iphone is it possible to register my application so the os notifies it every X seconds?

Question

Hello I would like to know if there is an equivalent to the android's alarmManager so I can register my app to be waken every X seconds?

Answer 1

No. At least not directly Here's the list of all kinds of multitasking that Apple supports from its's What's new page:

Multitasking

iOS 4 delivers seven new multitasking services that allow your apps to perform tasks in the background while preserving battery life and performance. These multitasking services include:

• Background audio - Allows your app to play audio continuously. So customers can listen to your app while they surf the web, play games, and more.
• Voice over IP - Your VoIP apps can now be even better. Users can now receive VoIP calls and have conversations while using another app. Your users can even receive calls when their phones are locked in their pocket.
• Background location - Navigation apps can now continue to guide users who are listening to their iPods, or using other apps. iOS 4 also provides a new and battery-efficient way to monitor location when users move between cell towers. This is a great way for your social networking apps to keep track of users and their friends' locations.
• Push notifications - Receive alerts from your remote servers even when your app isn't running.
• Local notifications - Your app can now alert users of scheduled events and alarms in the background, no servers required.
• Task finishing - If your app is in mid-task when your customer leaves it, the app can now keep running to finish the task.
• Fast app switching - All developers should take advantage of fast app switching, which allows users to leave your app and come right back to where they were when they left - no more having to reload the app.

Answer 2

Adding to Georg's answer, you probably want this: Local notifications - Your app can now alert users of scheduled events and alarms in the background, no servers required.

Unfortunately it also requires the user to okay relaunching the app to run your code.