iOS app in background for photo uploads

Question

Created Dec ’21

Replies 2

Boosts 0

Views 2.0k

Participants 2

Hey all I’m new to the world of Xcode and building apps.

I am wondering if it were possible to have an app run in the background and have it listen to the photos library and if it finds a new photo has been added it would automatically upload that to some type of rest api call without the user having to interact/do it manually?

This will only be used in my house hold so I’m not looking to get it into the App Store or go through any approval process that apple does if it were going to be in the App Store.

So before I spend too much time looking around - is this possible with iOS 14+? Only thing I have come across that remotely sounds like something that would work would be this PHPhotoLibraryChangeObserver but I’m not sure if the user has to interact with it in order for it to be used or not?

I’m open to any suggestions you more experienced Xcode programmers have about the above.

Boost

Answer 1

robnotyou OP

Dec ’21

This is an interesting idea, but I think it cannot be made to work.
At first glance, a number of issues come to mind...

Photo Library
The Photo Library does not provide a feature where it sends a system-wide notification that a new photo has been added.

PHPhotoLibraryChangeObserver
This refers specifically to assets or collections that your app fetches.
It can be used to synchronize a running app with the Photo Library.

Background Modes
The background operation of iOS apps is very limited.
The available Background Modes do not cover anything like this use-case.

Background Uploading
On receiving a notification while backgrounded, it is not possible to upload data without some user intervention (e.g. by responding to the notification)

Background Termination
Backgrounded apps can be removed from memory at any time, when iOS considers that it needs available resources for other tasks. In this case, your app would just stop working (invisibly, i.e. with no warning).

1

Answer 2

robnotyou OP

Dec ’21

Was that useful to know, @Stealthrt?

0