I know that this is slightly unorthodox, as is is less of a community question and more of a hope that an apple engineer might see this. I would use a Support ticket however they are not allowed for Pre Release software, therefore I am here.
I currently have a Watch app on the App Store, The app is an activity tracker for Cycling & Running.
I have a feature in the app that allows the user to see a map of there surrounding area.
The map is created using a MKMapSnappshotter to create a UIImage onto which I add some overlays showing the users position and a poly line of where they have been.
The issue is that now Apple Watch apps are native, the MapKit framework is off limits (With good reason). I therefore moved the snapshot code into the main app and simply requested the Snapshot using the Watch Connectivity Framework which works... but only if the iOS App is running in the foreground.
As stated in the documentation the MKMapSnapshotter will only return the image if the app is running in the Foreground, making the map feature in my app rather useless when the user has there phone in there pocket.
I originally tested a WKInterfaceMap however opted for the MKMapSnapshotter as it allowed for more flexibility.
I understand that returning a map image while an iOS app is idle is redundent however with the Apple Watch it makes sense to be able to retrieve a map. What I am doing with the Snapshotter isn't far of what the WKInterfaceMap does to display its map.
I would like to know if there is a underlying technical reason why the Snapshotter can't return an image while in the background or if because the Snapshotter was created before the Apple Watch this issue was never considered.
I know of several other developers that are using the Snapshotter in this way and it would be usefully to have support for it.
Thanks.
