Loopt is a useful tool for locating nearby friends, but due Apple's app restrictions for the iPhone, the application cannot run in the background to provide updates. But all of that might be changing.

According to BusinessInsider Loopt is working to strike a deal with AT&T to provide location updates without the application running on the iPhone.

This service, which would probably cost around $3.99 per month, works by contacting AT&T's servers, which always know where your phone is located. AT&T would then send the data to Loopt where they can process your GPS coordinates on their side and send out a push notification to your device to alert you about nearby friends, etc. Through this workaround, Loopt avoids Apples "no backgrounding apps" rule. 

We would like to see other applications do this, but that price might be a bit high. Since the price of the service would appear on your AT&T bill, it would be nice to see AT&T open this up to other developers and offer a package deal so you pay one price and other apps can access the GPS data.