How do "local notifications" work?
 

If OmniFocus is using local notifications, why is it not in the notifications list in iPhone Settings, nor able to show an icon badge until it's manually opened?

Thanks.

The 'Notifications" Area in the Settings app is for push/network based notifications, not local. And the badge for an app can be updated either when the app is launched, or through network notifications pushed from an outside source. OmniGroup has no servers to push this information. Local notifications are ways to emulate the network push without actually having a server. They originate only from the app.
Does that make sense? Its a subtle point that Apple doesn't really make clear and relies on the app makers to clarify.

Thanks, but I know exactly how local and push notifications work. OF for iPhone as of version 1.7 supports local notifications, at least according to Omni.

Sorry for the confusion ken, but jjlucsy is correct. The list in the Settings app isn't relevant to the local notifications that we're using, and since we don't use push notifications, the badge will only update when the app is launched/running.

[QUOTE=Brian;92962]Sorry for the confusion ken, but jjlucsy is correct. The list in the Settings app isn't relevant to the local notifications that we're using, and since we don't use push notifications, the badge will only update when the app is launched/running.[/QUOTE]

Are you using the built-in local notifications? If so, why aren't you letting OF throw up a badge when something is due and the app is closed? Sometimes notification messages get lost. Or am I missing something?

Local notifications can be enabled in OmniFocus' Settings screen - tap the gear button in the toolbar.

Once they're turned on, due dates/times will produce a message. I've seen occasions where I come back to my phone after a while and there are messages from several apps all queued up. I'm not sure how deep that queue is, or if there's some point at which the notifications fall off the end of the queue.

[QUOTE=Brian;93103]Local notifications can be enabled in OmniFocus' Settings screen - tap the gear button in the toolbar.

Once they're turned on, due dates/times will produce a message. I've seen occasions where I come back to my phone after a while and there are messages from several apps all queued up. I'm not sure how deep that queue is, or if there's some point at which the notifications fall off the end of the queue.[/QUOTE]

I think that once a message has replaced another, the previous is gone. This is why the icon badges can be necessary. Granted, Apple totally screwed up on notifications. My old Sony Ericssons were better than the iPhone in this respect, but at least the badges help.

As a new Verizon iPhone4 user (iOS 4.2.6), and desktop OF user, just wanted clarification before dropping money on the iPhone app.

If a due date is set on my desktop version of OF, is there some notice on my screen, on the OF iPhone icon, when an item is 'due'? Yes or no?

I see plenty of apps currently that are ToDo apps and offer 'alarms'. Is some sort of notice that I've got "To pickup dry-cleaning at 5:30pm on 2/14/2011" able to transfer from my desktop version of OF to my iPhone version and remind me, like Growl does on the desktop?

I'm confused by older posts, but am wondering if they are referring to iOS3 and possibly earlier versions of iPhone OF?

Happy to help, Haringg!

This all works the way you'd like, assuming you've got sync set up between OmniFocus on your Mac and on the iPhone, and assuming that you've enabled notifications in the Settings screen in the iPhone app.

(To do so, go to the Home page in the app, then tap the button that looks like a gear and scroll down until you see the "Notifications" settings.)

If you enter an action on the Mac, your phone will learn about it the next time it syncs. If the deadline is after that point, the reminder should pop up on the phone at the appointed time.

[QUOTE=Brian;93288]Happy to help, Haringg!

This all works the way you'd like, assuming you've got sync set up between OmniFocus on your Mac and on the iPhone, and assuming that you've enabled notifications in the Settings screen in the iPhone app.

(To do so, go to the Home page in the app, then tap the button that looks like a gear and scroll down until you see the "Notifications" settings.)

If you enter an action on the Mac, your phone will learn about it the next time it syncs. If the deadline is after that point, the reminder should pop up on the phone at the appointed time.[/QUOTE]

That's exactly what I'm looking for! I just bought it, synced it (which is a breeze), added a current due date and it works as I'd hoped! Visual and Audio alerts!

I did notice Start events don't alert on the phone like they do on the desktop. Due dates only will alert on the phone? Correct?

[QUOTE=harringg;93294]I did notice Start events don't alert on the phone like they do on the desktop. Due dates only will alert on the phone? Correct?[/QUOTE]

Glad I could help! You're correct, but I believe that we have a feature request open on Start notifications; if you email the [EMAIL="omnifocus-iphone@omnigroup.com"]support ninjas[/EMAIL] we can attach you to the request. (Ones with more customer interest tend to get assigned higher priority.)

harringg, the one thing that might not work as you expect from this is that the icon will not update with a badge unless you manually open the OF app. I was expecting it too, like lots of other apps do.

[QUOTE=ken.w;93361]harringg, the one thing that might not work as you expect from this is that the icon will not update with a badge unless you manually open the OF app. I was expecting it too, like lots of other apps do.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, why doesn't it do this? This is one of my main issues with OF. If the badge notification would update itself I would know something was due just with a glance on my homescreen. Now I have to manually open the app to see if something is due.

In my understanding the icon badge can be updated by some apps that get info pushed from a server. For example, if a news app gets some breaking news pushed from their home server. If you do not have any push then you get no update of the badge unless you open the app. Way around that would be to have a sync server automatically push a notification to OF that a certain item became due. OF in turn would then update the icon badge. That would likely mean, though, that the server would have to constantly analyse all tasks from all users stored on the server in order to find out when something is due. I guess that would be a tough technical challenge.

I'm not sure this is correct. I'm pretty certain that local notifications (introduced in iOS4) let applications send notifications when they're not running, without the need for a server. This should also work for the icon badge as I've seen other apps do this.

If this is correct then it should be possible to implement automatically updated badges kind of using the same technology that lets an app send notifications...

[QUOTE=jonnablaze;102934]I'm pretty certain that local notifications (introduced in iOS4) let applications send notifications when they're not running, without the need for a server. This should also work for the icon badge as I've seen other apps do this.[/QUOTE]

Yes, this is correct. I am a former user of AwesomeNote, which had this functionality. If you had a task due today, AwesomeNote would update the icon badge without the user having to open the app. I'm pretty sure this came about in iOS4.

Hopefully OF will be able to implement this as well.

Sorry for the confusion - based on the info I'm seeing when I google Awesome Note, it [URL="http://www.pcpro.co.uk/blogs/2010/08/30/iphone-app-of-the-week-awesome-note/"]does use the Push Notification system[/URL] for those badge updates. I don't believe it's possible to do that using only local notifications, though I would love to be proved wrong about that. :-)

I believe Due is an example of an app that uses local notifications and puts the badge on without having to open the app.

Five bucks isn't much to pay for good software, so I went ahead and bought Due to check this out. Added a reminder and the app had a "1" badge immediately when I quit it.

Is there something I can do to get the badge to only appear once the deadline has passed?

[QUOTE=Christian;102936]If this is correct then it should be possible to implement automatically updated badges kind of using the same technology that lets an app send notifications...[/QUOTE]

The due tasks in OmniFocus use local notifications and could update the badge. The badge counts could still get out of date due to unsynced changes, of course (much like the App Store update count badge gets out of date), but it would be an improvement.

Sadly, that code hasn't written itself yet… It's on our list, just not to the top yet. (Responding to any due notification activates the app and updates its badge, so it seemed like there were more pressing concerns for us to be addressing right now. But if this would be helpful in your workflow, please let us know!)

For my workflow it would be an improvement since I a in a hurry most of the time due to my legal letters not writing themselves either (maybe we should team up and find a way to make those tasks for harder). With the arrival of notifications center it would not be too important though, at least for due items. As for due soon, those might be a different story. I understand that only due items get pushed into notifications center, right?

[QUOTE=Christian;103014]I understand that only due items get pushed into notifications center, right?[/QUOTE]

At the moment, yes. We have a feature request open on Due Soon - I'll attach you. Thanks!

Grand, thanks :)