anticipation, I'm very pleased to announce that AIM and AIM (Free Edition), both with push notifications, are now available in the App Store. We've been waiting since the iPhone came out to be able to bring you an instant messaging app that works the way you expect, with notifications when you're doing something else like web surfing or listening to AOL Radio, and thanks to Apple's Push Notification framework, we finally can. While we were in there, we took the opportunity to tweak a few things as well. We fixed a couple of compatibility issues with iPhone OS 3.0, improved the speed and stability by making a number of internal changes in the app, and tweaked the fonts a little bit so that we could get more of your conversation on screen, as many had asked. For customers of the paid edition of AIM, we've also added one of your most requested features - support for landscape mode in just about every screen. We'll be continuing to improve our landscape support, and making the feature available in the Free Edition in a future release, but rest assured we're listening to all of your feedback, so please keep it coming. I know a number of you have been frustrated by the wait, especially those of you who've had issues since upgrading to OS 3.0. To all of you, we're sorry. As you know, like all other developers, our apps go through an approval process which, with all of the great apps coming for OS 3.0, took a little longer than anyone would have wanted. But now it's here, and we're thrilled to be able to bring it to you. Future postings will go over some more tips on how to use push, including the difference between Push Notifications and SMS notifications (and when you might want to use one vs. the other), what the "24 hour" sign in means, and how to control the alerts and vibrations you get with push technology. We'll also dive a little deeper into some of AIM's other features, like SMS text integration and location sharing. But for now, enjoy the update. If you're not seeing it in iTunes on your desktop, try quitting and restarting the app. (Note that deleting AIM on the iPhone and reinstalling, as some have suggested, may delete your past conversation state).
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About The Team
Hi. I'm Edwin Aoki, and I'm a Technology Fellow at AOL. Contrary to popular belief (and wishful thinking) this doesn't mean I get to sit around and be fed grapes while thinking Deep Thoughts. In fact, I can't remember the last time I had any Deep Thoughts, let alone the last time anyone fed me grapes. But I'm thrilled to be part of the iPhone development effort at AOL, and I hope to provide some perspective on what it is we do here, why we do it, and to hear your thoughts on how we can do it better. You can follow my updates @edwinaoki.
Hi, I'm Christina Wick, Technical Director for the AOL Mac team. My team is responsible for the development and testing of all the desktop Mac applications as well as a bunch of iPhone apps including AIM, AOL Radio, SHOUTcast, touchTXT, and many more. I took over managing the Mac team a little over two years ago when AOL decided to "Get Back on the Mac." Since then, we have released numerous desktop products and iPhone apps. We look forward to bringing more exciting apps to the Mac community. I'm on Twitter, if you would like to follow me - @ChristinaWick.
My name is Lee Givens and I'm the Product Lead for the Mac products at AOL and you can find me on the Mac@AOL blog too. When I'm not at the office, I'm probably in line at the local Apple Store whenever a new iPhone is released (actually, when anything from Apple is released :) I've been at AOL since 2007 and lead product management for Mac and iPhone apps. During my spare time, I collect vintage Macs (and Apple IIs) and root for the Univ. of Maryland Terps. If you would like to follow me, I'm at @MacGivens.
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 2)
21. I'm having the same issue Alex is with missing IMs. I'll get x push IMs according to the badge, but open the app and only recieve n IMs where n < x. They are genuinely lost IMs and not too many push notifications. Initially I thought it had to do with having multiple clients logged in and the IMs being routed to the desktop, but it happens alot even when the iPhone is the only client logged in. There also seems to be an issue with peoples online status being incorrectly reported as offline. Their online status will flap on and off during a conversation, even though their connection isn't genuinely doing so. Maybe the two are related? I don't really know.
Posted at 3:11PM on Jul 10th 2009 by Brad
22. I would like to be able to stay logged in longer than 24 hours. I would like it to run faster on Iphone 3G. . I would like to be able to send pictures.
Posted at 9:44AM on Jul 15th 2009 by Brad
23. Good job on the AIM push capabilities but now when do we get AOL mail to work with push so I don't have to set the iphone to check the mail every 15 minutes and waste precious battery life. Thank you in advance!
Posted at 9:37PM on Jul 26th 2009 by Taylor R.
24. I'm not sure if it's just me, but push notifications have 100% stopped working, and it's been for the past 2-3 weeks? I have push notify turned on in iPhoen AIM app, as well as within iPhone General Settings. I am signed in, and nothing at all.. Should I remove and reinstall? They worked perfectly for about a week, and then completely stopped out of the blue. I'm on the first gen iphone, running 3.0 software. Any help would be very much appreciated.
Another issue that I am having is the same as Brad has mentioned above, regarding people that are really online, being shown as not online, and vice-versa.
Thanks
Posted at 6:15PM on Jul 23rd 2009 by Ryan
25. @ Alex & Brad
I'm experiencing the same problem you are having and it's making me very frustrated. I lose messages a lot actually. Sometimes when I get an IM and the push notification comes, I press "close" instead of reply because I'm in the middle of doing something else. When I go in later to check the message, it is no longer there.
The same thing happens when my phone goes idle. When I go to unlock my phone, the push notification is there, and after I unlock the phone, I see the number of badges on the app, but once again when I open it there's nothing there. But I know I got messages because I'll see the preview of the last IM sent in the push notificiation.
Is there a fix for this? Is anyone else experiencing this? I've deleted the app and reinstalled it. I caved and bought the app in hopes that it didn't have the same problem. But no dice...
Posted at 11:20PM on Jul 30th 2009 by Kydah
26. I keep loosing my nicknames and shows only sometimes the ICQ # only on and off. This is frustrating as hell
Posted at 12:04AM on Aug 6th 2009 by Greg Mace
27. Will logging in on iChat with my computer reset the 24 hour login timer on the AIM iPhone app.
Posted at 12:33PM on Aug 8th 2009 by Charley