When location-based social network Loopt debuted its early-to-market iPhone app last year, then-VentureBeat writer MG Siegler dubbed it "nifty, but crippled." The handicap: Apple wouldn't let Loopt's app run in the background while you used other apps or pocketed your phone. Apple blocks apps from running in the background to keep them from running down the phone's battery. So if you were on the move, Loopt didn't keep up with your changing location.
Loopt's engineers and partners have come up with a clever workaround they're launching today in a limited beta trial: Loopt's servers, rather than the app on your iPhone, periodically ping AT&T's servers to get your phone's latest location info. If your location changes to be near something Loopt knows you're interested in, or if one of your Loopt friends appears nearby, Loopt sends a text message to your iPhone.
"It's been the most-requested feature our users asked for, for a while now," Loopt CEO Sam Altman told me over the phone. "We think it's going to be a big hit." It sounds simple, but Altman says it was tricky to implement, requiring several partners to work together. I got some of the tech details on background. It definitely wasn't a one-day project.
Other apps will no doubt sprout this same background functionality, but not overnight. For now, Loopt is ahead of the pack.
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