I would like to be able to permanently pin the windows that are open on the start screen. Seeing the pinned windows after a restart somehow makes you happy, doesn’t it?
The pin function should be easy to implement: long click on the window → pin or unpin.
I completely agree. Having them all also actually start on boot could be an option.
In any case, it would allow you to have a set order for the covers for the applications you use on a daily basis, so you know where to look (or tap) when you need one. That’s what I find most bothersome with the way it currently works: you always have to look for the cover first instead of being able to simply rely on muscle memory, which diminishes the usefulness of the information on the covers as well as cover actions.
Would be a nice gimmick, indeed. There were some attempts to implement a list of apps that are started automatically after boot.
I got used to start a fixed set of eight apps after every boot and never close them. That’s enough for my needs. Eight taps once every month or so.
What would be logic of that setting? Currentlly on Jolla C2 I have 2x2 grid on Home View. If starting more apps, the matrix is 3 column grid. To be coded we would need a determination how to handle the situation.
Not exactly the same but you can use partnerspace to have apps always on and started at boot.
They will, however not be on the start screen but accessible with swipe.
There is also a patch to adjust transparency.
You find it with the search function or e.g. see here:
Not really, having more than four apps open at the same time makes the covers smaller, but they’re still in chronological order. The pinning would just let you make sure the applications you want always take up the same spots at the beginning of the list.
Yeah, I misunderstood the pinning to mean the same position on screen.
There have been various approches to autostart apps after restart. Yet your descriptions reminded me of the X11 functionality known as “session”. I wonder whether there are any Wayland apps out there that implement this concept and are compatible with SFOS compositor.
Love this idea and now that I think about it, feels like a missing piece of the UX.
I use this:
On my old device it does still work, for new ones I have no idea.
But only native apps supportes
Why not simply not switch the device off? Put it in airplane mode first, battery consuption should be negligible.
Don’t know for sure if it is still relevant, but I believe that the app Situations can do that.
To add some contrast - i really don’t see the point.
What problem is being solved? Compensating for lack of background services - for lack of event integration?
Sure; some apps i use almost every day - but i don’t use them every hour and i can tell them apart.
Other times of the wee i may be all about 2 or 3 apps that are not part of the top apps - why would i want to scroll down to those?
It’s great that this request is being discussed so eagerly. And everyone has their own personal preferences. For example, I like it when I can find “everything in its place” after restarting my phone. Keyword: quick access. It’s similar to the quick access bar, only on the desktop. I don’t want to have to rearrange everything. And if this behavior uses up a little more battery power, so be it. Perhaps it should be possible to limit the number of pinned windows to four—so that SailfishOS still looks stylish. Unfortunately, “Apps after boot” does not work on the X10III and SFOS 5.0.0.73…
Yup, I like that too. I use Sway or Niri and there have all the virtual desktops per activity, 1-10 is terminal/files/music/Video/…/Signal/email. I would love that with Sailfish, just always having Whisperfish and email as top two pinned apps, no matter what.
I know there are some apps to auto-launch but the pinning part would be the nice part for me, and that feels hacky done through auto-launching rather than some pin button.
You really didn’t even try to address my questions. Do you actually need the same stuff literally all the time - or is it just personal preference for no definable reason?
No it isn’t. The first row of the app drawer is the equivalent of that. (Note how it can pop in to the multitasking screen briefly if you want it).
And what is this rearranging you speak about?
If you (or some app) starts your preferred first apps and then you don’t close them, what more support do you actually need?
Can you for once stop being contrarian just for the sake of it? This feature would cost at most a couple of hours of development, and that’s really pushing it because literally everything that’s needed is already there. Covers already have an order, you can already manually change it and pin icons also already exist. It would have no downsides whatsoever to anyone who wouldn’t have a need for it, yet it clearly has value to those who are requesting it.
It makes it possible to know exactly in which part of the overview you should glance for the quick information a cover provides, and exactly where to tap to use the cover action you’d want. Now that devices have enough RAM to have basically all applications running simultaneously without having to keep closing them, lots of people have lots of covers, and if they, or at least the commonly used ones, aren’t always in the same order, cover info and cover actions lose their value very quickly. In fact, I personally don’t use cover actions very often precisely because I always need to hunt down the cover first. It’s as if the different widgets on Android and iOS devices wouldn’t have a fixed position and their place, or even visibility, would depend on when and whether you launched their respective applications.
It would also work around applications sometimes crashing and removing their cover from the overview (for example Android apps that you updated while they were running, or Sailfish apps hard crashing for whatever reason, although usually but not always they do leave some kind of cover behind), causing the layout to change even if you intentionally launched them all in a particular order.
There are a lot of android phones with this functionality and it’s quite handy, even though the implementation there is not the best. Whatever app you want to have open and not get killed you just pin it.
In sfos where multitasking is already in your face ( even if I personally hate it with passion 
) it makes even more sense to have the apps directly in your home screen and running always in the background without manually closing only the rest that you don’t care!
In most phones you either have a home screen full of apps, or apps and widgets you want while the rest hide in your app drawer. You can directly have access to your apps the moment you unlock your phone.
On sfos you have to swipe up as well to get to your apps. It’s not only the extra step, it’s also the awful vertical paged drawer that sfos is using in apps that is not scrollable, making it even less intuitive to use with a lot of apps.
Ps. And the reason why you will go in your app drawer in sfos is because open apps won’t be in the same place every time you open them so either you spend time hunting down your app, or go to the app drawer.
Yes it does…somehow. I use Situations to start on boot 6 apps I use most, however I dont think ordering them is possible