iPhone Backgrounder Hack Allows Users to Run iPhone Apps in the Background

November 2009

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Apple had pulled out Push Notification Service; their solution for one of the features that we have been asking for, the ability for iPhone apps to run in the background from the 4th beta version of iPhone firmware 2.1 for "further development".

So till Apple does not introduce the feature, you can use the hack developed by Gaizin for jailbroken iPhones, called iPhone Backgrounder, which allows users to run iPhone apps in the background.

iPhone backgrounder is available on jailbroken iPhone allows you to run iPhone apps in the background. Its a Mobile Substrate-based extension to Apple's SpringBoard application launcher that allows applications to run in the background.

After you have installed iPhone backgrounder on your jailbroken iPhone, you can enable it for any running iPhone app by holding the "Home" button until a message pops-up informing you that "Backgrounding Enabled". This allows the application to run in the background for that instance. If that instance of the iPhone app is terminated and relaunched you need to enable "backgrounding" again.

To terminate or disable "backgrounding" for an instance of an iPhone app which has "Backgrounding Enabled", you need to hold the "Home" button until a message pops-up informing you that "Backgrounding Disabled".

You can also enable backgrounding for certain iPhone apps by default by adding some xml code.

The developer has mentioned the following limitations and warnings:

"Some applications may use the suspend/resume methods to perform important tasks, such as saving preferences. If the application is not properly terminated, these tasks may never be run.

While this extension should work for all applications, it is recommended to use it only for background-enabling AppStore applications (which are not allowed to include backgrounding code). If you wish to run a non-AppStore 3rd-party application in the background, it is suggested that you contact the author of the application and request that proper background support be added."

You can install iPhone Backgrounder via Cydia, the installer app for jailbreak iPhone apps.

Though there are some bugs based on initial user response; iPhone Backgrounder is an impressive solution to allow users to run iPhone apps in the background.

As always, please do give your feedback on iPhone Backgrounder in the comments.

[via Crunch Gear, Gaizin's Google Code homepage]

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