iOS Geofence Demo

You can setup your own geofence by providing latitude and longitude, and it will notify your app when the device enters or leaves the geofence.

Implementation of geofencing can be useful in various cases, You can define geofence that can trigger a notification whenever user enters or leaves the restaurant, Shopping center or particular region.

In this geofencing tutorial, you will learn how to use region monitoring in iOS with Swift 4.0 – using the Region Monitoring API in Core Location.

Requirements

Minimum OS 10.0 and later

Tip

• To test in simulator you can use .GPX file (add GPX file file-> new -> under resource section there will option of GPX file)

• For using GPX file when app is running in simulator there is option in xCode (debug -> simulate location -> select your GPX file)

• In our demo we are using core data to store region data for testing perpose. our core data model looks like below:

  extension TblGeofence { 
     @nonobjc public class func fetchRequest() -> NSFetchRequest<TblGeofence> {
       return NSFetchRequest<TblGeofence>(entityName: "TblGeofence")
      }
  
   @NSManaged public var identifier: String?
   @NSManaged public var isFiredOn: Date?
   @NSManaged public var latitude: Double
   @NSManaged public var longitude: Double
   @NSManaged public var msg: String?
   @NSManaged public var range: Double
  @NSManaged public var title: String?
  
  }
  

Manual Installation

1. First thing we need to do is setup Location manager and Location permissions.

   class AppDelegate: UIResponder, UIApplicationDelegate {  
   let locationManager = CLLocationManager()
   self.enableLocationServices()
    }
   

2. Next we need to add Following methode in Appdelegate.

    func enableLocationServices() // to check status of locations
    {
    locationManager.delegate = self
   
    switch CLLocationManager.authorizationStatus() {
    case .notDetermined:
        // Request when-in-use authorization initially
        locationManager.requestAlwaysAuthorization()
        break
   
    case .restricted, .denied:
        print("status restricted, .denied \(CLLocationManager.authorizationStatus())")
        // Disable location features
   
        break
   
    case .authorizedWhenInUse:
        // Enable basic location features
        print("status authorizedWhenInUse \(CLLocationManager.authorizationStatus())")
        break
   
    case .authorizedAlways:
        print("status authorizedAlways \(CLLocationManager.authorizationStatus())")
        // Enable any of your app's location features
   
        break
    }
   
   }
   

3. Now set the delegate of the locationManager instance so that we can receive callbacks to respective delegate methods.

    extension AppDelegate: CLLocationManagerDelegate {
   
   func locationManager(_ manager: CLLocationManager, didEnterRegion region: CLRegion) {
       if region is CLCircularRegion {
   
        // Here region.identifier is identifier which you provide during register geofence region.
        // Now you can perform action you want to perfrom. that will same for below didExitRegion method
   
        let geoFance  = (TblGeofence.findOrCreate(dictionary: ["identifier":region.identifier]) as? TblGeofence)!
        if (!(geoFance.title?.isEmpty)!)
        {
            self.fireNotification(obj: geoFance,  isEnter: true)
        }
     }
    }
   
    func locationManager(_ manager: CLLocationManager, didExitRegion region: CLRegion) {
       if region is CLCircularRegion {
   
        let geoFance  = (TblGeofence.findOrCreate(dictionary: ["identifier":region.identifier]) as? TblGeofence)!
        if (!(geoFance.title?.isEmpty)!)
        {
            self.fireNotification(obj: geoFance,  isEnter: false)
        }
   
       }
     }
    }
   

4. Registering Your Geofences with your location and radios of monitoring region

   func registerGeoFance(obj : TblGeofence) {
   
       if locationManager.monitoredRegions.count >= 20 // check current monitored region Apple allowed only 20 at time
       {
       locationManager.stopMonitoring(for: locationManager.monitoredRegions.first!) // if have to add new one then need to remove older then 20 else it will not add new one
        }
     let centerCoordinate: CLLocationCoordinate2D = CLLocationCoordinate2DMake(obj.latitude, obj.longitude)
     let region = CLCircularRegion(center: centerCoordinate, radius: obj.range, identifier: obj.identifier!) // provide radius in meter. also provide uniq identifier for your region.
     region.notifyOnEntry = true // based on your requirements
     region.notifyOnExit = true
   
     locationManager.startMonitoring(for: region) // to star monitor region
     locationManager.requestState(for: region) // that will check if user is already inside location then it will fire  notification instantly.
    }
   

5. To trigger notification when enter or leave a registered region, we can use Local Notifications using UNUserNotification framework which is supported only in iOS 10 or later versions

   func fireNotification(obj:TblGeofence , isEnter:Bool)
   

{
    
    print("notification will be triggered in five seconds..Hold on tight")
    let content = UNMutableNotificationContent()
    content.title = obj.title ?? "TitleMissing"
    content.subtitle = obj.msg! + "at lat = \(obj.latitude) long = \(obj.longitude)"
    content.body = "you are \(isEnter ? "enetr in" : "Exit from") \(obj.title ?? "TitleMissing")"
    content.sound = UNNotificationSound.default()
    
    let trigger = UNTimeIntervalNotificationTrigger.init(timeInterval: 0.1, repeats: false)
    let request = UNNotificationRequest(identifier:obj.identifier! + "++ \(isEnter ? "1" : "0") \(NSDate.timeIntervalSinceReferenceDate)", content: content, trigger: trigger)
    
    UNUserNotificationCenter.current().delegate = self
    UNUserNotificationCenter.current().add(request){(error) in
        
        if (error != nil){
            
            print(error?.localizedDescription ?? "error in notifications")
        }
    }
}

5. For perfom any action on notification we need to implement UNUserNotificationCenterDelegate

   extension AppDelegate:UNUserNotificationCenterDelegate{
   
       func userNotificationCenter(_ center: UNUserNotificationCenter, didReceive response: UNNotificationResponse, withCompletionHandler completionHandler: @escaping () -> Void) {
   
    print("Tapped in notification")
    }
   
   //This is key callback to present notification while the app is in foreground
   func userNotificationCenter(_ center: UNUserNotificationCenter, willPresent notification: UNNotification, withCompletionHandler completionHandler: @escaping (UNNotificationPresentationOptions) -> Void) {
   
    print("Notification being triggered")
    let strDevides = notification.request.identifier.components(separatedBy: "++ ")
   
    let geoFance  = (TblGeofence.findOrCreate(dictionary: ["identifier":strDevides[0]]) as? TblGeofence)!
   
    DispatchQueue.main.asyncAfter(deadline: DispatchTime.now() + DispatchTimeInterval.milliseconds(Int(0))) {
                    let alert = UIAlertController(
                        title: "\(geoFance.title ?? "BlankTitleRecevied")",
                        message: "\(notification.request.content.subtitle) \n \(notification.request.content.body)",
                        preferredStyle: UIAlertControllerStyle.alert
                    )
   
                    alert.addAction(UIAlertAction(title: "Okey", style: .cancel, handler: { (alert) -> Void in
   
                    }))
   
                    UIApplication.topViewController()?.present(alert, animated: true, completion: nil)
   
                }
   
    //You can either present alert ,sound or increase badge while the app is in foreground too with ios 10
    //to distinguish between notifications
    if notification.request.identifier == "123456"{
   
        completionHandler( [.alert,.sound,.badge])
   
      }
    }
   
   }
   

6. Now we have created one ViewController where we can add our geofence region.

   • Drag and Drop ViewControlle.swift file in your Projects.

LICENSE!

Geofence is MIT-licensed.

Let us know!

We’d be really happy if you send us links to your projects where you use our component. Just send an email to [email protected] And do let us know if you have any questions or suggestion regarding our work.