# iPad recording download in the Background



## dalabera (Jan 10, 2013)

I do a lot of TV shows recordings and the most annoying thing I found is when trying to download shows to my iPad I can not get out of the Tivo to something else. Even if it goes to sleep the download stops. 

From time to time I download movies from Amazon Prime or Hoopla and they a feature that I can exit the app or lock the screen and come back and the movie or TV show was downloaded. 

Could the IOS iPad app be updated to allow downloads in the background?


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

No. This is a limitation of iOS and the technology TiVo uses for video streaming. TiVo uses a technology called HLS to stream video. HLS works by breaking the video up into tiny 10 second chunks, each it's own file. When you download a show they use the same technology but just save all those chunks on the devices drive instead. The background download service in iOS only allows an app to push the downloading of a single file off to the background. So becuase of how TiVo works this means the app would only be able to download a single 10 second chunk in the background before it needed to be brought to the foreground again to request the next one. 

The only way they could add this feature is if they were to completely change how the download feature worked so that it downloaded the entire file as a single chunk. Which I'm not even sure is possible with the hardware they're using now.


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## dalabera (Jan 10, 2013)

Thank you for such a detailed explanation!
Now I understand is a development or technology limitation.


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## PSU_Sudzi (Jun 4, 2015)

Dan203 said:


> No. This is a limitation of iOS and the technology TiVo uses for video streaming. TiVo uses a technology called HLS to stream video. HLS works by breaking the video up into tiny 10 second chunks, each it's own file. When you download a show they use the same technology but just save all those chunks on the devices drive instead. The background download service in iOS only allows an app to push the downloading of a single file off to the background. So becuase of how TiVo works this means the app would only be able to download a single 10 second chunk in the background before it needed to be brought to the foreground again to request the next one.
> 
> The only way they could add this feature is if they were to completely change how the download feature worked so that it downloaded the entire file as a single chunk. Which I'm not even sure is possible with the hardware they're using now.


Just so I understand, you have to leave your iPad "open" to the TiVo app for the entire download process? That could take forever!


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## Jonathan_S (Oct 23, 2001)

PSU_Sudzi said:


> Just so I understand, you have to leave your iPad "open" to the TiVo app for the entire download process? That could take forever!


Yep. 
I tend to kick off those transfers right before I go to bed. Plug the ipad in to charge, open the TiVo app and queue up the transfers then leave it open and running overnight.

Unfortunately there are technical limitations (explained up-thread) that mean it can't continue to download when the TiVo iOS app is in the background.


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## Hickoryw (Dec 6, 2008)

Does seem to work on android... just doesn't see sd card only internal.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

Yeah Android allows background processing, so it's basically like minimizing a Windows app. iOS is much more protective of resources, especially power, so they have very strict requirements on what apps can do in the background.


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