Hi,
I have an app that really needs to be able to run in the background but it doesn't fall into any of the classes of apps that are allowed to run in the background.
The app is a sync and share app that provides file access to cloud storage with end to end data encryption. There are 2 main reasons why it needs to be able to run in the background:
1) There are times when the user may initiate some action that requires a significant amount of time to complete. For example if they wanted to upload several movies the data would first need to be encrypted and then uploaded. The problem is that after initiating the process the user will often switch to some other app and do something else expecting the process to continue, but because the app cannot run in the background, when they return to my app they find that the upload progress has not advanced. This leads to a very unsatisfying user experience since from the user's perspective it can appear that the upload will take days to complete.
2) Providing a File Provider extension for my app so that users can access the files via the File App is not feasible. Inorder to save files back the File Provider extension would need to pass the file to my app which only works if it is running in the background. The File Provider app cannot do the processing itself because it doesn't have access to metadata needed to perform the encryption.
This is a pity because I think users would be interested in a cloud storage solution that provided end to end encryption.
So my question is: Is it possible to get an exception to the rules regarding background execution that would allow my app to run in the background as if it were playing music for example?
The app's energy usage is negligible when there is nothing for it to do.