Is it possible for my GPS application to continue running in the background while the tablet is on standby?

Question

I have created an application that generates a tracklog of the Android devices location. A GPS coordinate is recorded at regular intervals and stored on the device for later download. Currently, when the phone goes on standby, the program stops recording points. Is there a method that would allow the application to continue documenting location while the unit is on standby? Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

I found two solutions. 1.) Use Wakelock

public void wakeLock() {
         PowerManager powerManager = (PowerManager) getSystemService(POWER_SERVICE);
         PowerManager.WakeLock wakeLock = powerManager.newWakeLock(PowerManager.FULL_WAKE_LOCK, "MyApp::MyWakelockTag");
        wakeLock.acquire();
    }

with the following added to the manifest XML file,

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WAKE_LOCK"/>

or, 2.) use WindowManager to keep the device awake,

 public void noSleep() {
        if (bNoSleep == true){
        getWindow().addFlags(WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_KEEP_SCREEN_ON);
        } else if (bNoSleep != true){
            getWindow().clearFlags(WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_KEEP_SCREEN_ON);
        }
}

I've chosen the latter as a user selectable feature accessible via checkbox in the main workspace. I've also set this to engage automatically when a tracklog is initiated with the user having the option to disable this and allow standby/sleep to occur. I did implement a wakelock, but had some issues with it that may be related to a custom ROM on some of my Android devices. This is why I went ultimately went w/the windowmanager solution.

Answer 2

According to android documentation, if your app targets API level 26 or higher, the system imposes restrictions on running background services when the app itself isn't in the foreground. Also for accessing location in the background you may need additional permissions

You can run a foreground service with showing an ongoing notification if you want to run a service which is always alive in the background. Or you can schedule tasks using WorkManager.