Question

I have an application that requires location tracking and I think it fits squarely within one of the allowable background models. However, I need to post to a network service when there are significant changes of location. I’ve seen write-ups that state network access is prohibited in background processing, but I didn’t read that in Apple’s docs.

Does anyone know if it’s kosher (wrt Apple policies) to make occasional and very quick network updates in a background process?

Answer 1

Good point, according to the Apple documentation only the following usages are allowed in background and each service should be registered:

• audio—The app plays audible content to the user while in the background. (This content includes streaming audio or video content
  using AirPlay.)
• location—The app keeps users informed of their location, even while it is running in the background.
• voip—The app provides the ability for the user to make phone calls using an Internet connection.
• newsstand-content—The app is a Newsstand app that downloads and processes magazine or newspaper content in the background.
• external-accessory—The app works with a hardware accessory that needs to deliver updates on a regular schedule through the External
  Accessory framework.
• bluetooth-central—The app works with a Bluetooth accessory that needs to deliver updates on a regular schedule through the
  CoreBluetooth framework.

Other than this services, you can create a Finite-Length Task in the Background that actually give you the possibility to end a network process.

This can be important if your app is performing some important task,
such as writing user data to disk or downloading an important file
from a network server.

Regarding your question, it’s not really clear if you can or not can do a quick network connection if you’ve a location service running in background. I would say YES for a short connection, but not totally sure. Since iOS 4.0 this usage was denied and clear in documentation, now that part has been removed.