appIsNotActive When Starting Mobile SDK Recording

appIsNotActive is a SukiAmbientCoreError case. Recording cannot start while the app is in the background. iOS does not allow apps to begin audio recording from the background in this flow.

Error id	Description
`appIsNotActive`	Recording cannot start while the app is in the background

Common causes:

Start recording runs from a background task, notification action, or delayed callback after the user left the app
Lifecycle code starts recording while the scene is inactive

Catch and recover

Match the case name in your SukiAmbientCoreError handler:

Swift

do {
  // Mobile SDK call that starts or resumes recording
} catch let error as SukiAmbientCoreError {
  switch error {
  case .appIsNotActive:
    // Ask the clinician to bring the app to the foreground, then retry
    break
  case .micIsInUse:
    // Another app holds the microphone
    break
  case .needMicrophonePermissionRecording:
    // Request microphone permission, then retry
    break
  default:
    break
  }
}

Fix

Catch appIsNotActive

Handle appIsNotActive specifically. Ask the clinician to return the app to the foreground before recording.

Start Only When Active

Call start or resume recording only when the app is in the foreground and active.

Retry After Foreground

When the app becomes active again, retry start. Do not call start from a background context.

Next steps

Mobile SDK error messages - Full SukiAmbientCoreError case list Mobile SDK troubleshooting FAQs - AppIsNotActive recording FAQ Session management FAQs - Background recording and session errors micIsInUse on Mobile SDK - Microphone held by another app Microphone permission denied - Browser mic permission failures

Last modified on September 29, 2026

​Catch and recover

​Fix

​Next steps

Catch and recover

Fix

Next steps