Abstract: The subject disclosure is directed towards a background transfer service that provides platform-level support for third party applications to queue data transfers to run in the background, including when the application is not running in the foreground. Applications may thus perform downloading and uploading tasks in the background; however the background transfer service manages the data transfer requests so as to limit each background application's ability to interfere with foreground application operations, that is, by controlling resource usage according to one or more policies.

Abstract: The subject disclosure is directed towards a background transfer service that provides platform-level support for third party applications to queue data transfers to run in the background, including when the application is not running in the foreground. Applications may thus perform downloading and uploading tasks in the background; however the background transfer service manages the data transfer requests so as to limit each background application's ability to interfere with foreground application operations, that is, by controlling resource usage according to one or more policies.

Abstract: The subject disclosure is directed towards a background transfer service that provides platform-level support for third party applications to queue data transfers to run in the background, including when the application is not running in the foreground. Applications may thus perform downloading and uploading tasks in the background; however the background transfer service manages the data transfer requests so as to limit each background application's ability to interfere with foreground application operations, that is, by controlling resource usage according to one or more policies.

Abstract: The subject disclosure is directed towards a background transfer service that provides platform-level support for third party applications to queue data transfers to run in the background, including when the application is not running in the foreground. Applications may thus perform downloading and uploading tasks in the background; however the background transfer service manages the data transfer requests so as to limit each background application's ability to interfere with foreground application operations, that is, by controlling resource usage according to one or more policies.

Abstract: The subject disclosure is directed towards a background transfer service that provides platform-level support for third party applications to queue data transfers to run in the background, including when the application is not running in the foreground. Applications may thus perform downloading and uploading tasks in the background; however the background transfer service manages the data transfer requests so as to limit each background application's ability to interfere with foreground application operations, that is, by controlling resource usage according to one or more policies.

Abstract: The subject disclosure is directed towards a background transfer service that provides platform-level support for third party applications to queue data transfers to run in the background, including when the application is not running in the foreground. Applications may thus perform downloading and uploading tasks in the background; however the background transfer service manages the data transfer requests so as to limit each background application's ability to interfere with foreground application operations, that is, by controlling resource usage according to one or more policies.

Abstract: The subject disclosure is directed towards a background transfer service that provides platform-level support for third party applications to queue data transfers to run in the background, including when the application is not running in the foreground. Applications may thus perform downloading and uploading tasks in the background; however the background transfer service manages the data transfer requests so as to limit each background application's ability to interfere with foreground application operations, that is, by controlling resource usage according to one or more policies.

Abstract: The subject disclosure is directed towards a background transfer service that provides platform-level support for third party applications to queue data transfers to run in the background, including when the application is not running in the foreground. Applications may thus perform downloading and uploading tasks in the background; however the background transfer service manages the data transfer requests so as to limit each background application's ability to interfere with foreground application operations, that is, by controlling resource usage according to one or more policies.

Abstract: The subject disclosure is directed towards a technology by which background application code (e.g., provided by third-party developers) runs on a mobile device in a way that is constrained with respect to resource usage. A resource manager processes a resource reservation request for background code, to determine whether the requested resources meet constraint criteria for that type of background code. If the criteria are met and the resources are available, the resources are reserved, whereby the background code is ensured priority access to its reserved resources. As a result, a properly coded background application that executes within its constraints will not experience glitches or other problems (e.g., unexpected termination) and thereby provide a good user experience.

Abstract: The subject disclosure is directed towards a technology in which a mobile device service plays background audio as instructed by a third party audio player application. The service continues to play background audio after the audio player application is deactivated from the foreground, e.g., as another application becomes the foreground application. Also described is launching agents to obtain additional information and/or to handle custom audio formats, and handling of user requests from a universal (system) volume control or the audio player application (when in the foreground).

Abstract: The subject disclosure is directed towards a background transfer service that provides platform-level support for third party applications to queue data transfers to run in the background, including when the application is not running in the foreground. Applications may thus perform downloading and uploading tasks in the background; however the background transfer service manages the data transfer requests so as to limit each background application's ability to interfere with foreground application operations, that is, by controlling resource usage according to one or more policies.

Abstract: The subject disclosure is directed towards a technology by which background application code (e.g., provided by third-party developers) runs on a mobile device in a way that is constrained with respect to resource usage. A resource manager processes a resource reservation request for background code, to determine whether the requested resources meet constraint criteria for that type of background code. If the criteria are met and the resources are available, the resources are reserved, whereby the background code is ensured priority access to its reserved resources. As a result, a properly coded background application that executes within its constraints will not experience glitches or other problems (e.g., unexpected termination) and thereby provide a good user experience.

Abstract: The subject disclosure is directed towards a technology in which a mobile device maintains an application in a dormant state in which the application's process is not terminated and remains in memory, but the application cannot execute code. Further, state and execution context are maintained for the application, allowing the application to be quickly and efficiently resumed into the running state. To prevent the application from executing code while dormant, thread activity is suspended, requests canceled, completed or paused, resources detached, and so forth. Resource usage may be monitored for dormant applications, to remove a misbehaving dormant application process from memory if improperly using resources.