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Expo TaskManager

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


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 module are used by other modules under the hood. Here is a list of Expo modules that use TaskManager:

  • Location
  • BackgroundFetch
  • Notifications

Platform Compatibility

Android DeviceAndroid EmulatoriOS DeviceiOS SimulatorWeb

Installation

Terminal
npx expo install expo-task-manager

If you're installing this in a bare React Native app, you should also follow these additional installation instructions.

Configuration for standalone apps

Background modes on 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. In standalone apps this array is empty by default, so to use background features you will need to add appropriate keys to your app.json configuration.

Here is an example of an app.json configuration that enables background location, background fetch and remote notifications:

app.json
{
  "expo": {
    "ios": {
      "infoPlist": {
        "UIBackgroundModes": ["location", "fetch", "remote-notification"]
      }
    }
  }
}
Are you using this library in a bare React Native app?

Learn how to configure the native projects in the installation instructions in the expo-task-manager repository.

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)

NameTypeDescription
taskNamestring

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

taskExecutorTaskManagerTaskExecutor

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()

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)

NameTypeDescription
taskNamestring

Name of the task.


Retrieves options associated with the task, that were passed to the function registering the task (eg. 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()

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

Returns

  • Promise<boolean>

A promise fulfills with true if the API can be used, and false otherwise. On the web it always returns false.

TaskManager.isTaskDefined(taskName)

NameTypeDescription
taskNamestring

Name of the task.


Checks whether the task is already defined.

Returns

  • boolean

TaskManager.isTaskRegisteredAsync(taskName)

NameTypeDescription
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 fulfills with a boolean value whether or not the task with given name is already registered.

TaskManager.unregisterAllTasksAsync()

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)

NameTypeDescription
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

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

TaskManagerError Properties

NameTypeDescription
codestring | number-
messagestring-

TaskManagerTask

Represents an already registered task.

TaskManagerTask Properties

NameTypeDescription
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

Represents the object that is passed to the task executor.

TaskManagerTaskBody Properties

NameTypeDescription
dataT

An object of data passed to the task executor. Its properties depends 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

Additional details about execution provided in TaskManagerTaskBody.

TaskManagerTaskBodyExecutionInfo Properties

NameTypeDescription
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()

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

NameTypeDescription
bodyTaskManagerTaskBody-