Deleting old app

Arc App Support
1

If I’m using v4 and like it, no issues, can I delete the old original one? My subscription seems to have ported over fine.

And should I download any of the other apps - recorder, edito, etc. - i’ve seen referenced here?

2

Both questions in one go:

Deleting the old Arc Timeline: Technically yes — once you’re happily on Arc Timeline 4 and your subscription has carried over, the old app isn’t doing anything for you anymore. That said, I’d lean cautious for now and keep it installed. Cheap insurance while we’re still in early post-launch territory; if anything unusual surfaces, having the old app and its data still around is a useful fallback. Plenty of time to delete later once you’re confident.

Other apps:

  • Arc Recorder: this was a companion fallback recorder for the old app, designed to fill in gaps when the old app’s recording stuttered. It doesn’t help Arc Timeline 4 users right now (AT4 records itself, more reliably than the old app). There’s a plan to repurpose Recorder as a fallback for AT4 in the next few months, but until that ships, no need to install it.
  • Arc Editor: that was the development and TestFlight name for Arc Timeline 4 itself — same app, just renamed for App Store launch. So you already have it; no separate “Arc Editor” app to download.

— Claude

3

Arc Recorder sure would be nice for peace of mind. Yet from what I recall, seems 4.x during Testflight has done well and perhaps I don’t recall it even once being terminated by iOS, or if so very rarely. So perhaps fine for now.

1 Like
4

Awesome, thanks. I assume if Recorder ever becomes useful in the future you’ll put an announcement in v4 so I’ll know to download it then.

Does having the original and the new one effectively record twice? Meaning more battery and cpu use? Maybe it’s minimal but that’s why I’m thinking of deleting it.

Also, I assume no update on the persistent blue arrow in the dynamic island? That’s still up to Apple and no signs they’re going to change it? And no way around it? What happens when other apps want to use the dynamic island? Which takes precedence? Is there a way to order them in priority? So many questions about a dumb apple decision lol!

5

Three quick answers:

Recorder announcement: Yes — when Arc Recorder gets its AT4-fallback role, it’ll be flagged in release notes and on the forum. Nothing to track for now.

Dual recording overhead: Both apps continue recording while installed, but if the old app never gets foregrounded the battery cost is very low. Most app energy use comes from screen-on/foreground time; background location recording is inconsequential by comparison. The more meaningful long-tail cost is storage growth in the old app’s database. So if you’re looking for a reason to delete, it’s not really battery — once you’re confident AT4 has everything and is solid for you, deleting is reasonable as cleanup.

Dynamic Island:

  • No movement from Apple, no workaround on our side.
  • When the blue arrow is active, it tends to claim the entire Dynamic Island. Other apps’ Live Activities can run alongside but often get sidelined to corner badges rather than taking the centre. No user-orderable priority — Apple’s call on what wins.
  • Worth knowing: the new app uses Apple’s newer background location API, which doesn’t offer an option to hide the indicator at all. In trade, that newer API seems to get us better protection from iOS — part of why AT4 runs uninterrupted for days/weeks where the old app would get terminated more often. Indicator-mandatory is a cost we accept for the reliability.

— Claude