Apple accidentally reveals iCloud.com banner notifications
A test of a new banner notification feature at Apple's official iCloud website was mistakenly made public on Tuesday, revealing a forthcoming feature for the service.
Users who visited the iCloud.com website could find an iOS-style notification at the top of their browser. It featured placeholder text for both a title and a message.
"Default Title for English," the title read, followed by "English - This is test message description."
To the right of the notification was an 'X,' allowing users to close the message from their browser. The test message could not be selected and it did not link anywhere.
The early reveal shows that Apple is planning to bring banner alerts to iCloud.com, a feature that first debuted last year on the iPhone and iPad with the release of iOS 5. The banner alerts replaced the previous, more intrusive alert notifications that must be responded to in order to return the device to normal use.
Regular alerts and banner alerts both remain as selectable options by users in iOS 5, as part of Apple's new Notification Center. Notification Center will also be coming to the Mac this summer with the release of OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion.
In Mountain Lion, Notification Center will be accessible by choosing a circle button on the top right of the screen. With a gesture of two fingers sliding from the edge, the Notification Center can be pulled from the right of the screen.
That's slightly different from iOS devices like the iPhone and iPad, where the Notification Center is pulled down from the top of the screen with a simple finger swipe.
Tuesday's reveal at iCloud.com did not give any indication that a unified Notification Center will be coming to the website. But it did indicate that Apple is actively working on bringing banner-style notification alerts to the free cloud-based service.
Users who visited the iCloud.com website could find an iOS-style notification at the top of their browser. It featured placeholder text for both a title and a message.
"Default Title for English," the title read, followed by "English - This is test message description."
To the right of the notification was an 'X,' allowing users to close the message from their browser. The test message could not be selected and it did not link anywhere.
The early reveal shows that Apple is planning to bring banner alerts to iCloud.com, a feature that first debuted last year on the iPhone and iPad with the release of iOS 5. The banner alerts replaced the previous, more intrusive alert notifications that must be responded to in order to return the device to normal use.
Regular alerts and banner alerts both remain as selectable options by users in iOS 5, as part of Apple's new Notification Center. Notification Center will also be coming to the Mac this summer with the release of OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion.
In Mountain Lion, Notification Center will be accessible by choosing a circle button on the top right of the screen. With a gesture of two fingers sliding from the edge, the Notification Center can be pulled from the right of the screen.
That's slightly different from iOS devices like the iPhone and iPad, where the Notification Center is pulled down from the top of the screen with a simple finger swipe.
Tuesday's reveal at iCloud.com did not give any indication that a unified Notification Center will be coming to the website. But it did indicate that Apple is actively working on bringing banner-style notification alerts to the free cloud-based service.
Comments
this really isn't much of a reveal given that they already told us about Notification Center for Mountain Lion. It seems a logical step that they would be syncing notifications via iCloud so such banners would exist.
That it is so logical and they already clued us in would be why they weren't super duper careful to keep this a secret during testing.
So this'd be for when you're away from your Mac, like the rest of iCloud.com.
In addition to this I'd love to see iCloud.com get an additional app for iMessage.. and that if you read a message there it'll clear the notifications on all other iOS/Mac devices that it has been delivered to.
If I migrate to iCloud Apple will probably change it again so I will still have my stuff spread across two Apple IDs which can't be merged, a .Mac address which is the official name of one of my IDs however the email for it is .me and every time I try to access it on the web it redirects me to the migrate to iCloud page and never allows me to see my mail. Apple is just botched this whole user account madness by combining all manner of services on their end into iTunes. What a mess.
I'd also like to see an iTunes web app, and perhaps a Settings one where you can remotely control iOS and Mac settings.
Although, I would like to see better security on iCloud.com. Perhaps passcode locking each app?
is photo stream available on iCloud?
Quote:
Originally Posted by s4mb4
is photo stream available on iCloud?
No.
Currently you can access your Photo Stream on any iOS device, iPhoto on your Mac, Apple TV and iOS iPhoto.
This doesn't make a lot of sense to me considering they are adding banner notifications to OS X as well. If I'm logged onto my computer and also using a web browser to access iCloud, I'm going to see double banners for every notification. If I also have my iPad and iPhone on the desk beside me, that will be kind of crazy (quad)duplication.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mstone
If I migrate to iCloud Apple will probably change it again so I will still have my stuff spread across two Apple IDs which can't be merged, a .Mac address which is the official name of one of my IDs however the email for it is .me and every time I try to access it on the web it redirects me to the migrate to iCloud page and never allows me to see my mail. Apple is just botched this whole user account madness by combining all manner of services on their end into iTunes. What a mess.
I've used, iTools, Dot Mac, MobileMe and iCloud and my Apple ID has never changed. It can get confusing for some because although an Apple ID is usually an email address, it doesn't have to be a primary address or even active. It's just a sign in name. You can attach any email you like to your Apple ID for receiving messages from Apple and such.
Accessing your email through the MobileMe website should still work through June 30, though you will see a notice from Apple alerting you that the service is ending soon and you should consider moving to iCloud. After you migrate your MobileMe account to iCloud, you can no longer access your email from the MobileMe website and instead need to visit the iCloud website.
All this is especially straight forward with a single user. Things only get difficult when someone has set up multiple Apple IDs (either their own or family members) and want to merge them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gazoobee
This doesn't make a lot of sense to me considering they are adding banner notifications to OS X as well. If I'm logged onto my computer and also using a web browser to access iCloud, I'm going to see double banners for every notification. If I also have my iPad and iPhone on the desk beside me, that will be kind of crazy (quad)duplication.
I don't quite get it either. Maybe it's there for users who access their iCloud info from a computer that's not theirs? Who knows what the notifications on iCloud will be though. I'm hoping it makes more sense to me when Apple officially unvails it.
Let's fix the email search in iCloud before we start adding new features, eh Apple?
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3464039?start=0&tstart=0
People actually go to www.icloud.com ? Interesting......
Quote:
Originally Posted by Durosity
In addition to this I'd love to see iCloud.com get an additional app for iMessage.. and that if you read a message there it'll clear the notifications on all other iOS/Mac devices that it has been delivered to.
I'm still trying to figure out why Messages/Notifications don't seem to sync from the iPhone to the iPad and so on. I've looked in Settings but I don't see it. Wondering if it's just me, but that seems like an obvious feature so that you have the same state for message and notification history on all devices. Any ideas?
Quote:
Originally Posted by yensid98
I've used, iTools, Dot Mac, MobileMe and iCloud and my Apple ID has never changed. It can get confusing for some because although an Apple ID is usually an email address, it doesn't have to be a primary address or even active. It's just a sign in name. You can attach any email you like to your Apple ID for receiving messages from Apple and such.
Accessing your email through the MobileMe website should still work through June 30, though you will see a notice from Apple alerting you that the service is ending soon and you should consider moving to iCloud. After you migrate your MobileMe account to iCloud, you can no longer access your email from the MobileMe website and instead need to visit the iCloud website.
All this is especially straight forward with a single user. Things only get difficult when someone has set up multiple Apple IDs (either their own or family members) and want to merge them.
I understand how it is supposed to work but it doesn't work correctly for me. Email addressed to my .mac address does not work any longer. My .me address has not been migrated but it still will not let me access it on the web version however it continues to work on my iPhone. I originally got an Apple ID for the developer program at first, and a .mac for personal email and iTunes. Thing is that I wasn't careful in which account I was logged into and when the app store came around I ended up with purchases on both accounts. So I'm stuck with two accounts and my contacts and purchases are not integrated. Sure it is my fault but everything else in computing can always be fixed, why can't this be fixed? And I have you beat by one Apple service "eWorld".
Quote:
Originally Posted by CMF
I'm still trying to figure out why Messages/Notifications don't seem to sync from the iPhone to the iPad and so on. I've looked in Settings but I don't see it. Wondering if it's just me, but that seems like an obvious feature so that you have the same state for message and notification history on all devices. Any ideas?
Reset your devices? They sync for me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mstone
I understand how it is supposed to work but it doesn't work correctly for me. Email addressed to my .mac address does not work any longer. My .me address has not been migrated but it still will not let me access it on the web version however it continues to work on my iPhone. I originally got an Apple ID for the developer program at first, and a .mac for personal email and iTunes. Thing is that I wasn't careful in which account I was logged into and when the app store came around I ended up with purchases on both accounts. So I'm stuck with two accounts and my contacts and purchases are not integrated. Sure it is my fault but everything else in computing can always be fixed, why can't this be fixed? And I have you beat by one Apple service "eWorld".
It seems like a once a year merging should be allowed sort of like they offer for unauthorizing all computers associated with your account. the only reason I can think for a hold up in offering such a feature would be difficulty negotiating with the music, book, movie and TV show license holders.
In the mean time, I'd suggest focusing your use on the Apple ID with the most purchase history and manually entering the contact and other info you're missing. Not elegant by any means, but it would work.
Of course those that have been sending it to your phone number will still be bypassing those other devices. Apple should have made ther backend use a universal ID so that regardless of the email or phone tied to your iMessages account it should show up on all devices unless otherwise specified.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gazoobee
This doesn't make a lot of sense to me considering they are adding banner notifications to OS X as well. If I'm logged onto my computer and also using a web browser to access iCloud, I'm going to see double banners for every notification. If I also have my iPad and iPhone on the desk beside me, that will be kind of crazy (quad)duplication.
I think it's intended for people who aren't using Macs. You know: Windows, Linux, whatever.
iOS devices currently have native banner notifications. It's coming to Mountain Lion.
The browser based version addresses people who are using older Macs and other PC operating systems.
Yep, most people wanting to check their personal email in a business environment running Windows will use www.icloud.com
Probably quite a few people ;-)