Facebook 3.1 With Push Notifications Coming Soon
Early this morning developer of the iPhone Facebook application, Joe Hewitt, posted that Facebook 3.03 is on it’s way to squash a few bugs. Even bigger news is that update will then be followed by Facebook 3.1 which will include push notifications.
Facebook happens to be one of the most used iPhone applications today while push notifications is the most sought after missing feature from the application. Techcrunch brings up a few valid points regarding how these notifications are currently handled and the potential issues that can arise from an application that will pop up more than a few notifications on your screen. The major issue being if you receive more than one notification you are completely lost as to what the previous notification(s) were for.
Personally I tend to turn off the alerts in certain applications that push a lot of notifications to my iPhone. Applications such as Beejive and Twitbit are just a few that I simply leave the “badge” option on so I can just see how many messages I have. That still does not change the fact that I want a better push notification system…
What are your thoughts on the current push notification system and how would you like to see it improved? Sound off in comments below!
October 19th, 2009 at 10:31 am
Soon will probably be a few weeks if Apple keeps up it’s last pace
October 19th, 2009 at 10:33 am
I am pretty sure the big delay from before was on Hewitt’s side. He announced it was 90% done, and then it was forever before it was submitted for review.
October 19th, 2009 at 10:34 am
Now I can get rid of Boxcar. I use Letmeknow for all my other notification.
October 19th, 2009 at 10:34 am
Email Push is currently good enough for my Facebook notifications. But, I guess I’ll use its real notifications when updated. No big deal… I mean, does anyone on Facebook really expect instant responses anyway?
October 19th, 2009 at 10:43 am
Like i said at Techcrunch, the global iphone notification system needs change. We need quick access to all notifications in one place. Popups in the middle of screen are stupid. Having to check app badges, and information app by app, in several screens, is an hassle. Sound only is not a solution.
So please Apple, make it happen, and before OS 4.0 (one year is too late)
October 19th, 2009 at 11:10 am
For jailbreakers, GriP is the perfect application to deal with multiple push notifications. It was featured on this blog not long ago:
http://www.theiphoneblog.com/2009/04/30/quick-app-grip-growl-notification-iphone-jailbreak/
October 19th, 2009 at 11:13 am
This will be nice. Hopefully it won’t blow my phone up constantly or I’ll have to go to badges only
October 19th, 2009 at 11:15 am
What’s the point of push notifications on Facebook anyhow? Do you REALLY want an alert every time a friend levels up in Mafia Wars, plays YoVille, or invites you to play Farkle? I mean really…
October 19th, 2009 at 11:17 am
@Bill
I agree. While it’s a nice start that FINALLY a free application has push notifications, my email alerts are sufficient enough for Facebook. Perhaps this will be a domino effect and other free applications will start offering push notifications. Doubt it, though.
October 19th, 2009 at 11:18 am
I hope this happen sooner then layer
October 19th, 2009 at 11:43 am
Bill, i block all that ****
October 19th, 2009 at 12:05 pm
Right now I have Prowler pushing growl alerts from the desktop Facebook Notifications client that receives alerts from facebook. Oh yes, quite convoluted, hilariously so, but it does actually work pretty well, if you don’t want a badge or tap through alerts like the real deal will bring.
October 19th, 2009 at 12:12 pm
The problem I have with the notifications is that I swipe so fast to unlock and poof! The notification is gone and I have no idea what it was. Maybe the badge could blink or something. Idk but it is frustrating.
October 19th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
Good, i can finally turn off facebook text alerts when there’s push.
October 19th, 2009 at 2:16 pm
Yeah facebook texts are a pita.
October 19th, 2009 at 2:35 pm
I just swipe to my Twitter widget. Poor Iphone users.
October 19th, 2009 at 3:27 pm
It would be nice if for push notifications and text messages, when you get multiples, it should display the first one received and who sent it, then there should be a little ‘next’ arrow so you can scroll through them without unlocking your phone…and for long texts you should be able to scroll down to see the whole thing. For Facebook to be tolerable they better have really good fine tuning about what things you want to be notified of at all.
October 19th, 2009 at 3:54 pm
I think there needs to be a “push history” app, or option in the settings, where you can scroll through all previous push notifications. It could be laid out by app, or by time – or customizable by the user.
October 19th, 2009 at 4:08 pm
The iPhone needs a “Push Feed”, where you can select/deselect stories/feeds and filter.
October 19th, 2009 at 4:32 pm
I don’t want FB to push notifications to me. Sure, I could turn that feature off. I would like to see video support, which is supposedly being worked on.
October 19th, 2009 at 5:06 pm
Omg this what I’ve been waiting for.
October 19th, 2009 at 5:34 pm
The iPhones notification system needs a complete overhaul, at the moment it’s a completely disjointed mess. At the moment you get an alert and if miss it you’ve got know idea what it was for. And Ive lost track of the among of times the damn system has interupted me while I’m in the middle of something. Apple need to take a look at the pre and android os’s if they want to see how it’s done.
October 19th, 2009 at 9:45 pm
I’m just happy facebook is getting push. I don’t care about the badges and alerts.
October 19th, 2009 at 10:28 pm
@Tristen:
Where’s GriP? I don’t see it in Cydia.
October 20th, 2009 at 9:36 am
Some people are never satisfied, first you wanted push.. now you want a better notification system.. Well you are right.. we need somthing that could tally up messages like we see with missed calls, voicemails and text messages
October 25th, 2009 at 11:22 pm
i wish that the email notification would open within the app rather than the web browswer