Sametime on iOS - pilot testing

November 11 2011

It's been no secret that we are working on an installed IBM Sametime application for iOS, just as we have recently shipped one for Android. I had the opportunity earlier this week to spend a full day working from the internal pilot of Sametime on iOS. Short summary -- great app, well-designed.

Image:Sametime on iOS - pilot testing



As you can see in the screen shot, I was only working over 3G, not wifi. The speed and responsiveness was just fine. The battery life was great, too, because the when the app is not active, it backs off to using iOS push notification for new chat messages instead of maintaining a constant, synchronous connection. Also, you might notice that I'm not using the iOS VPN service -- that's because, like with Notes Traveler, I am connected to IBM through the clientless Lotus Mobile Connect VPN, which IBM has internally deployed to use for email and now Sametime.

Functionally, the key capabilities of Sametime are all there. On the iPad, the frame on the left flips between my buddy list and active chats, while the frame on the right is the chat session itself. The chat window will receive semi-rich content, including embedded images/screen captures, but sends straight text and emoticons (the plus sign lets you choose those). I also like how the chat list frame shows you not just who you are chatting with, but the last line of the chat as well. The little person icon in the upper right lets you access the user's business card and photo, same as the hover over action does in the Sametime desktop client. As a bonus, that business card view has a single click action to "add to device contacts". Nice.

We haven't announced a date when the app will be released, but stay tuned. Oh, if you are an IBMer, don't ask, the pilot group is full right now :-)

Ed Brill | Highland Park, IL USA Category:  Sametime Lotus  Add/View Comments [41]

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  1. 1  Ben  | 11/11/2011 10:44:37 AM

    Looking awesome Ed! One thing not mentioned in your writeup - does it function in the background, like ST on Blackberry?

  1. 2  luis Benitez http://www.lbenitez.com | 11/11/2011 10:45:11 AM

    Love it! Can't wait to get my hands on it!

  1. 3  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 11/11/2011 10:45:27 AM

    I addressed that but didn't use the word 'background':

    "because the when the app is not active, it backs off to using iOS push notification for new chat messages instead of maintaining a constant, synchronous connection"

  1. 4  Bill Dorge  | 11/11/2011 10:47:05 AM

    Cool!! Looks great!! Would make a great addition to that Christmas present I'm hoping for.

  1. 5  mark hughes http://hughesconnect.com | 11/11/2011 10:55:43 AM

    Does this require the sametime gateway? or will it work like the blackberry version has for the past 10 years on regular sametime?

  1. 6  Dave Harris http://www.wavysworld.com | 11/11/2011 10:58:50 AM

    Looks great, Ed, but I have to say, aside from the extras that having more screen real estate gives you, how's it that much different from the other ST mobile clients? ST on S60 works similarly, for example, although I haven't seen it on Anna or Bella, but is it really that much better? Is it something that will drive users to another handset platform? Or is a subtle hint (sorry to play the cynic) that no new Nokias will be supported?

  1. 7  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 11/11/2011 11:07:46 AM

    @6 no slight intended on Nokia or S60. I just mentioned the Android because it was recent and the iOS because it is what I happened to be using. Not everything is evil :-) Not trying to be different or drive adoption on its own, but iOS users will be well-pleased.

  1. 8  Bill Geimer  | 11/11/2011 11:56:42 AM

    Really cool stuff. Go IBM!

  1. 9  Christian  | 11/11/2011 12:00:35 PM

    Great stuff. Can’t come soon enough!

  1. 10  Benton Rhee http://www.ibm.com | 11/11/2011 1:19:51 PM

    Nice...can't wait!

  1. 11  John Foldager http://izone.dk | 11/11/2011 2:07:50 PM

    Looks really great, Ed. Well done IBM! We look forward to use it.

  1. 12  Albert Buendia  | 11/11/2011 4:11:05 PM

    I'm not an IBMer, are there free seats for customers in the pilot group ;) ??

    I'm looking forward to see the video service inside the Android, iPhone and IPad for mobility Sametime clients.

    Customers are asking !!

  1. 13  Femke Goedhart http://Femkegoedhart.blogspot.com | 11/11/2011 7:42:55 PM

    Looks really nice and can't wait to try it out!

    Just one question: Will it allow you to connect to multiple Sametime communities at te same time?

  1. 14  Philippe P. http://Www.easi.net | 11/12/2011 3:27:31 AM

    Looks really well-designed, great work.

    Any info on the release date, Ed? Would be awesome to finally be able to show this our customers/prospects, because ST was the one IBM Lotus thing missing on iOs.

    Thanks,

    Philippe

  1. 15  Ed Brill http://Www.edbrill.com | 11/12/2011 7:53:22 AM

    If I could have said anything about release date, I would have.

  1. 16  Ted Kelly http://www.i-reductions.com | 11/12/2011 11:33:11 PM

    Can't wait very, very good work !!

  1. 17  Jan  | 11/13/2011 9:56:55 AM

    Great news!

    We have installed Sametime 8.5.2 Entry on Domino 8.5.3 (Express). When we load { Link } we get the option to download Sametime clients for

    Nokia Eseries

    RIM Blackberry

    Sony Ericsson M600/P990/P1

    Windows Mobile PocketPC/Professional

    Windows Mobile Smartphone/Standard

    I thought Android was also an option. What have I missed?

  1. 18  John Turnbow http://www.recondite2.com | 11/13/2011 10:46:34 AM

    Great!!! Finally and no third party app to buy!!! This is great news!

  1. 19  Paul Withers http://Http://www.intec.co.uk/blog | 11/13/2011 11:03:01 AM

    Great news indeed, I'm really looking forward to this. But please, please, please, will we be able to connect to more than one Sametime server? One of the major limitations with the Connections app is the restriction to one instance of Connections. As a BP and an active community member I'm connected to a number of instances of both at all times. The people I need to connect to are on different instances.

    One more "please, please, please". If you're expecting people to connect from different devices, please can we have multiple connections. I really don't want to be kicked off of my iPad connection if I switch IDs in Notes or if I open iNotes. That's really frustrating.

  1. 20  Sam Sawatzky  | 11/13/2011 9:58:23 PM

    @19 - Paul, this is possible through an .ini setting on the server, but it is turned off by default.

    It's VPS_BYPASS_SINGLE_MACHINE_LOGIN=1 in sametime.ini.

    Cautions here:

    { Link }

  1. 21  Rob Ingram  | 11/14/2011 7:52:38 AM

    @17 Jan - The Sametime Entry license does not allow entitlement to use any mobile clients. Mobility one of the many added value features of Sametime Standard or Sametime Advanced. I'm sure you've read and accepted the license :)

    Sametime Android app is part of Sametime Proxy server whihc is part of Sametime Standard/Advanced.

  1. 22  Jan  | 11/14/2011 3:38:10 PM

    Rob - thanks for clearing that up for me!

  1. 23  Matthias Ratz  | 11/15/2011 8:16:59 AM

    Hi Ed,

    looks very nice. When will it be available? By the way why does it take that long to develop? Apple devices are on the market for years. That has nothing to do with "Smarter World".

    Cheers

    Matthias

  1. 24  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 11/15/2011 8:35:39 AM

    We had to wait for background applications and push notification to mature in a way that this could be successfully offered. That hasn't been "years".

  1. 25  Tom Weeghmans  | 11/22/2011 6:38:40 AM

    It's available now - I have downloaded it this morning.. Would like to try it out, maybe on Greenhouse but I don't find the community settings. Can you help Ed? My company is not allowing iOS devices on the internal Sametime community (yet)- but a proof of concept might convince them..

  1. 26  Ryan Desjardins  | 11/22/2011 8:15:06 AM

    @Tom - here are the Greenhouse connection settings for the iOS client:

    Host server: st85meetingsp.lotus.com (note the extra 'p' compared to browser access)

    Port: 9444

    Secure connection: On

    Connection Type: Direct connection

  1. 27  Tom Weeghmans  | 11/23/2011 3:00:29 AM

    Thank you Ryan! That worked..

  1. 28  Harald Gaerttner http://www.fifthstreet.biz | 11/23/2011 3:40:13 AM

    Good Job ... looks really great (especially on the iPad).

    If I understand the settings correctly I will be moved to the status selected there as soon as I move the app to the background. So using the default setting I will be shown as "Away" (but still online for the amount of time defined in the settings)?

    I am a bit confused because testing it on greenhouse it seems that I always get logged out putting the app in the background and logged in as soon as I open it up again.

    This would be a somewhat different behaviour to Skype which will stay online (and keep me logged in) as long as the app isn't moved to far back in the list of open apps.

    Really curious to hear more about how this availability stuff works on Sametime in detail!

  1. 29  Rob Ingram  | 11/23/2011 10:25:39 AM

    Harald - Skype is a voice app and is therefore allowed by Apple SDK rules to always run in the background. IM apps are not. Apple somehow figures that voice or music apps are less damaging to device battery life than IM - not sure why but its just a cold hard fact.

    The upside of the Sametime model is that it won't chew your battery life when in background. The new Sametime Proxy server is smart enough to maintain the online status for other users and alert you via Apple push if there are new messages you may wish to check.

  1. 30  Harald Gaerttner http://www.fifthstreet.biz | 11/23/2011 2:04:50 PM

    Thanks Rob … that explains a lot!

  1. 31  Abheshek  | 11/26/2011 11:37:45 AM

    Hi Ed,

    I am IBMer and i want to connect sametime for IOS to IBM network from outside, how can i do that? Any suggestions?

  1. 32  Sacha Sommer  | 12/7/2011 9:58:00 AM

    Just downloaded it onto my iPhone and tried to connect to extst.ibm.com but no luck. It just won't connect. Anybody had luck with that?

  1. 33  Benjamin Hering  | 12/8/2011 4:57:30 PM

    Tested on iPad with IOS 5.0.1 and cant get the push notification working. I tried to de-/activate the ipad notification options for the Sametime application.

    Are there any problems with Apple push on IOS 5?

  1. 34  Mike Etinson  | 12/12/2011 10:27:37 PM

    We are also unable to get pus to work when te app is in the background. Also on IOS 5 for all devices.

    Any suggestions ?

  1. 35  Colby Grueber  | 1/4/2012 1:11:32 PM

    We are also unable to get push notificatins working. Any suggestions?

  1. 36  Juan  | 3/14/2012 12:02:31 PM

    Im not able to connect

  1. 37  steved  | 3/15/2012 1:34:21 PM

    Greetings,

    No push notices and seems like it is logging out when it is in background. Works great otherwise, just no way to be notified of new chats unless the app is active and the phone is not in standby. Therefore only useful for me, not those who want to reach me (haven't decided if I think this is a feature, or a bug:)

  1. 38  Jeff V http://www.mainline.com | 6/8/2012 10:24:03 PM

    Ed, finally got the proxy upgraded to 8.5.2IFR1 and installed the Apple push notifications db2 etc.

    Unfortunately push notifications still not working as expected. Is the apple push a 2 way process? We have ports 2195 and 2196 outbound open but not inbound. Is inbound a requirement?

    Thanks!

  1. 39  Jeff V http://www.mainline.com | 6/9/2012 8:04:11 AM

    Ed, Please disregard my post @38

    Fixed with moving the keyfile from PN to the SSC

    { Link }

    Now that it's working?.....AWESOME!!!

  1. 40  Rob B  | 6/15/2012 10:01:58 AM

    I have proxy upgraded to 8.5.2IFR1 and community server also. However my Sametime Meeting server is not (separate issue). I am hearing that is why my push notifications are not working. I didn't know there was any relation. Trying to get a second opinion without upsetting the fine gentleman helping me with that issue.

  1. 41  Scott Noebel  | 1/21/2013 1:26:08 PM

    Fellow bloggers and IBMers, I'm getting feed back from our mobile users, who are just now installing the Sametime mobile app, that it has a detrimental effect on the battery life and data usage is high. I read a few app reviews where users are expressing their concerns as well. Unfortunately, I can't find any documentation on the subject matter. What are you experiencing? What are your thoughts? I'd love to hear from you.

    Scott