Sending user to nested view

Question

When a user shuts down my app, I'd like to send them back to where they left off. The app starts on a tableview, the user drills down to another tableview and then clicks a row for a detail view. When they startup the app again, I have two choices:

1.) Display options (alertview) for returning to the previous location or cancelling and remaining on the start view.

2.) Immediately jet them over to the detail view.

I don't like either option. (1) gets to be nagging if you must go through it on every startup. (2) could be confusing and I'm not sure technically how that works.

Any suggestions on the above or something different?

Answer 1

When your app starts up, it has an initial 'look', screen, view, whatever. When it starts back up and has a previous context, add a link or button naming the previous context that allows returning there.

Answer 2

But 2) is the preferred way according to Apple's HIG:

Even though your application does not run in the background when the user switches to another application, you are encouraged to make it appear as if that is the case. When your application quits, you should save out information about your application’s current state in addition to any unsaved data. At launch time, you should look for this state information and use it to restore your application to the state it was in when it was last used. Doing so provides a more consistent user experience by putting the user right back where they were when they last used your application. Saving the user’s place in this way also saves time by potentially eliminating the need to navigate back through multiple screens’ worth of information each time an application is launched.

As far as the technical implementation, it's exactly the same: push your subviews onto the navigation controller. The only thing I'd do differently is not animate the 'drilling down.'