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This is documentation for the next SDK version. For up-to-date documentation, see the latest version (SDK 52).

Expo TaskManager

GitHub

npm

A library that provides support for tasks that can run in the background.

Android
iOS

expo-task-manager provides an API that allows you to manage long-running tasks, in particular those tasks that can run while your app is in the background. Some features of this library are used by other libraries under the hood. Here is a list of Expo SDK libraries that use TaskManager.

Libraries using Expo TaskManager

Installation

Terminal
- npx expo install expo-task-manager

If you are installing this in an existing React Native app, start by installing expo in your project. Then, follow the additional instructions as mentioned by the library's README under "Installation in bare React Native projects" section.

Configuration 
iOS

TaskManager works out of the box in the Expo Go app on Android. However, on iOS, you'll need to use a development build.

Standalone apps need some extra configuration: on iOS, each background feature requires a special key in UIBackgroundModes array in your Info.plist file.

Read more about how to configure this in the reference for each of the libraries that use TaskManager.

Example

Example
import React from 'react';
import { Button, View, StyleSheet } from 'react-native';
import * as TaskManager from 'expo-task-manager';
import * as Location from 'expo-location';

const LOCATION_TASK_NAME = 'background-location-task';

const requestPermissions = async () => {
  const { status: foregroundStatus } = await Location.requestForegroundPermissionsAsync();
  if (foregroundStatus === 'granted') {
    const { status: backgroundStatus } = await Location.requestBackgroundPermissionsAsync();
    if (backgroundStatus === 'granted') {
      await Location.startLocationUpdatesAsync(LOCATION_TASK_NAME, {
        accuracy: Location.Accuracy.Balanced,
      });
    }
  }
};

const PermissionsButton = () => (
  <View style={styles.container}>
    <Button onPress={requestPermissions} title="Enable background location" />
  </View>
);

TaskManager.defineTask(LOCATION_TASK_NAME, ({ data, error }) => {
  if (error) {
    // Error occurred - check `error.message` for more details.
    return;
  }
  if (data) {
    const { locations } = data;
    // do something with the locations captured in the background
  }
});

const styles = StyleSheet.create({
  container: {
    flex: 1,
    alignItems: 'center',
    justifyContent: 'center',
  },
});

export default PermissionsButton;

API

import * as TaskManager from 'expo-task-manager';

Methods

TaskManager.defineTask(taskName, taskExecutor)

Android
iOS
ParameterTypeDescription
taskNamestring

Name of the task. It must be the same as the name you provided when registering the task.

taskExecutorTaskManagerTaskExecutor<T>

A function that will be invoked when the task with given taskName is executed.


Defines task function. It must be called in the global scope of your JavaScript bundle. In particular, it cannot be called in any of React lifecycle methods like componentDidMount. This limitation is due to the fact that when the application is launched in the background, we need to spin up your JavaScript app, run your task and then shut down — no views are mounted in this scenario.

Returns:
void

TaskManager.getRegisteredTasksAsync()

Android
iOS

Provides information about tasks registered in the app.

Returns:
Promise<TaskManagerTask[]>

A promise which fulfills with an array of tasks registered in the app.

Example

[
  {
    taskName: 'location-updates-task-name',
    taskType: 'location',
    options: {
      accuracy: Location.Accuracy.High,
      showsBackgroundLocationIndicator: false,
    },
  },
  {
    taskName: 'geofencing-task-name',
    taskType: 'geofencing',
    options: {
      regions: [...],
    },
  },
]

TaskManager.getTaskOptionsAsync(taskName)

Android
iOS
ParameterTypeDescription
taskNamestring

Name of the task.


Retrieves options associated with the task, that were passed to the function registering the task (e.g. Location.startLocationUpdatesAsync).

Returns:
Promise<TaskOptions>

A promise which fulfills with the options object that was passed while registering task with given name or null if task couldn't be found.

TaskManager.isAvailableAsync()

Android
iOS

Determine if the TaskManager API can be used in this app.

Returns:
Promise<boolean>

A promise which fulfills with true if the API can be used, and false otherwise. With Expo Go, TaskManager is not available on Android, and does not support background execution on iOS. Use a development build to avoid limitations: https://expo.fyi/dev-client. On the web, it always returns false.

TaskManager.isTaskDefined(taskName)

Android
iOS
ParameterTypeDescription
taskNamestring

Name of the task.


Checks whether the task is already defined.

Returns:
boolean

TaskManager.isTaskRegisteredAsync(taskName)

Android
iOS
ParameterTypeDescription
taskNamestring

Name of the task.


Determine whether the task is registered. Registered tasks are stored in a persistent storage and preserved between sessions.

Returns:
Promise<boolean>

A promise which resolves to true if a task with the given name is registered, otherwise false.

TaskManager.unregisterAllTasksAsync()

Android
iOS

Unregisters all tasks registered for the running app. You may want to call this when the user is signing out and you no longer need to track his location or run any other background tasks.

Returns:
Promise<void>

A promise which fulfills as soon as all tasks are completely unregistered.

TaskManager.unregisterTaskAsync(taskName)

Android
iOS
ParameterTypeDescription
taskNamestring

Name of the task to unregister.


Unregisters task from the app, so the app will not be receiving updates for that task anymore. It is recommended to use methods specialized by modules that registered the task, eg. Location.stopLocationUpdatesAsync.

Returns:
Promise<void>

A promise which fulfills as soon as the task is unregistered.

Interfaces

TaskManagerError

Android
iOS

Error object that can be received through TaskManagerTaskBody when the task fails.

PropertyTypeDescription
codestring | number-
messagestring-

TaskManagerTask

Android
iOS

Represents an already registered task.

PropertyTypeDescription
optionsany

Provides options that the task was registered with.

taskNamestring

Name that the task is registered with.

taskTypestring

Type of the task which depends on how the task was registered.

TaskManagerTaskBody

Android
iOS

Represents the object that is passed to the task executor.

PropertyTypeDescription
dataT

An object of data passed to the task executor. Its properties depend on the type of the task.

errornull | TaskManagerError

Error object if the task failed or null otherwise.

executionInfoTaskManagerTaskBodyExecutionInfo

Additional details containing unique ID of task event and name of the task.

TaskManagerTaskBodyExecutionInfo

Android
iOS

Additional details about execution provided in TaskManagerTaskBody.

PropertyTypeDescription
appState(optional)'active' | 'background' | 'inactive'
Only for: 
iOS

State of the application.

eventIdstring

Unique ID of task event.

taskNamestring

Name of the task.

Types

TaskManagerTaskExecutor(body)

Android
iOS

Type of task executor – a function that handles the task.

ParameterType
bodyTaskManagerTaskBody<T>
Returns:

Promise<any>