Fastmail app for iOS - Page 7

Mugwhamp · 16 May 2015, 08:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by michaelab

Yes, same situation exactly (iPhone 6, iOS 8.3). The problem also started around Wednesday (13th May 2015) for me.

Confirmed. No notifications on iPhone 5s, iOS 8.3.

Perturbance · 16 May 2015, 10:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Perturbance

Push notifications on iOS have stopped working for me as well. The problem started around Wednesday. iPhone 6 Plus, iOS 8.3. I don't have an Apple Watch. Things I've tried so far:

I got a push notification from the FastMail app for a new e-mail just now, around 1:50 am UTC on Saturday 16 May. So the problem may be fixed, for me anyway. I'll keep an eye on it..

robn · 16 May 2015, 10:55 AM

tl;dr this should now be fixed.

Last week we rolled out a Cyrus update, which changed the internal data format used to report mailbox events. These get fed out to a notification service, which then generates various notifications (device pushes, calendar notifications, SMS notifies, etc).

We update the notification service to match, but there was a bug in the new code that caused it to incorrectly extract the username portion of the event for certain very old accounts that have a different username structure internally for some rather obscure historical reasons.

Most users have the standard username structure internally, including all our test users, which is why the problem wasn't noticed in testing and has only affected a handful of people. On Monday I'll make sure that a couple of test users are converted to the old structure so we have proper coverage for this case.

So I've just now fixed the parsing and tested on both kinds of users and it appears to be doing the right thing.

michaelab · 16 May 2015, 08:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by robn

So I've just now fixed the parsing and tested on both kinds of users and it appears to be doing the right thing.

Confirmed. It now works again for me. Thanks Rob!

Perturbance · 17 May 2015, 03:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by robn

tl;dr this should now be fixed.

Thanks! It's working for me as well.

wam · 30 May 2015, 11:46 PM

I am unable to paste copied text in a new email or while replying.

rblon · 31 May 2015, 08:35 PM

same issue with copy-pasting (using iPad iOS 8.3). When I read a message, I can select a text and copy, but when composing or replying, tap and hold only shows the magnifying glass.

Pfolson · 1 Jun 2015, 12:10 AM

Yes, same pasting problem for me using the IOS app. Interestingly, pasting works fine using the mobile site in Safari or another browser, but not using the app.

placebo · 1 Jun 2015, 06:44 AM

I can't paste into the password field when logging in. This is a significant problem because I usually copy and paste passwords, which are long and hard to type without making a mistake, from my password manager.

michaelab · 10 Jul 2015, 03:14 AM

Interesting mention of the Fastmail iOS app. The article will get a lot of reads as it was linked to by John Gruber at daringfireball.net.

https://medium.com/@zengabor/three-t...f6d47726e#e1df

I have to agree. In situations of poor network coverage, the app is next to useless.

I also agree that it was a terrible decision to make non-native app which is just a wrapper around the web app. A truly native iOS (and Android) app is what Fastmail users deserve.

The only reason I use the app at all on iOS is in order to receive push notifications for new mail, so I don't have to have the Apple Mail.app polling my account every 15 minutes which wastes a lot of battery.

zsazs · 10 Jul 2015, 06:04 AM

I also read the article and came here to mention it, but was beaten to it!

I however disagree that a non-native app is necessarily bad. There's nothing inherent about HTML/JS app development that precludes off-network operation. If the codebase for the webapp is bundled with the iOS app, and the only thing that goes over the network is JMAP, it could handle poor network connectivity just as well as a native app. Due to JMAP it probably could handle slow networks better than any IMAP client could, actually.

However, due to the way the app behaves currently, there's obviously an issue with poor network connectivity, but it's nothing that can't be fixed.

robn · 10 Jul 2015, 06:55 AM

Its nothing to do with native vs hybrid, and everything to do with the app not currently having an offline mode. I could easily build a native app that has no offline storage and it would have the same problems.

When we started with the mobile apps, the only feature we couldn't do directly in the web app was push notifications, which is the main reason the apps even exist. That's starting to change with the W3C Push API, already implemented in Chrome. I'm hopeful that withing a couple of years the web app in the browser and the mobile apps will be at feature parity and then we can retire the mobile apps entirely.

We intend to build an offline mode into the web app, and then all users, desktop, mobile browser and mobile app will be able to use it. No ETA - we've only done the earliest of planning on it, so it definitely won't be this year.

rusl · 14 Jul 2015, 06:39 PM

Get rid of the native app and rely on a Safari tab staying logged in? Really? What would happen each day when I flush my cookies - would I need to login again? And when my phone flushes the Safari tabs due to memory scarcity? Would background app refresh need to be turned on?

Did I mention how much I love the native app?

robn · 15 Jul 2015, 02:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rusl

Get rid of the native app and rely on a Safari tab staying logged in? Really? What would happen each day when I flush my cookies - would I need to login again? And when my phone flushes the Safari tabs due to memory scarcity? Would background app refresh need to be turned on?

Ideally, the offline support would mean that there's enough stuff stored in the background to bring the tab back quickly. Flushing cookies, don't know - maybe there'd be auth details in the offline store too, maybe flushing cookies is a bad idea.

Quote:

Did I mention how much I love the native app?

This isn't a proper plan, just a vague agreement among the engineering staff that'd be nice if we didn't need to do a separate app. Continue to love it, its not going anywhere!

markiehill · 15 Jul 2015, 02:05 PM

Using the app is a nightmare in poor signal conditons, you get alerts and then can't open the email, it is so annoying.

The Gmail app suffers from the same problem. I do not understand the reluctance to add offline storage to the app.

And just my 2p , I do not want fastmail running in a browser on my Iphone offline storage or not. I want an app , and an app that is supported and loved.

30 May 2015, 11:46 PM	#96
wam Senior Member Join Date: May 2007 Location: Pakistan Posts: 192	Copy paste I am unable to paste copied text in a new email or while replying.

10 Jul 2015, 03:14 AM	#100
michaelab Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 139	Interesting mention of the Fastmail iOS app. The article will get a lot of reads as it was linked to by John Gruber at daringfireball.net. https://medium.com/@zengabor/three-t...f6d47726e#e1df I have to agree. In situations of poor network coverage, the app is next to useless. I also agree that it was a terrible decision to make non-native app which is just a wrapper around the web app. A truly native iOS (and Android) app is what Fastmail users deserve. The only reason I use the app at all on iOS is in order to receive push notifications for new mail, so I don't have to have the Apple Mail.app polling my account every 15 minutes which wastes a lot of battery. Last edited by michaelab : 10 Jul 2015 at 03:17 AM. Reason: Adjusted link anchor

16 May 2015, 10:55 AM	#93
robn Master of the @ Join Date: May 2012 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 1,007 Representative of: Fastmail.fm	tl;dr this should now be fixed. Last week we rolled out a Cyrus update, which changed the internal data format used to report mailbox events. These get fed out to a notification service, which then generates various notifications (device pushes, calendar notifications, SMS notifies, etc). We update the notification service to match, but there was a bug in the new code that caused it to incorrectly extract the username portion of the event for certain very old accounts that have a different username structure internally for some rather obscure historical reasons. Most users have the standard username structure internally, including all our test users, which is why the problem wasn't noticed in testing and has only affected a handful of people. On Monday I'll make sure that a couple of test users are converted to the old structure so we have proper coverage for this case. So I've just now fixed the parsing and tested on both kinds of users and it appears to be doing the right thing.

31 May 2015, 08:35 PM	#97
rblon Essential Contributor Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 340	same issue with copy-pasting (using iPad iOS 8.3). When I read a message, I can select a text and copy, but when composing or replying, tap and hold only shows the magnifying glass.

1 Jun 2015, 12:10 AM	#98
Pfolson Essential Contributor Join Date: Apr 2010 Posts: 490	Yes, same pasting problem for me using the IOS app. Interestingly, pasting works fine using the mobile site in Safari or another browser, but not using the app.

1 Jun 2015, 06:44 AM	#99
placebo Cornerstone of the Community Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 743	I can't paste into the password field when logging in. This is a significant problem because I usually copy and paste passwords, which are long and hard to type without making a mistake, from my password manager.

10 Jul 2015, 06:04 AM	#101
zsazs Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2013 Posts: 18	I also read the article and came here to mention it, but was beaten to it! I however disagree that a non-native app is necessarily bad. There's nothing inherent about HTML/JS app development that precludes off-network operation. If the codebase for the webapp is bundled with the iOS app, and the only thing that goes over the network is JMAP, it could handle poor network connectivity just as well as a native app. Due to JMAP it probably could handle slow networks better than any IMAP client could, actually. However, due to the way the app behaves currently, there's obviously an issue with poor network connectivity, but it's nothing that can't be fixed.

10 Jul 2015, 06:55 AM	#102
robn Master of the @ Join Date: May 2012 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 1,007 Representative of: Fastmail.fm	Its nothing to do with native vs hybrid, and everything to do with the app not currently having an offline mode. I could easily build a native app that has no offline storage and it would have the same problems. When we started with the mobile apps, the only feature we couldn't do directly in the web app was push notifications, which is the main reason the apps even exist. That's starting to change with the W3C Push API, already implemented in Chrome. I'm hopeful that withing a couple of years the web app in the browser and the mobile apps will be at feature parity and then we can retire the mobile apps entirely. We intend to build an offline mode into the web app, and then all users, desktop, mobile browser and mobile app will be able to use it. No ETA - we've only done the earliest of planning on it, so it definitely won't be this year.

14 Jul 2015, 06:39 PM	#103
rusl Member Join Date: Mar 2015 Posts: 78	Get rid of the native app and rely on a Safari tab staying logged in? Really? What would happen each day when I flush my cookies - would I need to login again? And when my phone flushes the Safari tabs due to memory scarcity? Would background app refresh need to be turned on? Did I mention how much I love the native app?

15 Jul 2015, 02:05 PM	#105
markiehill Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 35	Using the app is a nightmare in poor signal conditons, you get alerts and then can't open the email, it is so annoying. The Gmail app suffers from the same problem. I do not understand the reluctance to add offline storage to the app. And just my 2p , I do not want fastmail running in a browser on my Iphone offline storage or not. I want an app , and an app that is supported and loved.