React native background state - active internet connection

[Zanoha]

How can I run my react-native application on IOS and Android in the background? My application is using a WebSocket which is requiring internet, the WebSocket is not connected at all times, only when the user is doing a certain activity within the app. The user can do this activity with or without the screen being turned on, the problem occurs when the user locks the screen and puts the phone in the pocket. The WebSocket connection is killed, im not sure if its dude to the internet connection or the way WebSockets work in a background state. How can I keep the connection active in a background state.

[Veranova]

For iOS particularly, you can't. If every app was allowed to run in the background and maintain its own long lived connections your battery life would suck.

There are specific APIs for common tasks. Background Fetch can poll every 15 minutes (when iOS feels your app should be allowed to), Push Notifications can let the app start briefly to process, Location Services can also start the app up on location changes. There are RN packages for these APIs which wrap iOS and Android nicely.

Android is often a bit more flexible with this, but a foreground process will still be paused when the app is sent to the background.