Action center useless with 3rd party apps

[Zulfigar]

Ok, show me one app, just one that removes the number from the tile if you swipe away the notifications in the action center.
There is none (3rd party)... And you say it's because they are all still not updated for 8.1, come on.

Oh I agree, but being that I don't know code as well as others, I'm inclined to believe that it takes awhile to update an app in a matter of months, especially with how many new APIs there are. I'd give it a bit more time before we start yelling.

Maybe request this feature in the WPCentral app section? See what happens then.

 

[wiggum15]

Personally, I like this "bug". I can clear my action center but still have an onscreen reminder that something in that app needs my attention.

Come on, that's illogic and inconsistent, you can't be serious.

 

[Zulfigar]

I am. /shrugs

 

[James8561]

one little tiny graphical thing and you call the entire thing useless?
how about being a bit happier and more appreciative?
this is why we can't have nice things.

 

[vish2801]

I guess by swiping notifications from Action Center, you're just clearing the space but not the actual notifications and how it's a problem for you ? I can't understand ? You don't like tiles with numbers ?

 

[wiggum15]

The notification center SHOULD work like it works with Phone/SMS App for EVERY APP (because that way its logic).
Swiping away means "I have read them or know about them and want to clear my app tile" and clicking on them means "open the app".

 

[DER1996]

Well , that really depends on how you see it . I mean for you swiping a notification in action center means " read" , for someone else it means "I'm too busy to give a **** right now , I'll have a look later" and if not for that live tile showing him what he needs , he'll probably forget , and a live tile showing you the number of messages you haven't read at all/fully is better than missing a message all together because you weren't interested at the time.

 

[switch side method]

Is this an American thing as I don't have this problem on my 1520 in england

 

[wiggum15]

Well , that really depends on how you see it . I mean for you swiping a notification in action center means " read" , for someone else it means "I'm too busy to give a **** right now , I'll have a look later" and if not for that live tile showing him what he needs , he'll probably forget , and a live tile showing you the number of messages you haven't read at all/fully is better than missing a message all together because you weren't interested at the time.

No, you dont get it...
Look, swiping away something in the notification center CLEARS THE TILE for phone, sms, email...the system apps, so this is HOW MS INTENDED IT TO BE.
BUT...for 3rd party apps its is differed (it DOES NOT CLEAR THE TILE) just because they DONT HAVE ACCESS TO THE API / ITS A OS RESTRICTION !
Thats the problem, it is inconsistent !

Is this an American thing as I don't have this problem on my 1520 in england

You have it but dont understand what iam talking about...

 

[switch side method]

No, you dont get it...
Look, swiping away something in the notification center CLEARS THE TILE for phone, sms, email...the system apps, so this is HOW MS INTENDED IT TO BE.
BUT...for 3rd party apps its is differed (it DOES NOT CLEAR THE TILE) just because they DONT HAVE ACCESS TO THE API / ITS A OS RESTRICTION !
Thats the problem, it is inconsistent !



You have it but dont understand what iam talking about...

First of all I DO KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN and once again I DONT HAVE THAT PROBLEM WITH WHATSAPP, OR ANY 3RD PARTY APP.
Jesus...just chill out

 

[wiggum15]

...look...

Your WhatsApp tile shows no number (for unread notifications).
You get a WhatsApp message
You DONT OPEN WhatsApp
You open the Action Center
You swipe away the WhatsApp notification
Your WhatsApp tile will now STILL SHOW A NUMBER FOR THE UNREAD MESSAGE

Your Phone tile shows no number (for missed calls).
You get a Phone call
You DONT OPEN Phone App
You open the Action Center
You swipe away the Phone notification
Your Phone tile will now SHOW NO NUMBER ANYMORE FOR THE MISSED CALL

You have either the "problem" (its an OS restriction) or are someone special with some special version of WP8.1 !

 

[Aardappelboom]

I completely agree, I've sent a tweet to joe a while ago with the exact same question. Whenever I get a facebook notification I check it out in the action centre, yet on the startscreen there's a tilecount that says I have a new item, while I've already checked it...

This sucks mainly because it's an inconsistency throughout the OS, that should not happen...there are quite a few of these 'mistakes' in the OS...Window Phone used to be extremely elegant and entirely consistent.

Don't get me wrong, they made a nice upgrade but they should really keep working towards a uniform os...



Sent from my Surface Pro 2 using Tapatalk

Sent from my Surface Pro 2 using Tapatalk

 

[uopjo6]

Live tiles are still the way to go IMO.

 

[mikeycl]

OK firstly calm down Wiggum15....

...you're getting yourself rather worked up over a small feature of the phone. And I'm interpreting your tone on this thread as quite aggressive towards others. by all means explain there is an issue and talk it out with others but maybe reel it in a little eh?


After some looking around on-line i have found out that the issue IS an API restriction that Microsoft have added in. It ISN'T an OS restriction however.

An API (Application Programming Interface) is just that an interface. It's a layer between the OS and the App that allows the two to interact without being directly tied to each other. This as I am sure you can understand isolates and protects the two systems from each other in the event of failure or a malicious attack etc.

The reason the issue does NOT occur with features like the phone and messaging and eMail (outlook, Exchange etc) is because they are built into the core OS they don't need to use the API ( the have direct interaction instead) and have more freedoms available to them in how they function and update/interact with other OS functions.

Everything else however DOES use the API and therefore is unable to update the tile number when the notification is cleared from the action centre. I have observed this behaviour with Whatsapp (as previosuly mentioned by others) but also on Skype, Facebook Messenger, Facebook, 6tin, 6snap and Twitter (Those are the few on my start screen that have tile counts)

Until microsoft either change or update the API to allow this to occur i'm afraid you're stuck with it. The only thing i can suggest is that the issue is raised on the uservoice page for windows phone . Again searching there i can see at least 3 other suggestions highlighting your issue. links here

Link 1
Link 2
Link 3

In future instead of attacking this community and insulting them (again my feelings based on what has already been said) try and contribute positively. Look on the UserVoice see if the issue has been bought up if so vote on it if not create your own. Then come here and raise a topic about it explaining the issue and asking people here who share your views to up vote that issue on the UserVoice. You'll find MS more likely to take note and then the feature could come along a lot quicker.

 

[Mr osi]

Thank you for clearing that up Mikey, I agree with Wiggum15 on this one. It's completely inconsistent to leave it like this and really reduces the usefulness of the notification centre. If I have read the message in the notification centre, I don't want to then have to open the app to remove the tile count. Too much work for every notification.

 

[wiggum15]

No aggression from my side.

The thing that annoys me is that very few (if any) talk about this issue !
Just look how much complained about the (awful) Lock screen BETA App...i mean, who cares about that ?!
It looks like most (if not all) just take that without complaining which is something i cant understand.
I DONT understand why MS did make that so inconsistent and awful, really...one minute with 8.1 and i was already pissed of by this API restriction...looks like their testers are a bunch of yeasayers.

At least they should have explained it to the community WHY it has to be that why and IF they will fix it sometime in the future.
Im also pissed by all those people repeating the "uhhh dude, app is just not updated for 8.1" thing.

 

[mikeycl]

I can totally sympathise there.

It would be nice sometimes for someone at MS to explain why something is implemented as it is. There have been shining examples of that happening in the past. The best example of that being the office development blog when office 2007 was being built. Every design change including the controversial Ribbon was fully explained and backed up with feedback statistics etc. People are more willing to accept changes and issues such as the live tile count if the motiviations behind the decisions are explained fully.

Even on this community Talderon has been brilliant with info on what was happening with Cortana and even went into to some of the why's and wherefores with that. such a shame he is leaving MS as they need more of this transparency and interaction with the user base.

 

[wiggum15]

I really would like to know whats the reason for this API restriction, i doubt its a security thing...most likely they just forgot it...
I mean they allow flashlight apps that have full access to your private photos and contacts in the store but would restrict Apps like WhatsApp and Facebook from clearing a number on the tile for security reasons...WTF ?!
(yeah i know it could have something to do with code injection or other OS security things but come on)

 

[David P2]

Upon starting Whatsapp for the first time whilst running 8.1, users are warned that "some features may not function". The live tile clearing/action centre thing could be one of those features.

 

[wiggum15]

Judging from David P2's comment...i think the situation is hopeless...
It is a...API RESTRICTION
(Note that this was posted and confirmed 100 times in this thread)

That means even if WhatsApp releases 100 updates in the next month, the App will still not be able to clear the tile, MS is the one that needs to change/give acess to the API .