Program an iOS app to launch itself at specific times

Question

I'm developing a medical alert and record keeping app for iOS for a client. The app needs to be able to open itself at specific times based on a schedule that is set remotely.

I've searched around for how this can be done, and I keep running into other apps that let you schedule app launch times, but this needs to be a self contained solution.

I'd rather not JailBreak the iOS device to make it work, and I've come across articles that say iOS 9+ now has this capacity, but no instructions on how to make it come about.

Any clues, tutorials, or other information on how to accomplish this?

Answer 1

You can use "silent" push notifications (with "content-available") on iOS 7+ to launch the app when the push notification is received on the device. You will get a chance to process the notification, and the app will be launched if it's not already running.

However, it still won't work if the user has force killed the app.

Also, iOS will not launch your app if it feels you've gone over the daily processing time or data quota.