Android Service to watch for foreground app changes? - android

I have a utility app that changes the screen (much like a night screen type app) and I wanted to add a whitelist to bypass the night light when certain apps are in use.
I have found how to view what the current foreground app is but I dont know how to tell when the foreground app changes, aside from checking every 5 seconds which I dont want to do as it would be quite heavy.
Is there any way with a foreground service to monitor foreground app changes?

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Audio Call Stops working when Android App goes in Background and device is on Battery Saver Mode

My question is more like client side.
I am using Janus AudioBridge Room to make audio call.
Android app works fine in foreground and background mode if device is not on Batter saver mode.
But when device is in Battery saver mode. App gets hold while getting into background.
When we gets back to the app. Call rejoins from there. But if it gets long enough to call 'Keepalive' event. Then app will stops or crash.
I handle this by getting this android permission explicitly from user.
"android.permission.REQUEST_IGNORE_BATTERY_OPTIMIZATIONS"
Then in battery saver mode. our call does not affects. as our app now can work on background in battery saver mode also.
I don't think this is the best way to do that.
I checked Whatsapp permissions. They are not asking for it.
What Whatsapp or other calling applications are doing to do this in a more proficient way?
Any guide and Clue will be helpful. I appreciate

Detect user interactions on device when the application is in the background

When Android device boot up, my application will start working in the foreground. User can put my application to background and he\she can use other applications for a desired long time.
When user stop interaction with phone for 30 seconds or lock the phone, my application will (if required)unlock the phone and continue to become active in the foreground.
How can achieve this?
User can put my application to background and he\she can use other
applications for a desired long time.
Starting from Android O you won't be able to reliably make your app work in background. System applies several restrictions on background processing especially running background services. Only alternative would be to create Foreground Service. But if OS detects that you are performing CPU intensive work this won't work either.
When user stop interaction with phone for 30 seconds or lock the
phone, my application will (if required)unlock the phone and continue
to become active in the foreground.
Unfortunately its not possible. Even if manage to get Administrator rights there is no API which allows developers to unlock the phone without user's action. This would be a privacy breach.

Are android apps still running in background if I am getting notifications?

Here is the thing, I am not used to the latest android yet and the new system is giving me some confusions. Usually, for the older androids, if I close all background apps, I won't get new notifications from them. But after switching to a new phone with the latest android, I realized that even if I do close all background apps, I still keep getting notifications from them. So, how are the apps still pushing notifications if I already close them from background?
(Say google maps for example, I am 100% sure I killed it in background but now it keeps notifies me about my live traffic status on my notification bar.)
So Here's the answer-
Yes, they are. Whenever the Internet is turned on or you get a message, listener of that app wakes up and check for any notification and if there is something new, it shows you the notification.
These apps keep running in the background if not put in sleep mode by your phone and use the resources.
Like you don't want to get notified by WhatsApp for a new message but the moment you change the network, unlock your phone again or turn the data on, an event listener will wake up and notify you of new messages.
Also, wake timers are used to notify you after some fixed time like after every 5 minutes.
This is the thing I hate the most.
Not promoting but here's the app - search play store for Shutapp - Real battery saver (Blocked from Play store a while ago and doesn't work anymore for "obvious" reasons). It will turn off all the background apps and you'll be amazed to see a long list on first use.
This will remove all the apps from background until you open them again. I use this app most of the time and it really works great.
Try this out.

Does disconnecting Android Phone Display Hardware Stop Apps

I am running an accelerometer based android app that will run for a few months while phone is on and does nothing else. Some phone allow display not to go to sleep at all which allows my app run fine infinitely. The screen also has only a black display and nothing else apart from background accelerometer listener and occasional http posts. My question is if I remove the display screen while the app is running, would that stop the operating system and/or my app?
My question is if I remove the display screen while the app is running, would that stop the operating system and/or my app?
In short, it depends on your app architecture (otherwise i.e. music players would require to keep screen on to work). Depending on task you are really doing you may use Alarm Manager to periodically fire your code, or use Service.

Prevent that the app get stopped or paused by the OS

I'm developing and Android application on CodenameOne that needs to send a web request every 5 minutes even when minimized. How can I achieve this behavior in order to prevent that the request get stopped or paused by the OS?
You cant do that from the activity, you'll need to create background service.
http://developer.android.com/training/run-background-service/create-service.html
Use AlarmManager to set up your every-five-minute operation. Have it trigger a BroadcastReceiver, which in turn passes control to my WakefulIntentService (or your own IntentService that handles the WakeLock, that you will need so that the device stays awake while you do your work). Have the service do the "web request".
This is still not 100% guaranteed:
The user can Force Stop you from Settings, in which case your alarms are gone and nothing will happen until the user manually runs your app again
The user might block alarms from firing on certain devices, like various SONY Xperia models, that offer "stamina mode" or the equivalent
However, it is the best that you are going to get, short of rolling your own Android OS version.
The other guys answers are correct that you need to create a service but they somehow ignored the mention of Codename One.
Under Codename One you need to create a native directory for android and just place the service source code there (just use a blank service class that doesn't really do anything). Then you need to add to the build arguments the option android.xapplication where you would state the service XML attributes.
Having said that what you are trying to do is VERY wrong and you shouldn't do it in Android! You will drain the battery life from the device in no time and the service will be killed by the OS eventually (since it will be a battery drain). The solution is to send a push notification to the device to wake up the application.
In Android 9 and newer you can prevent your App falling asleep with a battery setting.
Long click on your App -> App info -> battery -> optimize battery consumption
Here add your App from the list.Hint: maybe the menu entries have a different name, depending on your phone.

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