Loopt First Background Functionality App

[Jeff Campbell]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/09/first-iphone-app-with-background-functionality-will-cost-you.ars' target='_blank'>http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2...ll-cost-you.ars</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"Through a deal with AT&T, the social networking app Loopt will soon be able to talk to its servers even after you have switched applications on the iPhone. Users will have to pay a monthly fee, though."</em></p><p><em><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/at/auto/1252425883.usr105634.jpg" style="border: 1px solid #d2d2bb;" /></em></p><p>This will cost you $3.99 USD monthly, billed via AT&T after the 14-day free trial. Or will it? Check out the <a href="http://www.loopt.com/help/pricing" target="_blank">Loopt page</a> on this and it says that iPhones and Blackberry phones will get it free, the charge is for other phones. It isn't technically "running" in the background, rather it is staying connected to the server, continuously reporting changes in your location. There have been some jokes about this being the perfect tool for a stalker, but I can think of another use. Since my daughter (and son since he has one of our old iPhones) has an iPhone, this would be the perfect thing to use to keep track of them.Â*</p>

[ptyork]

Since any kid, being a kid, will figure out how to turn this sucker off in about 5 minutes, you might want to consider AT&T FamilyMap instead.

https://familymap.wireless.att.com/finder-att-family/welcome.htm

Of course, you'll have to REALLY want to know where your kids are since it'll cost you 33 cents per day whether you use it or not. And again, any kid with a brain will learn to turn off the phone when they are heading off to lover's lane...

I assume that this actually works the same way as Loopt, simply by relying on the phone's periodic tower ping to triangulate it's location. I'm pretty certain it doesn't actually read the phone's GPS location, as that would most certainly kill the battery.

I'm surprised that all the carriers (except for the death star of course) decided to offer this for free. I guess since it costs the carriers nothing, offering the service to the customer is more valuable than charging for it...weird. How un-carrier-like. Next they'll make text messaging free. Thankfully, AT&T is still there to keep my world-view from being completely shattered.