iPhone collecting CoreMotion data in the background. (longer than 10 mins)

Jonovono picture Jonovono · Dec 24, 2013 · Viewed 8.5k times · Source

I am trying to collect coreMotion acceleration data in the background for longer than 10 minutes. This must be possible since apps like Sleep Cycle do this.

I just want to make sure this is allowed though, since it does not seem to be one of these:

Apps that play audible content to the user while in the background, such as a music player app
Apps that record audio content while in the background.
Apps that keep users informed of their location at all times, such as a navigation app
Apps that support Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)
Apps that need to download and process new content regularly
Apps that receive regular updates from external accessories
Apps that implement these services must declare the services they support and use system frameworks to implement the relevant aspects of those services. Declaring the services lets the system know which services you use, but in some cases it is the system frameworks that actually prevent your application from being suspended.

However, I have tried following these steps to get a background task, but I am thinking there is a better way for CoreMotion:

Header:

UIBackgroundTaskIdentifier bgTask; 

Code:

// if the iOS device allows background execution,
// this Handler will be called
- (void)backgroundHandler {

NSLog(@"### -->VOIP backgrounding callback");

UIApplication*    app = [UIApplication sharedApplication];

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

// Start the long-running task 
dispatch_async(dispatch_get_global_queue(DISPATCH_QUEUE_PRIORITY_DEFAULT, 0), ^{

while (1) {
    NSLog(@"BGTime left: %f", [UIApplication sharedApplication].backgroundTimeRemaining);
       [self doSomething];
    sleep(1);
}   
});     

- (void)applicationDidEnterBackground:(UIApplication *)application {

BOOL backgroundAccepted = [[UIApplication sharedApplication] setKeepAliveTimeout:600 handler:^{ [self backgroundHandler]; }];
if (backgroundAccepted)
{
    NSLog(@"VOIP backgrounding accepted");
}

UIApplication*    app = [UIApplication sharedApplication];

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


// Start the long-running task
dispatch_async(dispatch_get_global_queue(DISPATCH_QUEUE_PRIORITY_DEFAULT, 0), ^{

    while (1) {
        NSLog(@"BGTime left: %f", [UIApplication sharedApplication].backgroundTimeRemaining);
       [self doSomething];
       sleep(1);
    }    
}); 
}

Answer

matt picture matt · Dec 24, 2013

Use this one:

Apps that keep users informed of their location at all times, such as a navigation app

In other words, you make a location manager and tell it to start doing updates. You don't have to do anything with those updates! But as long as this is happening - that is, as long as your app is continuing to do location updates in the background - your app is also allowed to use Core Motion in the background. This is not just a trick; it is official Apple policy as explained in one of the WWDC videos from a couple of years ago.