February Microsoft Band SDK update lets Band 2 talk to background apps on Windows 10 Mobile

The latest update to the Microsoft Band 2 for February 2016 brings a welcome new feature for both developers and users.

Firstly the update adds access to the current day’s values for the Altimeter, Calories, Distance, Pedometer and UV sensors, which means apps have more information to quantify your life with.

More interesting however is that the new SDK lets Windows 10 Mobile Universal Apps handle tile events in the background. The supported tile events are TileOpened, TileClosed and TileButtonPressed.

The update removes the limitation that Windows Phone 10 apps need to run in the foreground to handle tile events, meaning users are now able to interact (to a limited degree) with their apps on their phone without even touching their phone, doing things such as recording waypoints or significant events, sending thumbs up and down to music players and whatever creative developers come up with.

The feature is unfortunately only available on the Band 2, while the original Band will not be able to activate background apps on Windows 10 Mobile. Additionally of course Windows 10 Mobile is required.

More information can be seen on page 57 of the Microsoft Band SDK documentation here.