Terminating or disconnecting the app [solved]

[wdaehn]

I believe two ways to end the app are missing.
1. Disconnect the app from USB but continue sending GPS: As long as USB is active, certain functions will not work for good reasons. Turn on Liveview, Play, maybe more. This is how Nikon cameras work with USB and remote control. Hence there should be a prominent button to do so.
2. Terminate the app: Why should the app run day and night? There should be the option to terminate it, e.g. by clicking the back button twice in the home screen. Worse, even if the camera is off it continues sending GPS positions and thus draining the battery of the smartphone.

Agree?

[Andy]

Hi wdaehn,

I'm afraid I don't understand what you mean.

The Unleashed does not need USB in order for the GPS functionality to work. On the Unleashed N1 and N2, GPS is sent via the remote socket, not via USB.

If you close the app by pressing the back or the home button, the app will continue to run in the background and to send GPS data. If you "kill" the app, then the app should stop sending GPS data and kill all Bluetooth connections.

We are aware of some issues with GPS and Bluetooth connections in the Android app, you can expect everything to work as expected once the app hits version 1.0.0.

I hope this helps.

[wdaehn]

My first argument is, if I can start an application I want to be able to close it. Period. How would you feel if I compulsory require you to run a program in the background just to talk to me once a while? Sure, I can kill the app, but that's a lot of clicks in Android.

But that point aside, imagine the following cases

• I want to use my camera normally, without GPS, without remote control. You can't do that as long as the Unleashed plug is connected, because the background app connects right away. And then certain things do not work, like liveview button on the camera.
• I want to use my camera normally, without remote control but continue sending GPS. Currently there is no option to do that other than removing the USB cable. As a result the liveview button does not work on the camera.
• I am done with today's photo session, want to use my phone normally. But the Unleashed app keeps running in the background. For the entire time until I reboot the phone - so for months. Even if the app does shutdown GPS reception after a while automatically and does not do anything while running, it is still a bad style.

Explained better?

[Andy]

I think you might be experiencing some issues with the Android app that I'm not aware of.

I want to use my camera normally, without GPS, without remote control. You can't do that as long as the Unleashed plug is connected, because the background app connects right away. And then certain things do not work, like liveview button on the camera.

A: The Unleashed does not talk to your camera when the app is not active. Even if the app is connected, the Unleashed knows when the app is active or in the background. When the app is in the background, USB communication stops and the camera should work normally. I think what's happening here is that the app is not telling the Unleashed when it is in the background. I will consult this with the Android team.

I want to use my camera normally, without remote control but continue sending GPS. Currently there is no option to do that other than removing the USB cable. As a result the liveview button does not work on the camera.

A: Why do you have to remove the USB cable? Does the liveview button not work when you remove it?

I am done with today's photo session, want to use my phone normally. But the Unleashed app keeps running in the background. For the entire time until I reboot the phone - so for months. Even if the app does shutdown GPS reception after a while automatically and does not do anything while running, it is still a bad style.

A: We can't do anything about that. You have the control over which apps you want to run or not in the background. As a user, you can open, close, and kill apps. Apps can't close themselves, that would actually be like a crash then. That's just the way it works. Please let me know if I have not understood you correctly.

[Andy]

One way to know whether the Unleashed is talking to camera is to look at the LED. If the LED is just ON all the time with a turquoise color, then the Unleashed is talking to the camera. When the Unleashed is not active, it slowly phases between on and off, turquoise if the app is connected, yellow otherwise.

[wdaehn]

Okay, I accept case 1 and 2. I might have tested it wrong.

Regarding the last statement you are right, I need to be more careful.
Let's make it quite simple for me. On my phone, although I have not used the Unleashed for a long time, it shows the Unleashed app in the notification area still. It should not.

Can we agree on that?

[Andy]

I think I know what you mean now with the thing about running in the background. I just killed the Android app and apparently it was still searching for GPS somewhere in the background. I will report this behavior to the Android team. It looks like a bug to me.

[wdaehn]

I am not sure about that. Is it a bug?

You have two colliding requirements.
If the app is in the background, you want to continue sending GPS data. Hence the notification bar icon is correct.
If you turned off the camera you might want to turn it on a few minutes later - the app should be sending GPS data still. Hence the notification bar icon is correct.
I am done for today, hence the app should not show up in the notification bar any longer.

The apps does not know if I turned off the camera for good or just temporarily. Hence my initial request to have an option to stop the application. Or in more precise terms, tell it stop all background processing and vanish from the foreground.

You can obviously work with timings, e.g. no connection with the camera for more than 1h means stop the background processes. But that is a compromise always.

[Andy]

Honestly, I'm not an Android user, but on iOS when you kill the app (i.e. you open the app switcher and you swipe the app up), the app is not running in the background anymore. If you just close the app to go to another, then the app is still running.

This is the behavior I would expect from the Android app. I'm not sure if apps on Android work differently.

[wdaehn]

Okay, I agree now with your answers to item 1) and 2). The app does not influence the camera because when it is not in the foreground or not used for a while, the usb connection is terminated.

I am still adamant about the app running background tasks day and night. That should not be the case.

(No, in android you have to jump to settings -> apps -> find the app -> force kill to hard stop the unleashed and to get rid of the unleashed icon.)