Getting User Location Every N Minutes After App Goes to Background

Getting user location every n minutes after app goes to background

After some days trying all possible solutions I was finally able to make it work. Here is what was wrong in my solution:

• I need to setup 2 UIBackgroundTaskIdentifiers, one for the timer, and another one for the locationManager

On my solution, just add:

UIApplication *app = [UIApplication sharedApplication];

bgTask2 = [app beginBackgroundTaskWithExpirationHandler:^{ 
[app endBackgroundTask:bgTask2]; 
bgTask2 = UIBackgroundTaskInvalid; }];

self.locationManager.delegate = self; 
[self.locationManager startUpdatingLocation]; 

Send the location to the server every n minutes in the background in swift

In DidBackground:

1. stop normalTimer.
2. start New backgroundTaskTimer

In WillForeground:

1. stop backgroundTaskTimer.
2. start normalTimer

Find below sample code:

In Appdelegate:

Declaration:

  var backgroundUpdateTask: UIBackgroundTaskIdentifier!

  var backgroundTaskTimer:Timer! = Timer()

Implementation:

func doBackgroundTask() {
    DispatchQueue.global(qos: .default).async {
        self.beginBackgroundTask()

        if self.backgroundTaskTimer != nil {
            self.backgroundTaskTimer.invalidate()
            self.backgroundTaskTimer = nil
        }

        //Making the app to run in background forever by calling the API
        self.backgroundTaskTimer = Timer.scheduledTimer(timeInterval: 10, target: self, selector: #selector(self.startTracking), userInfo: nil, repeats: true)
        RunLoop.current.add(self.backgroundTaskTimer, forMode: RunLoopMode.defaultRunLoopMode)
        RunLoop.current.run()

        // End the background task.
        self.endBackgroundTask()

    }
}

func beginBackgroundTask() {
    self.backgroundUpdateTask = UIApplication.shared.beginBackgroundTask(withName: "Track trip", expirationHandler: {
        self.endBackgroundTask()
    })
}

func endBackgroundTask() {
    UIApplication.shared.endBackgroundTask(self.backgroundUpdateTask)
    self.backgroundUpdateTask = UIBackgroundTaskInvalid
}

In ApplicationDidEnterBackground:

 func applicationDidEnterBackground(_ application: UIApplication) {

    //Start the background fetch
     self.doBackgroundTask()
 }

In ApplicationWillEnterForeground:

func applicationWillEnterForeground(_ application: UIApplication) {

    if self.backgroundTaskTimer != nil {
        self.backgroundTaskTimer.invalidate()
        self.backgroundTaskTimer = nil
    }
}

Background service in android 10 to get location in every 10 minutes

Due to the android's limitations for background tasks in post-O devices, background services are destroyed by the android system if the app is in the background for some time.
You should use startForeground() in onStartCommand() to start the service as a foreground service and also show the notification for the same.

How do I get a background location update every n minutes in my iOS application?

I found a solution to implement this with the help of the Apple Developer Forums:

• Specify location background mode
• Create an NSTimer in the background with UIApplication:beginBackgroundTaskWithExpirationHandler:
• When n is smaller than UIApplication:backgroundTimeRemaining it will work just fine. When n is larger, the location manager should be enabled (and disabled) again before there is no time remaining to avoid the background task being killed.

This works because location is one of the three allowed types of background execution.

Note: I lost some time by testing this in the simulator where it doesn't work. However, it works fine on my phone.

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