An In-Depth Look at App Extensions in iOS 8 and Yosemite

[groovyd]

it could just as easily record your key presses and enter them into the next app you open the keypad for.

 

[jimbobb24]

The problem with extending another app is that you are now forced to have to update and modify that extension with virtually every update of the target app. Apple has a long history of late breaking, and often unnecessary, changes to their API's which already force you to virtually re-write apps with every OS patch or update, now imagine every time specific apps are patched having to rewrite your extension to work properly.

The idea is nice in theory, but Apple does not have a history of respect for developers with regards to stable API's. I can imagine that the interfaces to support App Extensions will change frequently for the next few versions until Apple settles the API down, so I won't rush to try and support this ecosystem until a few versions have gone by, unless you love rewriting code over and over again on someone else's release schedule.

The only other problem? Look at the disaster that browser extensions have created, my Dad has like 20 tool-bars and tons of extra buttons in his Firefox browser simply because of the rampant "extensibility" allowed. Hopefully Apple will reign in the proliferation of crapware that will be allowed to extend their apps.

I second this. For every 1 user that wants this deluge of interplay on their phone and tablet there are 19 more that it will result in a worse experience (yes, I made those numbers up, this very second based on nothing more than my own opinion.) I personally thing the more multiple apps on the phone, the more extensions, the more they try to "catch up" with Android the more they take the phone in a direction many people will not want it. I just hear new ways to drain my battery, slow my phone, and crash my phone. Whenever an app will not run and I have to open the app switcher and close things, I swear a little that iOS has started to suck. All I hear in these announcements is more ways apps can make my phone suck instead of rock solid and silky smooth. Its a tablet - a new platform. Lets hope they don't lose the vision.

As far as I can tell still lagging behind in actual useful features that Amazon Fire has - per account app limits and time limits. That is about 10000 more useful than anything they announced for my household.

 

[matrix07]

So you'll be using a custom keyboard and then when a password or credit card box comes up, the regular apple keyboard will appear? This is a pretty bad user experience in my mind.

iCloud Keychain. Touch ID API. Any of these rings a bell?

 

[the8thark]

Hope these work better than the OS 8-9 system extensions.

 

[TsunamiTheClown]

I love that so ****ing much. I genuinely really, really like that.

For your effort, have this odd fanart/wallpaper I designed.

Love the Pinkie Pie

 

[dwd3885]

iCloud Keychain. Touch ID API. Any of these rings a bell?

yea but a different keyboard will pop up? crazy.

 

[matrix07]

yea but a different keyboard will pop up? crazy.

SECURED keyboard. Not crazy at all.

 

[liavman]

Originally Posted by TsunamiTheClown
Yosemite already supports flowhard.

I love that so ****ing much. I genuinely really, really like that.

For your effort, have this odd fanart/wallpaper I designed.

You got me for a few seconds, making me think how they did it.

 

[Trapezoid]

So you'll be using a custom keyboard and then when a password or credit card box comes up, the regular apple keyboard will appear? This is a pretty bad user experience in my mind.

If it's seamless why would it be bad?