app getting killed if using beginBackgroundTaskWithExpirationHandler IOS

Question

I am using beginBackgroundTaskWithExpirationHandler method in the applicationDidEnterBackground delegate method for keeping the NSTimer to keep running. But then the application gets killed after a long time if left in background for a long time (in my case 7-10 mins). I don't want my app to be getting killed and also I want the timer to run if in background. How do I get rid of this issue. Following is the code that I have written in the applicationDidEnterBackground method

- (void)applicationDidEnterBackground:(UIApplication *)application {
    if ([application respondsToSelector:@selector(setKeepAliveTimeout:handler:)]) {
        [application setKeepAliveTimeout:600 handler:^{

            DDLogVerbose(@"KeepAliveHandler");

            // Do other keep alive stuff here.
        }];
    }

    /*
     * The following code is used to make the app running in background state as certain features
     * (eg: NSTimer) doesn not run if its in background or if the phone is locked
     */
    UIBackgroundTaskIdentifier locationUpdater =[[UIApplication sharedApplication] beginBackgroundTaskWithExpirationHandler:^{
        [[UIApplication sharedApplication] endBackgroundTask:locationUpdater];
    } ];

}

Answer 1

The beginBackgroundTaskWithExpirationHandler is only intended to let you complete a finite length task of a few minutes after the app leaves foreground. iOS, quite deliberately, doesn't let your app run in background perpetually except for very narrow situations (e.g. VOIP, audio app, navigation app) or for narrow functional needs (significant change location services, background fetch, etc.). But you cannot just run arbitrary code perpetually in the background.

For a discussion of the options, see the Background Execution section of the App Programming Guide for iOS.