Background Download

Keep content downloading while your players step away.

Background Download connects your Unity game to native Android and iOS download services through a straightforward C# API. Download asset bundles, videos, and other files without keeping your mobile game in the foreground, subject to each operating system's scheduling and background execution rules.

Simple to integrate

Start a download from a URL, track its progress, or wait for completion in a coroutine. One API provides access to the platform-specific implementations.

Features

• Native mobile downloads: Android DownloadManager and iOS background NSURLSession.
• Coroutine-friendly API: yield a DownloadOperation until it finishes.
• Download monitoring: inspect progress, status, and errors.
• Cancellation: cancel an operation through the shared C# API.
• Track ongoing mobile downloads: look up an existing download by URL, or start one when no active operation is found.
• Download configuration: destination options and Android notification title, description, and visibility controls.
• Editor and Standalone downloads: UnityWebRequest implementation for development and desktop use.
• Full source included: C#, Android Java, and iOS Objective-C++ implementation files.

Platform behavior

Android and iOS use native background download facilities. Download timing and continuation depend on device settings, network availability, and operating system policies. Force-quitting an app is not a guarantee that a download will continue.

Editor and Standalone use UnityWebRequest while the Unity application is running; they do not provide mobile-style downloads after the application exits.

Frequently asked questions

Is source code included?
Yes. Inspect, customize, and extend the supplied C# and native implementations.

Can I track an existing download?
Use GetDownloadOperation(url) or StartOrContinueDownload(url) to find an ongoing mobile download. This is tracking an existing task, not a general-purpose pause/resume API. On iOS, allow native initialization to complete before checking existing tasks.

Can I use it for downloadable game content?
Yes. It downloads files; your game handles any subsequent loading, validation, unpacking, or installation.

How can I get support?
Contact [email protected] for questions or feature requests.