Tracking while App Hidden

Because of the age of my boat, and the previous owner’s setup, I use the iPad as the only digital navigation assistance on my flybridge helm. I do have a full CE setup on my lower helm computer, but for the upper helm it is iPad only.

That being said, while testing Coastal Explorer, I also run Navionics in the background and compare the two by switching back and forth to see differences in location, speed, heading, etc. While the Navionics app is running in the background it gathers the location, speed, heading, and all other relevant data, and creates a track that I can save for later. Coastal Explorer on the other hand stops tracking and goes into the “standby” mode any time that it is minimized or another app is running “over top”.

I was wondering if there is a way to make the app continue tracking even when it is not displayed on the screen. I find this incredibly useful when I am trying to find marina information or if I am trying to look up AIS data of another vessel I see on the screen.

The other issue that the app not running in the background causes is that the map updates are guaranteed to fail. I’ve been trying to update the maps, and it requires me to etch the iPad like a hawk to make sure it doesn’t go to sleep, or for the app to time out… And for some reason it always does. It’s definitely a problem. I want to be able to start the update, go use the device to do something else, and then have the maps updated.

App being able to run in the background is a big deal, I think

While it’s not everything you’re asking for, we did add an option that will let Coastal Explorer keep your iPad from going to sleep; it’s at Settings > General > Auto-Lock. We are currently working on reducing the long download times and hope to have a solution soon. Solving the problem of tracking in the background is harder, but it’s on our list.

Yeah, for some reason the auto-lock feature wasn’t working. I had to re-install the app to make it work properly.