Are live tiles better in WP8?

thinkdan

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I've used WP7 since it was released, but am still going nuts over the unreliable live tiles, even after a hard reset and in all phones I have used (LG Quantum, Dell Venue Pro and currently Samsung Focus Flash). I really don't get why they can't make them work properly. The built in apps' tiles work perfectly, but I have yet to see a third party live tile that doesn't "break" after some use.
Can any one tell if they have improved the reliability of the tiles and notifications in WP8? I'm already due for a phone upgrade, and even though I like the MS ecosystem very much, I'm not sure I can continue living with the hit or miss performance. I'm this close to switching to a different OS.
 

bradbamford

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But overall yes, there is a confirmed limitation in 7.5 where the tiles could stop working for a few different reason. Among others, I remember one is, if you haven't opened the app in x amount of time.

But Microsoft said this has been changed to work better in WP8.

I've noticed it being much improved in 8 personally.
 

manicottiK

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Bugs notwithstanding, tiles are updated in any of three ways: 1) by the app while you have it running, 2) by the app using a "periodic task", or 3) by a server pushing new tiles to you. #1 doesn't need further explanation.

#2 is what you can enable/disable from Background Tasks in Settings. Although it's called "background" in the UI, it's really "periodic" and allows a small part of the app to run for up to 15 seconds every half hour. It is not full multitasking. The apps that show up on the Background Tasks page are the ones that include periodic tasks functionality.

#3 has a limit of two weeks. That is, apps are supposed to "renew" their push subscriptions every time that they start up and those subscriptions are good for two weeks. If you pin an app that has a live tile and then just look at the tile without running the app, the tile will stop updating in two weeks. A lot of developers don't use this method because they need to use a server to push the tiles whereas #2 is really a "pull" tile update.

Is it possible that the people who are having tile updating issues are running into the two-week subscription limit of #3? If so, does the problem appear to fix itself after the app is used?
 

MrSean490

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Is it possible that the people who are having tile updating issues are running into the two-week subscription limit of #3? If so, does the problem appear to fix itself after the app is used?


For me ... not exactly. Tiles stop working for me randomly within 2~3 days but relaunching it can but not always fix it. Sometimes tiles will just simply be frozen for ages until randomly they'll revive. No real logic.

Using WP7.
 

thinkdan

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For me ... not exactly. Tiles stop working for me randomly within 2~3 days but relaunching it can but not always fix it. Sometimes tiles will just simply be frozen for ages until randomly they'll revive. No real logic.

Using WP7.

Same here. These are not apps that I haven't used in 2 weeks, but ones that I use on a regular basis like Kik. Most of the time I do get the toast notification but the tile doesn't update. I did a factory reset a few days ago and installed nothing but Kik. It started working well, but the tile broke again in 2 or 3 days, with no other apps installed at all.
Same with Whatsapp, say I get 3 new messages, sometimes the tile shows the number "3", then I open the app, read those "3" messages, go back and I get 2 new more messages. Now the tile shows "5" even though I already opened it and read the first 3 messages. So frustrating. I might switch to a different OS if those little quirks haven't been addressed in WP8.
 

erasure25

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I've used WP7 since it was released, but am still going nuts over the unreliable live tiles, even after a hard reset and in all phones I have used (LG Quantum, Dell Venue Pro and currently Samsung Focus Flash). I really don't get why they can't make them work properly. The built in apps' tiles work perfectly, but I have yet to see a third party live tile that doesn't "break" after some use.
Can any one tell if they have improved the reliability of the tiles and notifications in WP8? I'm already due for a phone upgrade, and even though I like the MS ecosystem very much, I'm not sure I can continue living with the hit or miss performance. I'm this close to switching to a different OS.

Much more reliable for me. My Weather Flow app is always in sync... have not notice a single error. Some apps do stop syncing after a few days of not opening up. For example, the APODViewer app, which shows a NASA picture of the day, has to be opened up every few days to get to start syncing again. The app has not been updated to WP8, so that could be the reason. But it is not a random occurrence - every X number of days it just stops syncing, and you have to tap it open and then close it again to re-start the syncing.
 

BCH

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WP8 is waaaay better than WP7 as far as tile updates go. In three months, I have only had one issue: Weather Flow stopped working for a day; I re-pinned the tile and it works fine now. Facebook still doesn't update properly, but I think that's a F/B issue.
 

willied

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I have problems with GasBuddy not updating a specific gas station's live tile properly sometimes. Right now it seems to be working alright.
 

thinkdan

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So, judging by the responses to this thread, it seems that there's still some people having issues. I wonder if they are caused by buggy apps or there's still something not quite perfect on Microsoft's end.
 

mandartd

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Hi,

I am facing this same unusual problem of the Background Tasks / apps suddenly ceasing to work on my unlocked Lumia 920. This in turn prevents the Live Tiles from getting updated periodically and automatically as well!

Both the Live tiles as well as the Lockscreen related to most of my commonly used apps namely, Photostream, Weatherflow, Battery, CNN, BBC, WP Central etc. dont seem to update at all. none of these apps have been blocked!

Also, when this issue started happening, the battery power was more than 50%.

I seriously am concerned since the essence of WP8 is the live tiles!

I did soft reset my lumia 920, but in vain. Problem still persists
Honestly, don't intend to hard reset, which will not only result in loss of data, but also is an absolute waste of time!

Any thoughts or suggestions on this?

Thanks.

Mandar
Mumbai, India




 

DiscoPiglet

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None of my live tiles update. None. Not the Me tile, not my two group tiles. None. It's been a few weeks now, and no reinstalling, repinning, IE history clearing, soft reseting has solved any of the issues.

I love to blame Apple/iOS as much as anyone, but the iPhone and Apple products' reliability is something many take for granted. Periodic freezing/crashing, and ineffective live tiles are really making me question my WP8 conversion last month.
 

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