My android location service killed when app switched to background

Please apologize me if my question is repeated or simple. Struggling in this issue for a long time. I need to track user's location even when my app is switched to background. On surfing I found that the location processor code can be written as a service, so that the service will not be killed and we can get the user's location (in both status - app in foreground and when app runs in background). When my app is in foreground, I was able to track user's location continuously. However, when I switched the app to background, I feel my location service dies and I was not able to track user's location. Please find my code below: AndroidManifest.xml: ``` <manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" package="com.example.testmylocation" android:versionCode="1" android:versionName="1.0" > <uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="8" android:targetSdkVersion="15" /> <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" /> <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION" /> <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION" /> <application android:icon="@drawable/ic_launcher" android:label="@string/app_name" android:theme="@style/AppTheme" > <activity android:name=".MainActivity" android:label="@string/title_activity_main" > <intent-filter> <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" /> <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" /> </intent-filter> </activity> <service android:name=".MyService"/> </application> </manifest> ``` MainActivity.java: ``` package com.example.testmylocation; import android.os.Bundle; import android.app.Activity; import android.content.Intent; import android.view.Menu; import android.view.Window; public class MainActivity extends Activity { @Override public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) { super.onCreate(savedInstanceState); requestWindowFeature(Window.FEATURE_NO_TITLE); setContentView(R.layout.activity_main); startService(new Intent(this, MyService.class)); } @Override public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) { getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.activity_main, menu); return true; } } ``` MyService.java: ``` package com.example.testmylocation; import java.io.BufferedReader; import java.io.InputStreamReader; import java.io.PrintStream; import java.net.URL; import java.net.URLConnection; import java.text.SimpleDateFormat; import java.util.Date; import org.json.JSONArray; import org.json.JSONObject; import android.app.Service; import android.content.Context; import android.content.Intent; import android.location.Location; import android.location.LocationManager; import android.os.Bundle; import android.os.Handler; import android.os.IBinder; import android.os.Message; import android.util.Log; public class MyService extends Service { private static final String TAG = "TestMyLocation"; private LocationManager mLocationManager = null; private static final int LOCATION_INTERVAL = 0; private static final float LOCATION_DISTANCE = 0; long itsBatchId = 0; private class LocationListener implements android.location.LocationListener { Location mLastLocation; public LocationListener(String provider) { mLastLocation = new Location(provider); } @Override public void onLocationChanged(Location location) { Thread aThread = new Thread(new Runnable() { @Override public void run() { sendLocationValues(location); } }); aThread.start(); } @Override public void onProviderDisabled(String provider) { Log.e(TAG, "onProviderDisabled: " + provider); } @Override public void onProviderEnabled(String provider) { Log.e(TAG, "onProviderEnabled: " + provider); } @Override public void onStatusChanged(String provider, int status, Bundle extras) { Log.e(TAG, "onStatusChanged: " + provider); } } private void sendLocationValues(Location theLocation) { //A web service will be called and the user's current location will be stored in server } LocationListener[] mLocationListeners = new LocationListener[] { new LocationListener(LocationManager.GPS_PROVIDER), new LocationListener(LocationManager.NETWORK_PROVIDER) }; @Override public IBinder onBind(Intent arg0) { return null; } @Override public int onStartCommand(Intent intent, int flags, int startId) { super.onStartCommand(intent, flags, startId); return START_STICKY; } @Override public void onCreate() { initializeLocationManager(); itsLocationHandler.sendEmptyMessage(1); } private Handler itsLocationHandler = new Handler() { @Override public void handleMessage(Message theMessage) { if(theMessage.what == 1) { try { mLocationManager.requestLocationUpdates(LocationManager.NETWORK_PROVIDER, LOCATION_INTERVAL, LOCATION_DISTANCE, mLocationListeners[1]); } catch (java.lang.SecurityException ex) { Log.i(TAG, "fail to request location update, ignore", ex); } catch (IllegalArgumentException ex) { Log.d(TAG, "network provider does not exist, " + ex.getMessage()); } } } }; @Override public void onDestroy() { super.onDestroy(); } private void initializeLocationManager() { if (mLocationManager == null) { mLocationManager = (LocationManager) getApplicationContext().getSystemService(Context.LOCATION_SERVICE); } } } ``` Can anyone please correct what I am doing wrong. Thank you.