Optimise app memory when minimised: loading animation every time the app is reopened.

One painful drawback of Bolt is that you can’t minimise the app for a moment without it reloading when you go back. Typically I would start reading an article in the magazine, jump back to WhatsApp to reply to a message or check Google Maps, or so on, then return back to the article to carry on a minute later.

Unfortunately the app memory lasts only fleetingly once it is minimised. So you return back and the whole loading animation begins and you have to wait a few seconds before you can see the article again. Then it jumps back to where you were reading, but not exactly in the same position, so you have to spend a couple more seconds finding the right spot.

While it doesn’t sound like a big deal, if you spend an hour or so reading while on a commute you get this jarring experience pretty much constantly. It would be much more of a pleasant experience if the app remained how it was when minimised - just like all other news apps.

Modern apps rely so much on speed and seamless transitions, that this behaviour also feels out of place. You can slide through TikTok, WhatsApp, News, Outlook, Maps, and back again without ever tripping over a single load screen.

It’s also a feedback point we get in the Spectator help inbox pretty regularly:

Anthony H:

“Please fix this infernal app[…] Remove the dizzying "S" animated emblem every time you leave and reenter.

Dan D:

“Please can the app be updated so that the app doesn’t need to reload every time I switch between apps on my iPhone?

John W:

“Upon each occasion I navigate away from the app, only to return in short order, I find myself confronted by the persistent reappearance of your luminous white logo screen.

Todder T:

“…Worst of all, it reloads every time one leaves and returns to the app”