I'm trying to speech recognize every 15 minutes for this I'm using PeriodicWorkRequest but I get the error saying java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException: java.lang.RuntimeException: SpeechRecognizer should be used only from the application's main thread. How do I go about doing this? Is PeriodicWorkRequest the wrong approach?
If you are trying to use Android Framework API to do speech recognition, that functionality is only available with the foreground activity. Based on the error it appears that you are trying to listen from background which isn't possible starting with Android 9.
Background services has gotten stricter in recent versions of Android in order to improve battery life. Previously you might be able to use a Foreground Service to maintain your process, however with features like Doze Mode, Google is restricting the use cases even further. Even if you follow the recommendations for exemption and your app had directed the user manually exempt your app from 'battery saving mode' in Settings, device manufacturers have added their own battery saving features such that a site like: https://dontkillmyapp.com/ is need to understand the current state in Android.
Most likely, any background voice activation or listening app you may have seen was with older versions of Android, or custom software by device manufacturers.
Related
Is it somehow possible to create a "monitoring" app (assuming we have the appropriate permission level) which is notified when a specific app stops running ?
In other words, is there such an API that would allow to register on a third party app's lifecycle ?
The Android UsageStatsManager can be used to get stats on apps running on a device but requires a settings permission.
A work around could be to get all foreground apps running on a device periodically ... say every 20 mins using a library like jaredrummler-android-processes (which doesn't require any permissions but works on Android KitKat to Marshmallow). Then try to compare the set of apps between each period.
The set difference would reveal which foreground apps have stopped running.
Perhaps using a combination of the above two approaches would be best.
I have an open source gps tracking application that has been around for many years. Recently, I have been getting complaints that in android nougat, instead of getting updates once a minute, people are getting updates from the phone once every five minutes when the phone is unplugged.
There is something going on with the power saver mode even though we tried turning it off.
Is there a way to force a phone to get gps updates at a specified time when unplugged?
Here is the code if anyone wants to see it but I don't think it's a problem with the code. It has been very stable for years.
https://github.com/nickfox/GpsTracker/blob/master/phoneClients/android/app/src/main/java/com/websmithing/gpstracker/LocationService.java
thanks.
One change in Android 7/Nougat was that the Doze is now "more aggressive". In Android 6/Marshmallow the doze mode kicked in when the screen was off, the device was running on battery and it was stationary.
(This is documented in Optimizing for Doze and App Standby)
Now in Android 7 the conditions are just screen off and running on battery.
(This is documented in Android 7.0 Behavior Changes)
Apps can be white-listed to be exempt of the restrictions if they break the core functionalility of it. In your case they do as the GPS tracker needs to record coordinates in real time.
There's a list of Acceptable Use Cases for Whitelisting
This includes:
Task automation app | App's core function is scheduling automated
actions, such as for instant messaging, voice calling, new photo
management, or location actions.
Users can white list an app manually on their own in the device settings or whitelisting can be requested by the app and approved or rejected by the user.
This is covered in Support for Other Use Cases
Quoting:
An app can fire the ACTION_IGNORE_BATTERY_OPTIMIZATION_SETTINGS intent
to take the user directly to the Battery Optimization, where they can
add the app.
An app holding the REQUEST_IGNORE_BATTERY_OPTIMIZATIONS permission can
trigger a system dialog to let the user add the app to the whitelist
directly, without going to settings. The app fires a
ACTION_REQUEST_IGNORE_BATTERY_OPTIMIZATIONS Intent to trigger the
dialog.
The user can manually remove apps from the whitelist as needed.
The last point is important of course, but luckily the whitelisting status can be checked programmatically:
An app can check whether it is currently on the exemption whitelist by
calling isIgnoringBatteryOptimizations().
So, dealing with the Doze mode is one thing to study at least.
Another issue is keeping the Service running in general. But the Service getting killed by the system might result in more random time intervals. There are of course the classic things like using START_STICKY or running as a foreground service.
This is a simple question, seeing that there is a huge post about this on G+ (here), and lack of information on official docs (here ):
What happens to the app's services when the device goes to "doze" mode?
What does it do to background/foreground services (bound/unbound, started/not-started), with/without partial/full wakelocks?
What would you do, for example, in order to create a service that plays an audio stream while the device's screen is turned off? What if the audio stream is not from a local file, but from the network?
Seeing that there was a claim by Google developer:
Apps that have been running foreground services (with the associated
notification) are not restricted by doze.
-yet a lot of discussion after that, claiming this is not entirely true, I think it's quite confusing to know what special background-operations apps should do.
Processes which have a current running foreground service are supposed to be unaffected by Doze. Bound/unbound, started/not-started, and wakelocks do not affect this whitelisting process.
However, there is an issue on Android M devices where foreground services are not properly whitelisted when the foreground service is the in the same process as the top activity and improperly dozed.
The fix is available on AOSP and will be included in builds of Android N. It would be up to OEMs to integrate that patch into any Android M builds they produce.
I have an android app which records voice using a service - and a thread inside the service(obviously the app can record while in background..)
The app will be affected by the new Doze app state?
https://developer.android.com/training/monitoring-device-state/doze-standby.html#whitelisting-cases
I don't have a phone with 6.0 yet and the simulator cannot record voice in general...
If your service is running in the foreground (with an associated notification) when the device enters Doze mode, it should not be affected according to a comment by Dianne Hackborn to this post. See a documented experience that seems to prove this behavior here.
On the other hand, tests show, that access to certain sensors like GPS are restricted in Doze mode, so this might also apply to the microphone.
Since Doze mode is poorly documented up to now, unfortunately at this point you probably do not get around running your own tests on a physical device.
Yes, every app can be "killed" by Doze. If your service runs in foreground you can avoid App Standby however. Remember that asking to the user to put the app in the whitelist it's prohibited from Google Terms of services, so you can't do it. If you want to do something like that you need to add a permission to your manifest and with cross fingers hope in the Google review of your app.
I would like to know if there is a way to lock (prevent) an application from starting.
And i also would like to know if there is a way to prevent a service(application) from starting at boot of the device
...i would like to know because i would like to create an anti-malware app.
I know this question is old, but for others stumbling over it:
Autostarts is an application that can disable apps from starting at boot time. It's the best I've found to do that (it isn't resident and doesn't kill processes like a task manager, it actually parses apk packages and reads registered actions and blocks the actions you tell it to). BUT it needs root and hasn't been updated for a while (december 2011). It works on Android 2.3 on which I tested it. Because it was discontinued, I don't know if it works on newer OS versions.
It's commercial now, but that's not the point, you need a peek at the source code.
If you search a bit, you'll be able to find the source code for an older version and see how it implements the blocking system.
I would be very interested in an application that could block certain services. NOT kill, but prevent them from starting in the first place. And the list is quite big: Facebook (OrcaService, MqttPushService, MediaUploadService, BackgroundDetectionService), Twitter, Maps (NetworkInitiatedService), Yahoo Mail Sync, etc. I don't use the features that the services provide, I even disabled some of them in the app interface where possible, but they still pop up and remain resident after exiting the application.
I would like to know if there is a way to lock (prevent) an application from starting.
Not in any supported fashion. Anything that does this is malware, and the techniques for doing it are security holes.
And i also would like to know if there is a way to prevent a service(application) from
starting at boot of the device
The user can boot their phone in safe mode (I forget the exact process, but it's something like holding down the HOME key while turning the phone on).