Background apps have existed pretty much forever on all operating systems. In the Windows world, a long time ago, they were called TSRs (Terminate and Stay Resident).

Please explain how taking something you didn’t pay for isn’t stealing. You can try to justify it with, “Oh it’s too expensive”, or “It’s too hard to get legally”, or whatever. It’s still theft, regardless of it being a tangible asset, regardless of if you were a potential customer, regardless of availability to you…