Develop Reference

Know when an app has been programatically deleted

I uninstall an app programatically in Android, using an Intent, like you see below:
Uri packageURI = Uri.parse("package:"+packageName);
Intent uninstallIntent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_DELETE, packageURI);
startActivity(uninstallIntent);
Which redirects to a prompt that asks if you want to uninstall the app.
Usually after that you can see a toast in the bottom of the screen saying the app was uninstalled. But I want to be able to be notified so I can remove an uninstall button in a view.
How can I know in the code when the uninstall of the package has been completed? Or if an error occurred? Or even, if user clicked "ok" to uninstall or "cancel" if he changed his mind, how can I know?
Is it possible to know any of this? Is there an alternative way to uninstall a package (without being a system app) and be notified?
Thank you for reading. Lemme know if you need any more information.

Well I ended up finding a solution, when a package is removed there is an intent that can be picked up by a receiver.
In my AndroidManifest
<application
<!--...-->
<receiver
android:name=".UninstalledBroadcastReceiver"
android:enabled="true">
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="android.intent.action.PACKAGE_REMOVED"/>
<data android:scheme="package"/>
</intent-filter>
</receiver>
</application>
Create a UninstalledBroadcastReceiver class that extends a normal BroadcastReceiver
public class UninstalledBroadcastReceiver extends BroadcastReceiver {
#Override
public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
// handle the intent here
}
}
You can check for instance if your package name of the app that was installed matches your own and do something with it. In my case, I put some static fields in the UninstalledBroadcastReceiver, including an interface so that I could perform some callbacks. Don't think you can pass fields in the constructor, since the object is created when the intent is received.

Android get broadcast about the application installed or removed

I want to develop an app that can receive broadcast about the other apps being installed or removed. So far, I tried the code below but, it only provides a broadcast event when an installation on deletion occurs, it does not provide info about the other apps beibg installed or removed. So, is there a way to get the package name of the newly installed application.
in manifset:
receiver android:name=".apps.AppListener">
<intent-filter android:priority="100">
<action android:name="android.intent.action.PACKAGE_INSTALL"/>
<action android:name="android.intent.action.PACKAGE_ADDED"/>
<action android:name="android.intent.action.PACKAGE_REMOVED"/>
<data android:scheme="package"/>
</intent-filter>
</receiver>
in AppListener:
public class AppListener extends BroadcastReceiver {
#Override
public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
// there is a broadcast event here
// but how to get the package name of the newly installed application
Log.v(TAG, "there is a broadcast");
}
}
Addition:
This is deprecated for Api 14 or upper.
<action android:name="android.intent.action.PACKAGE_INSTALL"/>

Package name is embedded into the Intent you are receiving in onReceive() method. You can read it using below code snippet :
Uri data = broadcastIntent.getData();
String installedPackageName = data.getEncodedSchemeSpecificPart();
For PACKAGE_ADDED, PACKAGE_REMOVED and PACKAGE_REPLACED, you can get package name using above code.
In case of application update, you will get 2 broadcasts back to back as below :
1. PACKAGE_REMOVED 2. PACKAGE_REPLACED
In case of application update, PACKAGE_REMOVED intent will contain extra boolean to differentiate between app removal and app update.
You can read this boolean as below :
boolean isReplacing = broadcastIntent.getBooleanExtra(Intent.EXTRA_REPLACING, false);
Just to get package name you are calling PackageManagerService api is overhead. Must avoid it.
Hope, this will help you.

Intent that you get in onReceive function contains the information related to the package being added or removed.
intent.getData().toString()
You can get the application name by this function:
private String getApplicationName(Context context, String data, int flag) {
final PackageManager pckManager = context.getPackageManager();
ApplicationInfo applicationInformation;
try {
applicationInformation = pckManager.getApplicationInfo(data, flag);
} catch (PackageManager.NameNotFoundException e) {
applicationInformation = null;
}
final String applicationName = (String) (applicationInformation != null ? pckManager.getApplicationLabel(applicationInformation) : "(unknown)");
return applicationName;
}
For more info check:
Created BroadcastReceiver which displays application name and version number on install/ uninstall of any application?

There are 2 options:
1)
If you are asking if you can receive a broadcast when your same app is being uninstalled, then the answer is:
This cannot be done, unless you are a System app.
Android does not notify the app when it is going to be installed. This would be a security risk, as it would enable apps to prevent uninstallation.
2)
If you are asking about when other apps are being uninstalled, then this might be a duplicate of:
Android: How to get the installed App information using Broadcast receiver
How to find the package name which has been uninstalled when using Intent.ACTION_PACKAGE_REMOVED
Created BroadcastReceiver which displays application name and version number on install/ uninstall of any application?

Ask for password before uninstalling application

First of all, I have researched a lot about my issue, but I could not find a proper solution so I am posting my query here. Hope to get a better solution to the issue:
I have a requirement where I need to ask for password to the user before user deletes my app from settings or from any other application like MyAppSharer. I have found one solution where I can successfully be able to call my activity when user clicks on Uninstall button. I have applied trick here, and calling service. In service, I run timer which runs every 1 second and in that one second, it checks for top most activity of running task. This is running perfectly as per expected.
Now, my issue is, this activity apppears on each of application user tries to uninstall. I need that the activity which I call, should only appear for my application when user tries to uninstall my application.
Here is my code:
public static final String PACKAGE_INSTALLER = "com.android.packageinstaller";
public static final String PACKAGE_INSTALLER_UNINSTALL_ACTIVITY = "com.android.packageinstaller.UninstallerActivity";
alarmTimer.scheduleAtFixedRate(new TimerTask() {
public void run() {
mActivityManager = (ActivityManager) getSystemService(Context.ACTIVITY_SERVICE);;
ComponentName topActivity = mActivityManager.getRunningTasks(1).get(0).topActivity;
final String packageName = topActivity.getPackageName();
String className = topActivity.getClassName();
Log.v(TAG, "packageName:" + packageName);
Log.v(TAG, "className:" + className);
if (PACKAGE_INSTALLER.equals(packageName)
&& PACKAGE_INSTALLER_UNINSTALL_ACTIVITY.equals(className)) {
//Here I need to apply one condition where package name received to be matched with my package name. But I am not sure how to fetch package name of selected application for uninstalling
//To Cancel Existing UninstallerActivity and redirect user to home.
Intent homeIntent = new Intent();
homeIntent.setAction(Intent.ACTION_MAIN);
homeIntent.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK
| Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TOP | Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_SINGLE_TOP);
homeIntent.addCategory(Intent.CATEGORY_HOME);
startActivity(homeIntent);
//To open my activity
Intent loginActivity = new Intent(UninstallService.this, Act_Login.class);
loginActivity.putExtra(Constants.KEY_IS_FROM_SERVICE, true);
loginActivity.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
startActivity(loginActivity);
}
}
}, 0, 1000);

you should try something like the following :
1st - declare your broadcast recevier in the Manifest file , that will listen to QUERY_PACKAGE_RESTART :
<receiver android:name=".UninstallReceiver">
<intent-filter android:priority="999999">
<action android:name="android.intent.action.QUERY_PACKAGE_RESTART" />
<data android:scheme="package" />
</intent-filter>
</receiver>
2nd - your UnunstallIntentReceiver java class like the following :
public class UninstallReceiver extends BroadcastReceiver{
#Override
public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
// fetching package names from extras
String[] packageNames = intent.getStringArrayExtra("android.intent.extra.PACKAGES");
if(packageNames!=null){
for(String packageName: packageNames){
if(packageName!=null && packageName.equals("application_package")){
// start your activity here and ask the user for the password
}
}
}
}
}
and please give me some feedback
Hope That Helps.

If this is a corporate requirement (if you want to block a regular user from uninstalling your app, no chance, thanks Google for protecting us from bad devs), you should create a device administrator application. This way, although the user still can delete the app, it's one extra step if you want to prevent accidental erasing.
Before deleting your app, if it's enabled as device admin, the user must first disable the app as administrator, and the app receives this broadcast.
In your XML, put
<activity android:name=".app.DeviceAdminSample"
android:label="#string/activity_sample_device_admin">
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
<category android:name="android.intent.category.SAMPLE_CODE" />
</intent-filter>
</activity>
<receiver android:name=".app.DeviceAdminSample$DeviceAdminSampleReceiver"
android:label="#string/sample_device_admin"
android:description="#string/sample_device_admin_description"
android:permission="android.permission.BIND_DEVICE_ADMIN">
<meta-data android:name="android.app.device_admin"
android:resource="#xml/device_admin_sample" />
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="android.app.action.DEVICE_ADMIN_ENABLED" />
</intent-filter>
</receiver>
In the receiver, you have at least two methods worth noticing:
#Override
public CharSequence onDisableRequested(Context context, Intent intent) {
…
}
#Override
public void onDisabled(Context context, Intent intent) {
…
}
This way you know the user is potentially going to erase your app.
Complete guide for device administration is at https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/admin/device-admin.html

If you have root permissions make your app system (remove your apk-file from /data to /system directories). Then reboot device. After reboot your app is not available to delete by user (not superuser).

The only way i see, is to provide your own uninstaller as part of your app (= an activity that lists all apps and allows to uninstall them). Your service could then check if your app was the one that started the packageinstaller and if not redirect the user.
It is not possible (at least on the Android 4.4 I tested with) to grab the uninstaller activity data without root or being a system app. This is because the uninstaller is not called as an independent task, but as an activity on the stack of the starting task (which is the Settings app when uninstalling from settings, etc). You can only see the Task details of the calling task.
However there might be some really dirty possibility left, that i didn't test to the end: You could register the hidden interface IThumbnailReceiver [1] with the hidden three argument version of ActivityManager.getRunningTasks [2]. It seems like only the GET_TASKS permission is needed to grab a thumbnail (see [3]). It should be possible to find out which app is going to be removed from the app thumbnail... - But as this solution uses hidden APIs, there is no guarantee that it will work with older/newer/vendored Android versions.
https://github.com/omnirom/android_frameworks_base/blob/android-4.4/core/java/android/app/IThumbnailReceiver.aidl
https://github.com/omnirom/android_frameworks_base/blob/android-4.4/core/java/android/app/ActivityManager.java#L766
https://github.com/omnirom/android_frameworks_base/blob/android-4.4/services/java/com/android/server/am/ActivityManagerService.java#L6725

Receive intent "android.settings.APPLICATION_DETAILS_SETTINGS" for my app

I want to get the package name and class name of the received intent, But am not able to get it.
I want to make my app secure so it asks for password before being uninstalled. Only the user who Installed the app knows the password, so only he/she can uninstall the app.
My code for Receiver:
public class PackageReceiver extends BroadcastReceiver {
# Override
public void onReceive (Context context, Intent intent) {
if (intent.getAction().equals("android.settings.APPLICATION_DETAILS_SETTINGS")) {
/ / TODO:
//I want here to get this getAction working and then I want to fetch package and class of the intent
}
}
}
Manifest:
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET"/>
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.RESTART_PACKAGES"/>
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED"/>
<Application
android: icon = "# drawable / ic_launcher"
android: label = "Test">
<Receiver android: name = ". PackageReceiver"
android: label = "# string / app_name">
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="android.settings.APPLICATION_DETAILS_SETTINGS" />
<data android:scheme="package" />
</ Intent-filter>
</ Receiver>
</ Application>
Please let me know if I am missing any permission because I can not get this working.

I personally think this behavior is annoying. And for sure it's redundant: there are other mechanisms already on place that tackle the same problem (screen locking, encryption).
I'd only use extra checks when operations are on your side (ie.: delete account, change email, etc).
If I didn't make it to discourage you to do that here's another post that solves the same problem following a similar direction.

When we select a particular app inside the settings screen, a broadcast of the type : android.intent.action.QUERY_PACKAGE_RESTART is fired with package name of the application as an extra. I think you could use that to fire the password dialog.
The receiver code will be something like this :
public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
String[] packageNames = intent.getStringArrayExtra("android.intent.extra.PACKAGES");
if(packageNames!=null){
for(String packageName: packageNames){
if(packageName!=null && packageName.equals("our_app_package_name")){
//Our app was selected inside settings. Fire Password Dialog.
}
}
}
}

I think intent.getExtra("com.android.settings.ApplicationPkgName") should have the package name

i dont know if its acceptable
setting package by getting packagename from the context of activity
intent.setPackage(context.getPackageName());
and to get package name
intent.getPackage()

Need to switch my app to background after a phone restart or power on

I need my android app to be in background mode after a phone restart/power on.
Currently I am using the following code, so that my app successfully gets launched after a phone restart/power on.
AndroidManifest.xml:
<receiver android:enabled="true" android:name="my_package.BootUpReceiver" android:permission="android.permission.RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED" >
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="android.intent.action.BOOT_COMPLETED" />
<category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
</intent-filter>
</receiver>
BootUpReceiver.java:
public class BootUpReceiver extends BroadcastReceiver
{
private static SharedPreferences aSharedSettings;
#Override
public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent)
{
aSharedSettings = context.getSharedPreferences("MyPreferences", Context.MODE_PRIVATE);
boolean isUserLoggedIn = aSharedSettings.getBoolean(Key.AUTHENTICATED, false);
if(isUserLoggedIn)
{
Intent aServiceIntent = new Intent(context, MyHomeView.class);
aServiceIntent.addCategory(Intent.CATEGORY_HOME);
aServiceIntent.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
context.startActivity(aServiceIntent);
}
}
}
As I said above, my app successfully gets launched after a phone restart/power on.
However, after the phone restart/power on, my app was in foreground mode. But I need my app to be in background mode.
Can anyone please say, how to make an app to be in background mode after a phone restart or power on.
I even tried by changing the intent category to
<category android:name="android.intent.category.HOME" />
But no use in it. Can anyone please help me?
Thanks.

I need my app to be just running in background after the phone restart, so that users can select from the minimized app
I think your approach is wrong. All you are trying to do now is to add icon of your app to recent apps list. Your app won't run in background and I think you don't really want it. Am I right?
Recent apps list managed by android and IMHO forcing your app to be in recent apps list is not a very good idea. User will start you app when he wants from launcher or icon on his desktop.

If your broadcast receiver is working fine and app is starting successfully then you can use the below code in your MyHomeView activity's onCreate method to go to the home screen.
Trick is to click HOME button programmatically when app starts.
Intent startMain = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_MAIN);
startMain.addCategory(Intent.CATEGORY_HOME);
startMain.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
startActivity(startMain);
you can pass some variable from the BroadcastReceiver to differentiate a normal request and BroadcastReceiver's request to make the above code conditional.
But if you want to execute it always in background then it would be better to use Service.
It is recommended to change your code to the service to run it in background.

The suggestion which Leonidos replied is correct.
However, Just a workaround for this:
In my BootUpReceiver, I had a seperate boolean flag for this! (Its a bad way. but just a workaround)
SharedPreferences.Editor aPrefEditor = aSharedSettings.edit();
aPrefEditor.putBoolean(Key.IS_DEVICE_RESTARTED, true);
aPrefEditor.commit();
In Oncreate method of MyHomeView:
boolean isDeviceRestarted = aSharedSettings.getBoolean(Key.IS_DEVICE_RESTARTED, false);
if(isDeviceRestarted)
{
SharedPreferences.Editor aPrefEditor = aSharedSettings.edit();
aPrefEditor.putBoolean(MamaBearKey.IS_DEVICE_RESTARTED, false);
aPrefEditor.commit();
moveTaskToBack(true);
}
Thanks