iOS application improvement: manage short term wifi disconnects

[Anonymous User]

I'm using the latest version of the app on my iPhone with latest iOS version; I switched on the option to allow streaming on wifi only in order to avoid exhausting my 3G allowance.

The nowtv app repeatedly shows a very annoying behavior: the streaming stops and a popup error message tells me that wifi is not available. However the wifi connection is still shown as available on the iPhone status line and the streaming continues if I restart it manually. What I suspect it's happening is that the phone has a short term interruption of the wifi connection that restores itself immediately but not before the app notices the interruption and breaks the streaming. I noticed this firsts at home with my BT home hub, but it also happens when connecting to other routers.

What I would expect to happen is for the nowtv app to be smart at dealing with these wifi micro-interruptions, possibly take advantage of buffering and keep streaming or freezing the stream for a short while before prompting the error message.
With the current behavior it's very annoying having to restart the stream, especially because since the last app updates the app often fails to memorize at which point the stream was interrupted and I have to manually seek the right spot in the stream for resuming the viewing.

Is this something the app developers could have a look and improve the app? I'm also heavy user of the BBC iPlayer and the Amazon video app and no such a problem ever happens with them.

Thanks in advance.

[Anonymous User]

YES, the proble is still there. Did the NowTv team do anything that was supposed to fix the issues? I havent seen an app upgrade since I upgraded to version 6.4 of the NowTv app and the wifi issues still happens as decribed in the post dated August 23rd that I copy here below:

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I noticed the app update to version 6.4 yesterday.

The "wifi unavailable" issues is still present, but I noticed some differences:

1) previously, atfer the "wifi unavailable" popup message appeared the only way to continue streaming was to close the stream, reopen the same stream and manually seek the correct spot to continue watching; as of yesterday however, after dismissing the "wifi unavailable"  popup I can resume streaming immediately by clicking the pause/start button twice (this seems new with the app v 6.4, but honestly I'm not completely sure having tried exactly the same with the previous version of the app, so there's a chance this is only a coincidence)

2) sometimes, at random, instead of "wifi unavailable" the error message on the popup is "your cinema pass expired" instead; note there's nothing wrong with my cinema pass and I was also watching something from the entertainment pass, so clearly a bogus error message there

In summary, unless I missed something with the previous version, there seems to be some improvement but still far from resolution: other streaming apps seems to be a lot more robust in dealing with short term wifi interruptions...

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[Anonymous User]

Thanks for letting me know @Anonymous User

There was some changes made in the background that woundn't trigger an app update, but I will feed it back to them that the issue is still ongoing.

Thanks again

Andy

[Anonymous User]

I applied the NowTv app update to version 6.5 yesterday and the wifi disconnection issue is still present, allthough I noticed yet another change of behaviour of the app when the bug occurs.

With the NowTv app version 6.5 I first get the wifi disconnect popup; on dismissing the popup the app closes the stream and brings me back to the shows/movies list (previously the app remained on the show/movie play screen in a paused state). Fortunately, if I resume playing the same movie/show the streaming restarts immediately from the exacts spot when it was interrupted.

So... some behaviour changes but the fundamental issue of the stream interrupting about three time for every 1/2 hour tv show still remains.

I'm still on the latest iOS 9, I'll try again after upgrading to iOS 10.

[Anonymous User]

Hi @Anonymous User

Thanks for updating us on how the app is behaving for you.

As mentioned by @Anonymous User this is going to be looked into.

Can you let us know if you experience any change when updated to iOS 10?

Thanks 

Rob

NOW TV Team

[Anonymous User]

Hello @Rob-T @Anonymous User

I tried the NowTv app (v6.5) after upgrading to iOS 10.0.1 on my iPhone 6s and the app works exactly as it did on iOS 9.3.5. 

The good news then is that the NowTv app works on iOS 10, the bad news is that the wifi disconnect issues are still there and the app behaves exactly the same as it did on iOS 9.3.5, see description in my earlier post.

[Anonymous User]

Thanks for letting us know @Anonymous User

The issue is under investigation and we will keep you upto date once we have more information.

Cheers

Andy

[Anonymous User]

Hi @Anonymous User

Just wanted to get back in touch to let you know that we haven't forgotten about this. 

We're still waiting for more information. We'll chase this up so we can get a response asap.

Thanks,

Ryan
NOW TV Team

[Anonymous User]

Updated the NowTV app to version 6.6 last night and noticed major improvements. I've bee able to watch a couple of episodes of the Sopranos without a single wifi disconnect issue (previously you would have had an handful of those).

Early feedback, but this update might have removed the bug.

Thanks for the effort investigating the issue.