> Instapaper, AFAIK, syncs as soon as you open the app.
That's true, but there's also a feature in Instapaper (et al.) that will allow you to set up a geofence, and when you leave the geofence, it will launch itself in the background and sync.
It's useful for users who like to read Instapaper on a subway where there's no cell reception- you can set it to sync when you leave your office or house, and it will have downloaded everything by the time you get underground. It's just an automatic convenience so you don't have to remember to sync it manually.
Even though I don't ride a subway I find it useful, sometimes I'll get to a restaurant for lunch and there will be poor cell reception, but I can still read stuff I've just added to Instapaper.
It's also kind of a hack to allow periodic background syncing, because iOS doesn't allow apps to launch periodically to update themselves, but it DOES allow apps to launch when a geofence boundary is crossed.
That's true, but there's also a feature in Instapaper (et al.) that will allow you to set up a geofence, and when you leave the geofence, it will launch itself in the background and sync.
It's useful for users who like to read Instapaper on a subway where there's no cell reception- you can set it to sync when you leave your office or house, and it will have downloaded everything by the time you get underground. It's just an automatic convenience so you don't have to remember to sync it manually.
Even though I don't ride a subway I find it useful, sometimes I'll get to a restaurant for lunch and there will be poor cell reception, but I can still read stuff I've just added to Instapaper.
It's also kind of a hack to allow periodic background syncing, because iOS doesn't allow apps to launch periodically to update themselves, but it DOES allow apps to launch when a geofence boundary is crossed.
Here's a blog post about it:
http://blog.instapaper.com/post/24293729146