Background geolocation delivering reliable, battery-conscious continuous tracking with a modern DSL and Flow-style APIs, granular OS-specific tuning for priority/accuracy, coroutine-friendly permissions API and demo app.
Reliable. Battery-Conscious. Native Performance.
Anchor is a native, Kotlin-first background geolocation library for Kotlin Multiplatform, designed for high performance and seamless integration in modern Android and iOS applications.
⚠️ Note: The product is currently in its final stages of development and testing. The official v1.0 release is expected during March 2026.
Add the dependency to your commonMain source set in build.gradle.kts:
commonMain.dependencies {
implementation("io.anchorkmp:core:0.0.1")
}
No manual initialization code is required. However, you must declare the foreground service type in your manifest if you are targeting Android 14+.
Initialize Anchor in your application startup logic.
Anchor provides a simple coroutine-based API for permission management.
scope.launch {
// 1. Request permissions (suspends until user decides)
// Suggest asking for Notifications & Motion first
Anchor.requestPermission(PermissionScope.NOTIFICATIONS)
Anchor.requestPermission(PermissionScope.MOTION)
// 2. Request Background Location
val status = Anchor.requestPermission(PermissionScope.BACKGROUND)
if (status == PermissionStatus.GRANTED) {
// 3. Start Tracking
Anchor.startTracking()
} else {
println("Permission denied")
}
}
scope.launch {
Anchor.locationFlow.collect { location ->
println("📍 Location: ${location.latitude}, ${location.longitude}")
println("🏃 Activity: ${location.activity}")
}
}
💡 Pro Tip: For robust background tracking that survives process death, initialize Anchor and subscribe to updates in your
Applicationclass, not your Activity/UI. See Best Practices.
Check out the sample/ directory for a complete Compose Multiplatform app demonstrating background tracking and native maps.
local.properties in the project root.MAPS_API_KEY=AIzaSy..../gradlew :sample:composeApp:installDebugsample/iosApp/iosApp.xcodeproj in Xcode.
Licensed under Apache 2.0.
Built with ❤️ by Livotov Labs.
The library automatically includes the following permissions:
ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATIONACCESS_FINE_LOCATIONACCESS_BACKGROUND_LOCATIONFOREGROUND_SERVICE_LOCATIONPOST_NOTIFICATIONSACTIVITY_RECOGNITIONAdd the following keys to your Info.plist (typically in iosApp/iosApp/Info.plist):
<!-- Location Permissions -->
<key>NSLocationWhenInUseUsageDescription</key>
<string>We need your location to track your journey.</string>
<key>NSLocationAlwaysAndWhenInUseUsageDescription</key>
<string>We need your location to track your journey even in the background.</string>
<key>NSLocationAlwaysUsageDescription</key>
<string>We need your location to track your journey even in the background.</string>
<!-- Motion Permission (for Activity Recognition) -->
<key>NSMotionUsageDescription</key>
<string>We need access to motion data to detect if you are walking, running, or driving.</string>
<!-- Background Modes -->
<key>UIBackgroundModes</key>
<array>
<string>location</string>
<string>fetch</string>
<string>processing</string>
</array>
import io.anchorkmp.core.*
import kotlin.time.Duration.Companion.seconds
Anchor.init {
// Shared Options
trackActivity = true // Enable activity recognition (walking, driving, etc.)
minUpdateDistanceMeters = 10.0 // Minimum distance before an update is triggered
// Android Specifics
android {
updateInterval = 10.seconds // Desired frequency of updates
priority = AndroidPriority.BALANCED // Balance between battery and accuracy
notification {
title = "Tracking Active" // Persistent notification title
body = "Location tracking is on" // Persistent notification body
iconName = "ic_tracker" // Drawable resource name
}
}
// iOS Specifics
ios {
desiredAccuracy = IosAccuracy.BEST // kCLLocationAccuracyBest
autoPause = true // Allow system to pause updates to save battery
activityType = IosActivityType.OTHER // CLActivityType
displayBackgroundLocationIndicator = true // Show blue pill in status bar
}
}
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