Lucid app update v1.49.0

[idiot900]

It would be super odd for them to mix match POI data in the vehicle with the mobile app and they do have the "share" functionality which does present legal issues if that data is used to render on _any_ competitor in any environment (like POI data from Apple Maps on your phone sent to HEREMaps in vehicle..)...

Could they get around this by using their own database of chargers, and managing their own annotations within the native map view? (I've never used the MapKit API, just speculating)

 

[momo3605]

Anyone seeing any new features/functionality? From a quick through, it seems mostly cosmetic? Definitely nice and smooth though!

 

[thecodingart]

Could they get around this by using their own database of chargers, and managing their own annotations within the native map view? (I've never used the MapKit API, just speculating)

Yes, but it's also super unlikely. Almost everyone has to go through a vendor dedicated to collecting this data for various operation reasons. The most common sources are Google + HEREMaps now-a-days for better or worse.

 

[Cossa]

I noticed I get these notifications now.

now

 

[joec]

I noticed I get these notifications now. View attachment 20160now

Yes. And by this, they don't mean leave it active on your screen. They are simply advising against "Force Quitting" the app by swipping up and killing the process.

Years ago, some Apple geniuses got it into their heads that training iOS users to "Quit all their apps" was somehow not a terrible idea. Trust me, it's a terrible idea. You should never force quit an app unless it is seriously misbehaving. The iOS memory management system will take care of quitting any processes it needs to quite well without human intervention.

My guess is folks were calling into support to complain that their mobile key wasn't working, and the team was finding out that some of these folks were force quitting the app, as many still are convinced this is good practice, even though it isn't.

Thus, the notification.

 

[joec]

To tha Android folks who are feeling the FOMO about this new update: Think of it less as the iOS folks getting something you don't have, and more of the iOS folks getting fixes that were long in coming.

We've dealt with a broken watch app and broken widgets for several months. This update fixes that once and for all. These weren't issues on Android. So you don't need an update to fix them.

My guess is making the app native made fixing these little nuisances (and the occasional mobile key issues) easier in the long run. Thus, the decision to go native.

Almost no major Android apps are native these days. I don't blame Lucid for not wanting to go that route at all on the Android side. Native Android devs aren't even easy to find, to be honest.

If you leave out the widget and watch fixes, which you didn't need, you're left with the cute 3D car thing (which, to be honest, is fun, but not useful). So you aren't missing anything in your app. You're not being "left behind" as much as you might think.

I'm not sure if the 3D thing would be technically feasible in an Android app. Certainly not if you have to support a wide variety of Android phones. So that may never come. But again, you aren't missing that much. It's more like a fidget spinner while you wait for the car to wake up in my mind. Looks super cool, don't get me wrong. But it doesn't do anything.

 

[thecodingart]

Years ago, some Apple geniuses got it into their heads that training iOS users to "Quit all their apps" was somehow not a terrible idea. Trust me, it's a terrible idea. You should never force quit an app unless it is seriously misbehaving. The iOS memory management system will take care of quitting any processes it needs to quite well without human intervention.

This is something we'll have to disagree on. Due to background system abuse amongst many other things, I would highly encourage force killing apps you don't explicitly need to function in the background. For the longest time, Snapchat was abusing some web socket VOIP loopholes through background process to work around some API gaps. The only way to kill the process or disallow it from happening (telling the OS it shouldn't be allowed) was force quitting via the user. The gap was eventually closed by Apple, but these things are rampart with big tech and nefarious. You definitely don't need to force kill everything (especially if there's functionality that should work outside of the app being in the foreground), but it's not a bad habit for apps you don't trust at all.

 

[idiot900]

Yes, but it's also super unlikely. Almost everyone has to go through a vendor dedicated to collecting this data for various operation reasons. The most common sources are Google + HEREMaps now-a-days for better or worse.

Right - surely there is some kind of API from the vendor that could either be proxied by Lucid or some legal agreement signed, and the client could just do its own rendering via the annotations MapKit API, rather than relying on Apple's POIs.

Anyway, I'm not in this world, and it sounds like you are - just idle speculation on my part. I'm glad the charging stations are in there, and I like the new app a lot.

 

[thecodingart]

I'm not sure if the 3D thing would be technically feasible in an Android app. Certainly not if you have to support a wide variety of Android phones. So that may never come. But again, you aren't missing that much. It's more like a fidget spinner while you wait for the car to wake up in my mind. Looks super cool, don't get me wrong. But it doesn't do anything.

Totally feasible and I've done it myself . Just gLTF files and there's an open source framework for similar things to what SceneKit has. Heck, if their core file is USDZ then there are ways to translate that to gLTF pretty easily.

 

[joec]

This is something we'll have to disagree on. Due to background system abuse amongst many other things, I would highly encourage force killing apps you don't explicitly need to function in the background. For the longest time, Snapchat was abusing some web socket VOIP loopholes through background process to work around some API gaps. The only way to kill the process was force quitting via an end user. The gap was eventually closed by Apple, but these things are rampart with big tech and nefarious. You definitely don't need to force kill everything (especially if there's functionality that should work outside of the app being in the foreground), but it's not a bad habit for apps you don't trust at all.

My advice for apps "you don't trust at all" is to not install them.

I remember decades ago, I disabled background processes for Facebook, and the entire app stopped functioning properly. The team hadn't bothered testing the scenario, as they couldn't imagine anyone would actually turn background processing off.

I logged out of Facebook that day, uninstalled the app, and never logged in again.

 

[jtbg]

We've dealt with a broken watch app and broken widgets for several months. This update fixes that once and for all. These weren't issues on Android

I'm all for fixing bugs, but this is a weird take. The android widget is just a shortcut to open the app . . . and there isn't any wearable support at all.

I logged out of Facebook that day, uninstalled the app, and never logged in again.

this is the true path to happiness

 

[thecodingart]

My advice for apps "you don't trust at all" is to not install them.

Eh, not always a realistic take. I will point to Facebook, SnapChat, Instagram, and TikTok as references. Sometimes there's cultural things that supersede ideals. The apps are also useful, you just want to prevent them from abusing you as a customer. Craigslist over Facebook Market place, Facebook Market place without Messenger, Facebook fully in a web view -- nope.

If you can do it, I applaud it for sure. It's more of what you end up sacrificing in the term you do. I definitely uninstalled Twitter out of principle and haven't looked back. I have unfortunately lost a ton in reference to accessible real time news in that process.

 

[Spin Doctor]

I confess I rather enjoy the spinny thing one can do with the car

 

[joec]

Eh, not always a realistic take. I will point to Facebook, SnapChat, Instagram, and TikTok as references. Sometimes there's cultural things that supersede ideals. The apps are also useful, you just want to prevent them from abusing you as a customer.

I know, lots of people tell me the same thing, but I have to say, life without TikTok hasn't led to depravity for me. Somehow I'm getting by. And I actually still get cultural references in friendly conversations somehow.

Life without Twitter or X or whatever it's called these days has been better, frankly. (That was the hardest one for me to quit.)

People feel pressured into using these things. And then they justify them as "necessary." But it's often an illusion.

And when you're at the point where you have to frantically quit apps after using them because you don't trust them to not be spying on you, then it's worth asking what the heck you're doing using them in the first place, if you ask me.

Sure, some you may end up still using, in order to maintain some social construct that's more important to you than your privacy. Fine. That's a reasonable trade off, if made consciously.

But then accept the trade off.

 

[xponents]

Years ago, some Apple geniuses got it into their heads that training iOS users to "Quit all their apps" was somehow not a terrible idea. Trust me, it's a terrible idea. You should never force quit an app unless it is seriously misbehaving. The iOS memory management system will take care of quitting any processes it needs to quite well without human intervention.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I once read that quitting an app to "save power" actually could use MORE power than just leaving it alone, atleast on iPhones. Is this true? Also, there isn't a meaningful difference in RAM saved, right?

 

[xponents]

I confess I rather enjoy the spinny thing one can do with the car

Your username has now been given new meaning

 

[thecodingart]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I once read that quitting an app to "save power" actually could use MORE power than just leaving it alone, atleast on iPhones. Is this true? Also, there isn't a meaningful difference in RAM saved, right?

RAM wouldn’t be a good reason to force quit an app. iOS handles that for you.

Battery life definitely is a reason to force kill an app though. It’s not a sure fire thing, but definitely stops apps from using background processing against your will. There’s also some nuke settings like @Joe mentioned — those can flat out break functionality though. Low power mode (if respected) + force killing for battery savings.

 

[joec]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I once read that quitting an app to "save power" actually could use MORE power than just leaving it alone, atleast on iPhones. Is this true? Also, there isn't a meaningful difference in RAM saved, right?

Correct. If you launch that app often, you are forcing the app to go through its startup process every time you open it, as opposed to just reawakening the app from it's cached saved state. Probably not a big battery difference for most apps, but force quitting is certainly not a way to "save" battery for 99% of apps.

It also could lead to unexpected consequences, such as lost data, since the author of the app has no way to predict when an app is shut down with zero warning. If you have legit reasons to be running processes in the background, such as Bluetooth, this can totally break functionality and lead to massive support headaches.

There is no real difference in RAM. Unless that app is doing some necessary background processing, which is mostly granted for seconds only very occasionally, and only if RAM is available. When an app goes into the background, it is effectively shut down as far as the system is concerned. And if the system is running low on resources, it will kill any process with impunity in order to keep the system up and running.

There are some apps that will abuse loopholes to grant themselves longer background privileges. In my experience, Apple eventually fixes these loopholes and forces the app maker to change their strategy. The days of apps turning on your microphone or playing silent background tracks just to stay alive while backgrounded are mostly gone now.

As I mentioned before, any apps still getting away with this sort of trickery are not worth using.

The bottom line is your iPhone knows a lot better than you do how to handle memory and battery management. Unless you truly have a malfunctioning app, or you have a very good reason to suspect a particular app is eating your battery needlessly, the force quit mechanism is best left alone.

Certainly, habitually quitting all your apps several times a day is at best a waste of time.

 

[segbrk]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I once read that quitting an app to "save power" actually could use MORE power than just leaving it alone, atleast on iPhones. Is this true? Also, there isn't a meaningful difference in RAM saved, right?

I too saw that article. My creative interpretation that makes more sense is that force-quitting apps and reopening them constantly uses more power than just leaving them open. Even if the apps are not actually running the next time you go to use them, some/most of their state will be cached rather than having to start up from scratch.

 

[thecodingart]

I too saw that article. My creative interpretation that makes more sense is that force-quitting apps and reopening them constantly uses more power than just leaving them open. Even if the apps are not actually running the next time you go to use them, some/most of their state will be cached rather than having to start up from scratch.

This can definitely be true