Can I access information about other iOS apps beyond the scope of my app's sandbox?

Question

Is it possible to create an app that knows if other apps are running? For instance could an app be made that tracks data like this: You currently have 3 apps running. You spent the most amount of time this week on the Facebook app: 20 hrs.

Is this possible, or is it impossible to get this data from other iOS apps?

Answer 1

There is no way of doing that on the device but you could try using a VPN connection similar to what Onavo does and inspect the traffic on the server side.

Answer 2

It is not possible to create an application that tracks the status of other application using public APIs provided by Apple.

It may be possible using private APIs, but your app will be rejected upon submission to the app store. Take a look at this post.