Call Webservice on iBeacon found event in backround - ios

Question

My customer asked if it is possible that when a customer walks by his store he receives an email with todays special prices, even if the app is not running.
My question is: Is it allowed by iOS to call a restservice if the app is wakened by the iBeacon event?
I tried to play a system sound to simulate the restservice call and this is not working. Only when the app is in foreground.
To give you an idea how I designed my Beaconhandler so far, here is my code. Perhaps someone has an idea to improve it:
#import "BeaconHandler.h"
#interface BeaconHandler ()
#property (strong, nonatomic) CLLocationManager *locationManager;
#property CLProximity lastProximity;
#end
#implementation BeaconHandler
-(void) startMonitoring{
if(![self monitoringIsAllowed]){
return;
}
[self initLocationManager];
[self startMonitoringBeacons:[self beaconIDsToMonitor]];
}
-(BOOL) monitoringIsAllowed{
//TODO configuration
return YES;
}
-(NSDictionary*) beaconIDsToMonitor{
//TODO: load beacons from server
return #{#"region1":[[NSUUID alloc] initWithUUIDString:#"B9407F30-F5F8-466E-AFF9-25556B57FE6D"],
#"region2":[[NSUUID alloc] initWithUUIDString:#"B9407F30-F5F8-466E-AFF9-25556B57FE6A"]
};
}
-(void) initLocationManager{
self.locationManager = [[CLLocationManager alloc] init];
if([self.locationManager respondsToSelector:#selector(requestAlwaysAuthorization)]) {
[self.locationManager requestAlwaysAuthorization];
}
self.locationManager.delegate = self;
self.locationManager.pausesLocationUpdatesAutomatically = NO;
}
-(void) startMonitoringBeacons:(NSDictionary*)beacons{
for (NSString* beaconIdentifier in beacons.allKeys) {
NSUUID *beaconUUID = beacons[beaconIdentifier];
CLBeaconRegion *beaconRegion = [[CLBeaconRegion alloc] initWithProximityUUID:beaconUUID identifier:beaconIdentifier];
beaconRegion.notifyEntryStateOnDisplay = YES;
[self.locationManager startMonitoringForRegion:beaconRegion];
[self.locationManager startRangingBeaconsInRegion:beaconRegion];
}
[self.locationManager startUpdatingLocation];
}
//TODO replace by backend call
-(void)sendLocalNotificationWithMessage:(NSString*)message{
UILocalNotification *notification = [[UILocalNotification alloc] init];
notification.alertBody =message;
[[UIApplication sharedApplication] presentLocalNotificationNow:notification];
}
#pragma CLLocationDelegate
-(void)locationManager:(CLLocationManager *)manager didRangeBeacons:(NSArray *)beacons inRegion:(CLBeaconRegion *)region {
for (CLBeacon *beacon in beacons) {
if(beacon.proximity == self.lastProximity ||
beacon.proximity == CLProximityUnknown) {
return;
}
self.lastProximity = beacon.proximity;
[self sendLocalNotificationWithMessage:[NSString stringWithFormat:#"You are inside region %#", region.identifier]];
}
}

Answer 1

Yes, this is possible. I can confirm I have done this successfully on iOS. A couple of tips to get it running in the background:
Get this working in the foreground first.
You only have 5 seconds of background running time after entering/exiting a region, so make sure your web service returns quickly.
Add NSLog statements to your callbacks to figure out what is and is not completing in the background.
If the above does not help, post your code in the callback.