We’re receiving increasing user reports that our macOS app is unexpectedly terminated in the background—without crash reports or user action. Our app is a sandboxed status-bar app (UIElement, NSStatusItem) running continuously, syncing data via CloudKit and Core Data. It has no main window unless opened via the status bar. Observed patterns: Happens more frequent on macOS 15 (Sonoma), though earlier versions are affected too. Often occurs when disk space is limited (~10% free), but occasionally happens with ample free space. System logs consistently show: CacheDeleteAppContainerCaches requesting termination assertion for <our bundle ID> No crash reports are generated, indicating macOS silently terminates our app, likely related to RunningBoard or CacheDelete purging caches during disk pressure. Since our app is meant to run persistently, these silent terminations significantly disrupt user experience. We’re seeking guidance on: Can we prevent or reduce these terminations for persistently running status bar apps? Are there recommended APIs or configurations (e.g., NSProcessInfo assertions, entitlements, LaunchAgents) to resist termination or receive notifications under low disk conditions? What are Apple’s best practices for ensuring sandboxed apps reliably run during disk pressure? We understand macOS terminates apps to reclaim space but would appreciate recommendations to improve resilience within platform guidelines. Thank you!

I’m building a companion app that connects to a custom hardware hub (IoT device) used for home safety monitoring. The hub is installed in homes and is responsible for triggering critical alerts like fire alarms, motion detection, door sensor activity, and baby monitor events. Current Architecture: The hub initially connects to the app via Bluetooth (BLE) for provisioning (to get Wi-Fi credentials). Once provisioned, the hub switches to Wi-Fi and communicates with the app via a WebSocket connection to stream real-time event updates. What I’m Trying to Achieve: My goal is to maintain background communication with the hub even when the app is not actively in use, in order to: Receive real-time updates from the hub while the device is locked or the app is in background. Trigger local notifications immediately when critical sensor events (e.g., fire, motion) occur. Ensure persistence across backgrounding, app swipes (force close), and device reboots, if possible. What I'm Observing: On iOS, WebSocket connection is suspended or dropped shortly after the app goes to the background or is locked. Even though the I've scheduled periodic fetches, notifications are delayed until the app is reopened, at which point all missed WebSocket messages arrive at once. If the app is force-closed or after reboot, no reconnection or notification happens at all. Key Questions I Have: Since the hub is initially provisioned via BLE, and could potentially send BLE flags or triggers for key events, can I use bluetooth-central mode to keep the app active or wake it up on BLE activity? Once the hub switches to Wi-Fi and uses WebSocket, is it possible to combine BLE triggers to wake the app and then reconnect to the WebSocket to fetch the full event payload? Is there a legitimate and App Store-compliant way to maintain a connection or background task with: BLE accessory triggers followed by Real-time data processing via Wi-Fi/WebSocket? Would this use case qualify as a "companion device" scenario under iOS background execution policies? What is the best practice for handling this kind of hybrid BLE + WebSocket alerting flow to ensure timely user notifications, even in background/locked/force-closed states? Any advice, documentation links, implementation patterns, or examples from similar companion device apps would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Hi everyone! I’ve developed a location-based Audio AR app in Unity with FMOD & Resonance Audio and AirPods Pro Head-Tracking to create a ubiquitous augmented soundscape experience. Think of it as an audio version of Pokémon Go, but with a more precise location requirement to ensure spatial audio is placed correctly. I want this experience to run in the background on iOS, but from what I’ve gathered, it seems Unity doesn’t support this well. So, I’m considering developing a Swift version instead. Since this is primarily for research purposes, privacy concerns are not a major issue in my case. However, I’ve come across some potential challenges: Real-time precise location updates – Can iOS provide fully instantaneous, high-accuracy location updates in the background? Continuous real-time data processing – Can an app continuously process spatial audio, head-tracking, and location data while running in the background? I’m not sure if newer iOS versions have improved in these areas or if there are workarounds to achieve this. Would this kind of experience be feasible to run in the background on iOS? Any insights or pointers would be greatly appreciated! I’m very new to iOS development, so apologies if this is a basic question. Thanks in advance!

I'm trying to schedule a background task that will run on an iPhone and I'm looking into creating a task request using BGProcessingTaskRequest and scheduled it using BGTaskScheduler.shared.submit(). Per earliestBeginDate documentation, this property can be used to specify the earliest time a background task will be launched by OS. All clear here. However, the question is: how is the value interpreted with respect to timezone ? Is the specified date in device timezone ? Is GMT ? Is something else ?

Hello everyone! I'm having a problem with background tasks running in the foreground. When a user enters the app, a background task is triggered. I've written some code to check if the app is in the foreground and to prevent the task from running, but it doesn't always work. Sometimes the task runs in the background as expected, but other times it runs in the foreground, as I mentioned earlier. Could it be that I'm doing something wrong? Any suggestions would be appreciated. here is code: class BackgroundTaskService { @Environment(\.scenePhase) var scenePhase static let shared = BackgroundTaskService() private init() {} // MARK: - create task func createCheckTask() { let identifier = TaskIdentifier.check BGTaskScheduler.shared.getPendingTaskRequests { requests in if requests.contains(where: { $0.identifier == identifier.rawValue }) { return } self.createByInterval(identifier: identifier.rawValue, interval: identifier.interval) } } private func createByInterval(identifier: String, interval: TimeInterval) { let request = BGProcessingTaskRequest(identifier: identifier) request.earliestBeginDate = Date(timeIntervalSinceNow: interval) scheduleTask(request: request) } // MARK: submit task private func scheduleTask(request: BGProcessingTaskRequest) { do { try BGTaskScheduler.shared.submit(request) } catch { // some actions with error } } // MARK: background actions func checkTask(task: BGProcessingTask) { let today = Calendar.current.startOfDay(for: Date()) let lastExecutionDate = UserDefaults.standard.object(forKey: "lastCheckExecutionDate") as? Date ?? Date.distantPast let notRunnedToday = !Calendar.current.isDate(today, inSameDayAs: lastExecutionDate) guard notRunnedToday else { task.setTaskCompleted(success: true) createCheckTask() return } if scenePhase == .background { TaskActionStore.shared.getAction(for: task.identifier)?() } task.setTaskCompleted(success: true) UserDefaults.standard.set(today, forKey: "lastCheckExecutionDate") createCheckTask() } } And in AppDelegate: BGTaskScheduler.shared.register(forTaskWithIdentifier: "check", using: nil) { task in guard let task = task as? BGProcessingTask else { return } BackgroundTaskService.shared.checkNodeTask(task: task) } BackgroundTaskService.shared.createCheckTask()

Hello, aspiring programmer here. I am developing a StepCounter APP, which keeps track of how many steps I have taken and sends to an MQTT server. I am trying to make this happen even while the app is not in focus, but so far I have not been able to get this working. First tried with silent background music, which seemed pretty inconsistent and inpractical, since I usually play youtube videoes while walking, making the app stop with its silent audio. Then tried GPS, which didnt really do anything (could be implementation problem). Has anyone made background processing work for their apps?

Hello, aspiring programmer here. I am developing a StepCounter APP, which keeps track of how many steps I have taken and sends to an MQTT server. I am trying to make this happen even while the app is not in focus, but so far I have not been able to get this working. First tried with silent background music, which seemed pretty inconsistent and inpractical, since I usually play youtube videoes while walking, making the app stop with its silent audio. Then tried GPS, which didnt really do anything (could be implementation problem). Has anyone made background processing work for their apps?

If new photo is added to library and app is not running in foreground or was not opened after the new photo was added but the app is having full access to gallery, can it access, read the new photo - If the app is not specifically a cloud syncing app, can it have this attached function, suppose it is a game app or beauty camera app?

Hi everyone, We're experiencing an issue with our Flutter app that uses PushKit, CallKit, and Janus for handling VoIP calls. Everything works fine when the app is in the foreground, but when the app is in the background or completely closed (terminated state), the behavior is inconsistent: Sometimes, incoming calls are received as expected. Other times, the app does nothing, and the call is not delivered at all. Upon checking the console logs, we noticed that our app is being canceled (terminated by the system), which seems to be the reason why calls are not coming through. This happens randomly, making it difficult to reproduce consistently. Additional Details: The app is configured to handle VoIP notifications correctly. We are using PushKit to wake up the app and trigger CallKit for the incoming call UI. When the app is active, calls are handled correctly via Janus WebRTC signaling. We have verified that background modes for VoIP are enabled in the Info.plist. We suspect that iOS may be aggressively killing the app in the background, preventing incoming call notifications from reaching it. Questions: Has anyone experienced similar behavior with PushKit + CallKit on recent iOS versions? Could iOS be terminating the app due to background execution policies? Are there recommended best practices to ensure reliable delivery of VoIP notifications when the app is closed? Any insights or suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks! Addional Information: this is the cancellation information at console: Received incoming message on topic hiperme.app at priority 10 por omisión 17:10:18.462084-0300 dasd CANCELED: com.apple.pushLaunch.hiperme.app:E8BACD at priority 10

I have BGProcessingTask & BGAppRefreshTask working fine. The main purpose of my use of BGProcessingTask is to upload a file to AWS S3 using multipart/form-data. I have found that any file above about 2.5MB times out after running almost four minutes. If I run the same RESTful api using curl or Postman, I can upload a 25MB file in 3 seconds or less. I have tried to deliberately set .earliestBeginDate to 01:00 or 02:00 local time on the iPhone, but that does not seem to help. I use the delegate (yes, I am writing in Objective C) - URLSession:task:didSendBodyData:totalBytesSent:totalBytesExpectedToSend: and find that the iOS system uploads about 140kB every 15 seconds or so. I am looking for recommendations or insight into how I might enable uploads of 25MB files. I would be happy it I could do just one a day for my use case. I provide code on how I set up the NSURLSession and NSURLSessionDownloadTask, as it is my guess that if there is something that needs to be modified it is there. I have to believe there is a solution for this since I read in many posts here and in StackOverflow how developers are using this functionality for uploading many, many files. NSURLSessionConfiguration *sConf = [NSURLSessionConfiguration backgroundSessionConfigurationWithIdentifier:bkto.taskIdentifier]; sConf.URLCache = [NSURLCache sharedURLCache]; sConf.waitsForConnectivity = YES; sConf.allowsCellularAccess = NO; sConf.networkServiceType = NSURLNetworkServiceTypeVideot; sConf.multipathServiceType = NSURLSessionMultipathServiceTypeNone; sConf.discretionary = YES; sConf.timeoutIntervalForResource = kONEHOURINTERVAL; sConf.timeoutIntervalForRequest = kONEMINUTEINTERVAL; sConf.allowsExpensiveNetworkAccess = NO ; sConf.allowsConstrainedNetworkAccess = NO; sConf.sessionSendsLaunchEvents = YES; myURLSession = [NSURLSession sessionWithConfiguration:sConf delegate:self delegateQueue:nil]; And then later in the code... NSMutableURLRequest *request = [NSMutableURLRequest requestWithURL:[NSURL URLWithString:pth]]; request.HTTPMethod = kHTTPPOST; request.HTTPBody = [NSData my body data]; request.timeoutInterval = 60; [request setValue:@"*/*" forHTTPHeaderField:@"Accept"]; [request setValue:@"en-us,en" forHTTPHeaderField:@"Accept-Language"]; [request setValue:@"gzip, deflate, br" forHTTPHeaderField:@"Accept-Encoding"]; [request setValue:@"ISO-8859-1,utf-8" forHTTPHeaderField:@"Accept-Charset"]; [request setValue:@"600" forHTTPHeaderField:@"Keep-Alive"]; [request setValue:@"keep-alive" forHTTPHeaderField:@"Connection"]; NSString *contType = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"multipart/form-data; boundary=%@",bnd]; [request setValue:contType forHTTPHeaderField:@"Content-Type"]; [request addValue:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"%lu",(unsigned long)myData.length] forHTTPHeaderField:@"Content-Length"]; and here are a few lines from my logs to show the infrequent multi-part uploads of only small chunks of data by the iOS system: -[BKSessionManager URLSession:task:didSendBodyData:totalBytesSent:totalBytesExpectedToSend:]: bytesSent = 393,216 -[BKSessionManager URLSession:task:didSendBodyData:totalBytesSent:totalBytesExpectedToSend:]: totalBytesSent = 393,216 -[BKSessionManager URLSession:task:didSendBodyData:totalBytesSent:totalBytesExpectedToSend:]: task = BackgroundDownloadTask <76A81A80-4703-4686-8742-A0048EB65108>.<2>, time Fri Mar 7 16:25:27 2025 -[BKSessionManager URLSession:task:didSendBodyData:totalBytesSent:totalBytesExpectedToSend:]: bytesSent = 131,072 -[BKSessionManager URLSession:task:didSendBodyData:totalBytesSent:totalBytesExpectedToSend:]: totalBytesSent = 524,288 -[BKSessionManager URLSession:task:didSendBodyData:totalBytesSent:totalBytesExpectedToSend:]: task = BackgroundDownloadTask <76A81A80-4703-4686-8742-A0048EB65108>.<2>, time Fri Mar 7 16:25:42 2025 -[BKSessionManager URLSession:task:didSendBodyData:totalBytesSent:totalBytesExpectedToSend:]: bytesSent = 131,072 -[BKSessionManager URLSession:task:didSendBodyData:totalBytesSent:totalBytesExpectedToSend:]: totalBytesSent = 655,360 -[BKSessionManager URLSession:task:didSendBodyData:totalBytesSent:totalBytesExpectedToSend:]: task = BackgroundDownloadTask <76A81A80-4703-4686-8742-A0048EB65108>.<2>, time Fri Mar 7 16:25:56 2025 -[BKSessionManager URLSession:task:didSendBodyData:totalBytesSent:totalBytesExpectedToSend:]: bytesSent = 131,072 -[BKSessionManager URLSession:task:didSendBodyData:totalBytesSent:totalBytesExpectedToSend:]: totalBytesSent = 786,432

My team is designing an app for retail associates that need to share managed iPads. We keep the app in Guided Access mode on our login app until an auth token is obtained. Then the iPad is opened for general use. Upon signout we need to re-enter guided access mode and we can do this via manual signout easily. But with idle signout, ie after 60 minutes of inactivity, we need to be able to make a call from the background (in a locked state even) and sign out the user, clear the pin code and enter single app mode before restarting. So that hopefully once the device restarts, we have the app in a locked state again until the next user provides credentials that can obtain a new auth token. We are struggling to see if this is even possible. Our bosses will be displeased if we tell them it isn't. So anybody with any tips would be very appreciated.

I've been reading this question: https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/701945 and watching the videos on background tasks But can't arrive to a concrete solution. Q1: Are there any tips (or sample app) on how to handle a launch in background in a streamlined way? How to have a shared code that is ran for both 'launch in background' & 'launch in foreground'? Specifically the case I'm talking about is: You set up some observance of some OS callback at a Foo screen of your app. Example app should request and then send push-to-start live activity tokens to server. Or setup location tracking. App is then suspended and then later terminated but is eligible for relaunch App is then launched in background because it has requested a push-to-start live activity token or an update for location tracking. User DOES NOT go back to screen Foo. So at this point app is no longer tracking / listening to updates for token update or location changes. How should I architecture my code for this? I'm trying to see if there's a an approach where I can avoid having multiple places in code where I do the same thing. Currently what I'm doing is as such: Q2: Is it then correct to say that anytime you've launched your app, whether it's in foreground or background then you must immediately match 'all observations done by the previous app launch'? Like store items in UserDefaults and upon launch retrieve them and do: handleGeneralAppLaunchFlow() // ALSO if defaults.contains("didLastLaunchSetupLiveActivtiyTokenObservance") { for await ptsToken in Activity<EmojiRangers> .pushToStartTokenUpdates { ... } } if defaults.contains("didLastLaunchSetupLocationTracking") { locationManager = CLLocationManager() locationManager?.delegate = itsDelegate locationManager?.allowsBackgroundLocationUpdates = true locationManager?.showsBackgroundLocationIndicator = true locationManager?.startUpdatingLocation() } // Other checks for prior observance setup Q3: Actually I think even if app is launched in foreground then because you may not end up at screen Foo again, then you must setup things regardless of app state and just based on prior observations set. Right? Q4: And then later if the user ever made it again to screen Foo, then we just skip the re-do of the observance, or maybe to just keep things simple, we'd just redo without over-engineering things? I tried to mark my questions with Q1- Q4.

Hi all, I've been trying to test the suspension -> resume behaviour of our app, on iPad (iPadOS 18.3.1), however I'm unable to reliably get the application into a suspended state. Things I've read that do not work reliably: Backgrounding the application and waiting ~1 minute Backgrounding the application and opening a bunch of other applications Sometimes it will work consistently, then other times I can be waiting for 30 minutes or more and it still won't suspend. If it matters - I'm launching the app via xcode & it's also a capacitor app with a web sockets connection. Is there any way to reliably suspend an app? Thanks

When using the old withTaskCancellationHandler(operation:onCancel:isolation:) to run background tasks, you were notified that the background task gets cancelled via the handler being called. SwiftUI provides the backgroundTask(_:action:) modifier which looks quite handy. However how can I check if the background task will be cancelled to avoid being terminated by the system? I have tried to check that via Task.isCancelled but this always returns false no matter what. Is this not possible when using the modifier in which case I should file a bug report? Thanks for your help

Hello Apple Developer Community, I am developing a medical app that is classified as Class B according to FDA regulations. The app connects to a medical device using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) to collect critical medical data such as ECG readings. To ensure accurate data collection and maintain the quality of the medical readings, the app needs to wake up every five minutes in the background and perform tasks for approximately 30 seconds. I understand that iOS has strict limitations on background execution to preserve battery and system performance. However, due to the medical nature of the app and the need for periodic data collection, I am seeking guidance on the following: If I can provide documentation that the app is associated with an FDA-approved Class B medical device, would Apple allow more lenient background task execution policies? Are there specific APIs, such as BackgroundTasks, CoreBluetooth, or other recommended strategies, that could help me achieve this behavior reliably? Is there a process to apply for an exception or special consideration for medical apps that require periodic background activity? Any insights or recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Hello, I’m experiencing an issue with my iOS app that uses CoreBluetooth in combination with beacon monitoring. My app is designed to wake via beacon region monitoring and then start scanning for a specific BLE peripheral (with specific service UUIDs). When the device screen is bright (i.e., the device is unlocked, or locked but the screen is active/bright), everything works perfectly—the connection is established and maintained without any issues in both: foreground and background. However, when the device is left alone for a while and the lock-screen dims (sleeps), the app continues to run in the background and range the beacon (I can confirm this via realtime console logs), but the connection attempt fails. Here’s what I observe: The central manager’s delegate method didConnect is called, indicating that the peripheral was connected. Almost immediately afterward, didDisconnect is triggered with the error message: "The specified device has disconnected from us.". The interesting part is (I repeatedly see this error in the console, because the app repeatedly tries to connect to peripheral until a success), when I touch the lockscreen (not unlock, but just touch, which makes the screen to light up brighter), the connection is being established without any further issues! I have the necessary background modes enabled in the app’s capabilities (e.g., bluetooth-central, location-always-mode, etc..). My expectation was that, thanks to beacon monitoring, the app would be awakened when needed, and scanning/connection would work reliably in the background regardless of whether the device is active or dimmed. My questions are: Why might the connection fail with this error when the device is locked/dimmed? Is this behavior expected due to iOS power management policies even if the app remains active in the background? Is there a way to ensure a reliable connection in such cases? Any insights, workarounds, or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance!

I've been having trouble with .backgroundTask(.appRefresh()) causing an intermittent crash when my app is launched. When the crash happens, the app flashes a darkened screen with the home screen device information (time-of-day, battery life, etc) weirdly pivoted landscape and right-justified. This screen shows for a split-second, disappears, and the app does NOT launch. Re-tapping the app icon will often re-launch the app without incident. After much trouble-shooting, I've discovered that commenting out EITHER @Environment(\.scenePhase) private var phase or the .backgroundTask(.appRefresh()) {} code eliminates the crash, so it's somehow caused by having both present at the same time. As you can see in the example below, it's not even necessary to actually use .scenePhase or .backgroundTask to run any other code in order to create the crash. The following minimal reproducible example will create the crash on an actual device, although you may need to launch and quit the app in quick succession 10-20 times to see the crash. (I realize most users aren't likely to do that - sometimes the crash occurs in the actual app on the first launch. But it's an intermittent problem so may require a few testing rounds to appear.) In addition to the code shown here, I've added the "Background Modes" capability with "Background Fetch" to "Signing & Capabilities" and added the "UpdateBadge" task to "Info" as a "Permitted background task scheduler identifier". Any idea what could be causing the crash and how to prevent it? struct ToyBackgroundTasksApp: App { @Environment(\.scenePhase) private var phase var sharedModelContainer: ModelContainer = { let schema = Schema([ Item.self, ]) let modelConfiguration = ModelConfiguration(schema: schema, isStoredInMemoryOnly: false) do { return try ModelContainer(for: schema, configurations: [modelConfiguration]) } catch { fatalError("Could not create ModelContainer: \(error)") } }() var body: some Scene { WindowGroup { ContentView() } .modelContainer(sharedModelContainer) .backgroundTask(.appRefresh("UpdateBadge")) { print("background task") } } }

I have currently created an app which contains an upload button which when clicked upload health data using HealthKit to an AWS S3 bucket. Now I want to implement an automatic file upload mechanism which would mean that the app is installed and opened just once - and then the upload must happen on a schedule (once daily) from the background without ever having to open the app again. I've tried frameworks like NSURLSession and BackgroundTasks but nothing seems to work. Is this use case even possible to implement? Does iOS allow this? The file is just a few KBs in size. For reference, here is the Background Tasks code: import UIKit import BackgroundTasks import HealthKit class AppDelegate: NSObject, UIApplicationDelegate { let backgroundTaskIdentifier = "com.yourapp.healthdata.upload" func application(_ application: UIApplication, didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions: [UIApplication.LaunchOptionsKey: Any]?) -&gt; Bool { // Register the background task BGTaskScheduler.shared.register(forTaskWithIdentifier: backgroundTaskIdentifier, using: nil) { task in self.handleHealthDataUpload(task: task as! BGAppRefreshTask) } // Schedule the first upload task scheduleDailyUpload() return true } // Schedule the background task for daily execution func scheduleDailyUpload() { print("[AppDelegate] Scheduling daily background task.") let request = BGAppRefreshTaskRequest(identifier: backgroundTaskIdentifier) request.earliestBeginDate = Date(timeIntervalSinceNow: 24*60*60) do { try BGTaskScheduler.shared.submit(request) print("[AppDelegate] Daily background task scheduled.") } catch { print("[AppDelegate] Could not schedule daily background task: \(error.localizedDescription)") } } // Handle the background task when it's triggered by the system func handleHealthDataUpload(task: BGAppRefreshTask) { print("[AppDelegate] Background task triggered.") // Call your upload function with completion handler HealthStoreManager.shared.fetchAndUploadHealthData { success in if success { print("[AppDelegate] Upload completed successfully.") task.setTaskCompleted(success: true) // Schedule the next day's upload after a successful upload self.scheduleDailyUpload() } else { print("[AppDelegate] Upload failed.") task.setTaskCompleted(success: false) } } // Handle task expiration (e.g., if upload takes too long) task.expirationHandler = { print("[AppDelegate] Background task expired.") task.setTaskCompleted(success: false) } } }

I am developing an App that will enable voice calls between users through webrtc. When the user opens the App and switches the App to the background, the user will receive the incoming call notification through Silent Push Notifications (not PushKit). My question is as follows, If set UIBackgroundModes to voip and do not use PushKit and CallKit, will this cause the background App to be unable to use webrtc voice calls (requires network, microphone, and audio permissions)? Can I set UIBackgroundModes = audio combined with AVAudioSession playAndRecord instead of setting UIBackgroundModes to voip, so that I can use the microphone and audio in the background to implement webrtc voice calls? Thanks for your help.

When I run my app with XCode on my iPhone, and then moved into the background, I'm getting a EXC_BREAKPOINT exception after a few minutes, seemingly when iOS attempts to call my app with a BGAppRefreshTask: Thread 23 Queue: com.apple.BGTaskScheduler (com.mycompany.MyApp.RefreshTask) (serial) 0 _dispatch_assert_queue_fail 12 _pthread_wqthread Enqueued from com.apple.duet.activityscheduler.client.xpcqueue (Thread 23) 0 dispatch_async 20 start_wqthread I can't quite understand the reason from this crash. In the background task, I'm attempting to update live activities. In the process, it might encounter code that calls MainActor and manipulate @Observable objects. Might that be the reason?