iPhone background operations/daemon with live chat module. Keeping the app alive?

I am building a live chat app for the iPhone, and for this it is necessary to ensure that the operator is online and to keep the flow of data going.

After much search it seams to be only two options for similar kind of behavior; UILocalNotification, only works if I have some scheduled information notice to be sent Push Notification, for pushing data to the phone

The problem with push notification sea开发者_StackOverflow社区ms to be that I cannot ensure that the user is available, or in any way talk with the app without the user re-opening it. This way it seams impossible for me to know if the user is online, to update data in the app without the user having to manually open it, etc.

So, what I ask for, is it in any way possible to keep the app active in the background thus ensuring the operator is online and notify of incoming chat sessions?

Thanks a lot for your help guys!

Unfortunately the answer is no. I take it you mean text chat and not VoIP (which CAN run in the background)? Your best bet would be Push Notifications, as you would not be able to monitor anything from the app itself when it is in the background.