Is it possible somehow to force launch my application in the background on Android when:
GPS is turned on
OR
another app is opened?
What I want to achieve with this:
I have an app in which you can buy parking ticket / highway ticket etc... I want to have the location of the user as soon as it starts any navigation app so when he parks or goes to the highway I can send a notification to purchase ticket.
The app already handles locations but only if it's open.
Now it's not possible to lunch application with forcely.
After Android 6.0+ if you want to tract user location, storage etc! user must have to provide permission. Without that you can't do this.
And now for high sequrity patch, your app wont start GPS is turned on OR another app is opened. It's not possible now.
Thanks.
Related
I have created a mini App that helps me playing with beacons.
-what i have done so far-
So until now, I have successfully connected my App to the beacon, made 2 texts, so when I'm in the app and get in the beacon's range, the texts are changing so I can see that, move 2m away or turning the beacon upside down so it simulates Out of range, and it will show the message that I'm not in the range anymore.
So far so good, I have also successfully made the app to show notifications when I get close to the beacon, and when I click the notification to open a second activity.
-the problem-
Now, I want to show a notification when I get in the beacon's range, and the app is closed (not in the background). And after, when I click on that Notification to open my app / open App Google Play's Page if not installed.
I have searched on the internet but I haven't found anything conclusive.
If you guys know anything, or have you accomplished this task, it would be great if you can help with it.
If you need more info like, my activities code I can upload it, but I considered unimportant.
Thanks!
Two points:
In order to make a phone react to a beacon without your app installed (e.g. to launch a PlayStore page) you need an app prei-nstalled on all phones that does this for you. The Google Play Services app used to do this through the Nearby feature, but it was discontinued in Nov. 2018 because of spam concerns. Since then this is no longer possible to do.
If you do have your app installed it is a straightforward process to detect in the background and send notifications. The Android Beacon Library provides instructions here:. https://altbeacon.github.io/android-beacon-library/notifications.html
You could create a BoradcastReceiver that intercept the android.intent.action.BOOT_COMPLETED.
In that way, you can launch a part of your app when you turn on the device.
There, you can use a Service or something that can manage the interactions with Beacons.
(BTW, i never worked with Beacons, i don't know what are the policies that you must follow).
If you don't need to launch the app when the device is turned on, anyway you can use a simple Service
Here the link to the documentation of receivers documentation.
I'm wondering if you can launch a given Instant App based on the user's location. Is this kind of thing possible? I suppose it would require some kind of server to be always running on the device.
Edit: To clarify a bit, this would be like if App A has a service that tracks the user's location and if they go to a certain spot it would launch Instant App B.
Thanks!
it would need a constant running service and launching the app might be a problem since this particular function could be ransomware like but a notification could be instead that's.
beside that it would a continuous location request at all time.
I have an app that I'd like working for a user only if he has enabled push notifications.
On most Android phones this is not a problem since I request for permission to send push notifications and get it through the app code itself, but on MI phones, the user has to proactively open the Security app and give "Auto Start" permission to my app. And that cannot be done programmatically (I've checked).
Now I can inform the user when he downloads my app that he needs to do this, and would like to show the full app to him only after he's done this.
For this, however, I need to know whether (and when) the user has given me that permission.
The question is, how do I find out that the user has done this - gone to the Security app and given my app the Auto Start permission?
I'd greatly appreciate any tips. Thank you.
I am having a hard time understanding the right way to handle a user changing a permission while my app is still running in the background.
In my app I have a location class that registers for location changes and when the location changes the status is sent to a server. However this runs in the background.
When my app is launched I check with the user if its ok to use location services and if so I proceed with setting up that class. However the user can background my app and go into settings and remove that permission. I can, and will certainly check that the permission is enabled in my location class before asking for a location from the location service to avoid a crash. However I am not in an activity when a location comes in so I am not sure how to prompt them that my app needs location services.
EDIT:
It does seem that android restarts your app if a permission has been revoked in settings. However I have confirmed that as of now android does NOT restart your app if a permission was granted though settings.
I read somewhere that your app gets killed when the user changes the permissions on Android-M so you can be sure that this won't change while your app is running. It will been killed when this changes.
As reference check this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f17qe9vZ8RM
However I am not in an activity when a location comes in so I am not sure how to prompt them that my app needs location services.
Raise a Notification, alerting the user that your app cannot do its intended work without the permission that they revoked. Have the Notification tie into an Activity via a PendingIntent where the user will be able to grant that permission.
Along with CommonsWare suggestion, you can have the onProviderDisabled() to know which provider (gps, network) has been disabled and accordingly requestLocationUpdate() for the one that is still enabled. If both are disabled, see if at least Cell Location is of useful for your app. If so, you can send Cell Location at least till user see notification and re-enable the permission.Use PhoneStateListener to do that.
I would like to try a more modern 2020+ answer to the core question:
However I am not in an activity when a location comes in so I am not sure how to prompt them that my app needs location services.
However I am not in an activity when a location comes in so I am not sure how to prompt them that my app needs location services.
If you are in a normal end user environment:
Respect the users choice to revoke the permission and only display the missing permissions to the user if she opens your activity.
On modern devices your service needs to display a notification in the bar to even be allowed to continue running - change the notification to show the problem.
You are allowed to just ask for most permissions but the user has the ability to deny on the 2nd attempt. After that you get auto-no without anything displayed.
Some permissions (e.g. write settings and overlay) can be accessed by opening the settingspages for this directly - which can be done from a service but will be seen as harassment.
If you are in a work environment:
Best use an official mdm solution (COPE).There you can totally zombiefy your devices allowing nothing or anything and pretty much anything in between. User cannot even enter settings if you dissallow or not even turn the device off or.. you name it.
And apps can get all permissions they need and be installed automatically from the getgo.
For both (eben in mdm sometimes a more powerful user might be wanted):
Please build an extra Activity or Fragment (if you have one that uses those) dedicated to display why your app needs a permission and a button for the user to initiate the request/opening of settings.
It may be much work but users and google will be happy :)
Is it possible to launch an app depending on the user location. I want the app to start only when I enter certain location say my office. I m aware about services running in background but I dont want my app to continuously check for location and deplete the battery.
Is it possible to register for some sort of geo-fencing broadcast ?
You can Create and Monitor Geofences with a standard Google API.
However, if you want to know if you've arrived at your office, I think a better and more battery-friendly way would be to see if you're connected to the office Wifi network.