Question

Is it better to use the activity indicator in the top bar or is it better to use the activity indicator in the window? When I say better I mean, in Apple’s point of view. I’m not sure when to use the network activity indicator or the standard activity indicator in any given situation. Is one more reliable than the other? I heard that if you have an application that accesses the Internet and you don’t have the indicator running that apple may reject your app. That’s why I’m asking this.

Answer 1

You should always activate the network activity indicator when performing network tasks. Whether you show an additional indicator is at your discretion. For example, Safari activates the network activity indicator and also has it’s own loading bar.

Edit:
From Apple’s documentation:

Display the network activity indicator to provide feedback when your
app accesses the network for more than a couple of seconds. If the
operation finishes sooner than that, you don’t have to show the
network activity indicator, because the indicator would be likely to
disappear before users notice its presence.

If you feel the task is in the forefront of your app and that the user would like to know its progress or the fact that it is running, you should show them your own additional indicator of some sort.