Background Generation

On iPhone and iPad running iOS 26 or later, a reply keeps streaming after you leave 3sparks Chat. You can switch to another app, lock the device, and come back minutes later to a finished answer.

What you see

When you leave the app mid-reply, iOS shows a system indicator for the running generation:

• The title reads Generating reply, with the model name beneath it.
• After streaming starts, the subtitle changes to elapsed time, such as Streaming for 2m 15s, and updates every 15 seconds.
• The indicator appears in the status bar and on the Lock Screen.

Read the elapsed time rather than the progress bar. A reply has no knowable finish time, so the bar is designed to keep moving without ever claiming to be nearly done.

Returning to the app

Opening 3sparks Chat again shows the reply still streaming in the chat. Leaving again keeps the same generation running under the same indicator, so checking in does not restart anything or create a second indicator.

The generation ends when the reply finishes, or when you stop it from the chat.

Limits

iOS controls the overall background budget. A very long absence can still be cut short by the system, which ends the generation before the reply completes. Force quitting 3sparks Chat from the app switcher also ends it immediately.

On iOS 25 and earlier, and on visionOS, the app falls back to a short grace period of roughly 30 seconds before iOS suspends it and the reply stops.

Troubleshooting

• If a reply stops shortly after you leave the app, check that the device is running iOS 26 or later.
• If no indicator appears, confirm a reply was actually generating when you left. The task starts as the app moves to the background, not while it is on screen.
• If a long generation ends early, the system background budget was reached. Keep the app in the foreground for very long replies.
• If you need a reply to survive any interruption, wait for it to finish before switching apps.