Freight and field apps live or die in the background. If location stops when the screen locks, dispatch is flying blind.
Budget engineering time for plugin quirks, keep-awake policies, and offline job state — not only map tiles.
Treat OS policy as a requirement
Android and iOS will fight you. Background geolocation plugins, battery exemptions, and clear user messaging are product features.
Test on the cheapest fleet devices, not only flagships.
Local state is mandatory
SQLite/local stores keep job context through connectivity gaps.
Navigation handoff to a mature maps app often beats reimplementing turn-by-turn.
Takeaways
- Background GPS is the product risk.
- Persist jobs locally by default.
- Rehearse on real driver hardware.