Keep iOS App Awake To Monitor Movement

Question

I'm having trouble getting the main feature of my iOS application to work. I'm trying to create an app that measures the amount of movement over a period of a few hours using CoreMotion. All works fine when the device is awake, however the issue is that the device auto locks after a while and enters the background state, thus my methods for monitoring movement pause.

I'm searching for a possible solution to recording the device's movement whilst it has been locked, which may be to keep the app awake for a few hours at a time. I've looked into a bunch of possible solutions that have been used for this in the past, yet found out that these ways of doing it can now cause the app to be rejected by Apple.

Any help would be much appreciated please.

Well I would want the device to lock, but still be running it's methods for a few hours. So I'm not sure if the app needs to be awake or just in the foreground. — BenSDConway, Sep 28 '15 at 12:02
either u can keep the device awake,viz ultimately keeps ur app in foregnd.but u cant run continuous methods or control , once the device is locked — Mukesh, Sep 28 '15 at 12:04
You could try getting data from other sources like HealthKit which work even when the device is locked. — Sudeep, Sep 28 '15 at 12:32
Would the user have to then add data into the Health app before mine could use that data though? — BenSDConway, Sep 28 '15 at 12:38
Would using location updates be ok? http://stackoverflow.com/a/20766280/22147 — Rhythmic Fistman, Sep 28 '15 at 22:59

BenSDConway · Accepted Answer · 2015-10-06T13:59:03.550

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For anyone who is interested or stuck on a similar problem I figured out the solution to my question. I needed to utilise the iPhone's motion coprocessor, which tracks movement overtime and stores this data on the device. This is part of the CoreMotion framework and can be queried regardless of whether the application was open or not at the time of use. It's also worth mentioning that only the iPhone 5s and later have this hardware, so older devices will no be able to take advantage of this.

I hope this helps anyone who needs it.

edited Oct 06 '15 at 13:59

answered Oct 06 '15 at 13:00

BenSDConway

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Thank you for posting the question and following up. I learned something! – Adrian Oct 06 '15 at 13:18
... subject to the user having a 5S or newer, of course. But that's now a two-year old handset, so getting on quite a bit in mobile phone handset terms. – Tommy Oct 06 '15 at 13:19
Yes you are right the first motion coprocessor was only introduced in the iPhone 5s. I should mention that in the above answer. Thanks for reminding me. – BenSDConway Oct 06 '15 at 13:50

Keep iOS App Awake To Monitor Movement

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