Develop Reference

Customizing full screen intent notifications android

Project Target API 30 Android 10, Min API 19 KitKat
I am creating a parental control app where parents can restrict certain apps.
I have a foreground service where I would I ideally trigger an activity-like notification from the service that would envelop the user's entire screen or take them to the home screen.
I have learned that starting activities, including going to the home screen, is no longer possible under normal circumstances as of API 29. https://developer.android.com/guide/components/activities/background-starts
After reading the documentation it seems creating a full screen intent notification is the most highly recommended workaround to the activity restriction.
I am currently working with the following code for my full screen intent notification:
Intent blockedIntent = new Intent(App.getContext(), BlockedItemReceiver.class);
blockedIntent.putExtra("currentApp", restrictedApp.name);
PendingIntent pendingBlockedIntent = PendingIntent.getActivity(App.getContext(), 50, blockedIntent, PendingIntent.FLAG_UPDATE_CURRENT);
NotificationCompat.Builder blockedNotificationBuilder = new NotificationCompat.Builder(App.getContext(), CHANNEL_BLOCKED_FROM_ITEM)
.setSmallIcon(R.drawable.ic_baseline_lock_24)
.setPriority(NotificationCompat.PRIORITY_HIGH)
.setContentTitle(restrictedApp.packageName + " was Blocked!")
.setContentText(restrictedApp.name + " will be available again DAY at TIME")
.setCategory(NotificationCompat.CATEGORY_CALL)
.setFullScreenIntent(pendingBlockedIntent, true);
NotificationManager notificationManager = (NotificationManager) getSystemService(Context.NOTIFICATION_SERVICE);
notificationManager.notify(5, blockedNotificationBuilder.build());
I looked at some documentation for customizing notifications, but the information I found does not have a full screen intent notification example, and when I attempt to add the methods in the documentation example for NotificationCompat.Builder such as setCustomContentView() with custom layouts, my notification fails to appear without an error message.
https://developer.android.com/training/notify-user/custom-notification
Besides, I do not want a collapsed and expanded version of my notification as the example in the link has, just one full screen view.
TLDR; I want a notification that always engulfs the screen until the user presses a button on the notification to dismiss it. How can I further customize my full screen intent notification to truly take up the full screen? Ideally with a layout. If I must have a collapsed version of my notification, I don't want the user to ever see it, because I always want my notification to engulf the screen while it's showing.
There are existing apps such as AppBlock that have found a workaround to launching an activity-like thing from a foreground service that takes up the full screen, so what I am trying to do is possible even if the specific question I'm asking won't lead me to that result. Please suggest another way of accomplishing what I am after if what I am asking to do in my question is "impossible". What I generally want to do is certainly possible.

Hide notification from Foreground Service on click notification Action

I have an Alarm App that have foreground service with a Heads-Up Notification and that notification have two actions where one send an intent to the Service and can open an activity depending on the app configuration.
The problem is that when i click on a action that sends the intent to the service the notification doesn't hide. This not seems to occur when the intent opens a Activity
I don't want a foreground service without a Notification, i just want it to hide it back to the Notification Drawer when the intent is sent to the service
Here is the code:
NotificationCompat.Builder(mAlarmApplication, CHANNEL_ID)
.setSmallIcon(R.drawable.ic_notification_alarm)
.setAutoCancel(false)
.setOngoing(true)
.setVibrate(LongArray(0))
.setContentTitle("Title")
.setContentText("Content")
.addAction(0, dismissActionText, dismissPendingIntent)
.setCategory(NotificationCompat.CATEGORY_ALARM)
.setPriority(NotificationCompat.PRIORITY_MAX)
.setVisibility(NotificationCompat.VISIBILITY_PUBLIC)
.setContentIntent(alarmScreenPendingIntent)
.setFullScreenIntent(alarmScreenPendingIntent, true)
Here is the link of the app https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.garageapp.alarmchallenges.
The problem occurs when alarm start and my current solution is to update the old heads up notification with a new one that is not a heads up but the UX is not a good because on Android 8+ the notification new notification pops up aging

Seems like your Notification is bonded with your Service. If so, then you have to kill the notification in Service
Did you try?
public static void cancelNotification(Context ctx, int notifyId) {
String ns = Context.NOTIFICATION_SERVICE;
NotificationManager nMgr = (NotificationManager) ctx.getSystemService(ns);
nMgr.cancel(notifyId);
}

You are using .setOngoing(true) which should not be removed while service is working.
.setAutoCancel(true) will also not working with .setOngoing(true).
You have to use .setOngoing(false) to dismiss the notification.

If you or user remove your foreground notification your service will go to background, I think that best work is to not using heads up notification for foreground by not setting its priority to MAX
Use two notifications at same time one in drawer and another heads up:
-The first notification with priority DEFAULT for starting foreground ( auto cancel set to false and ongoing set to true) show this one with startForground()
-The Second notification (Heads up (Priority MAX) auto cancel set to true and on going set to false) for your actions show this with notifyManager.notify()
These two notifications must have different IDs
another solution:
If you want to use one heads up notification with actions for foreground service you may do this:
use a heads up notification with your action buttons for foreground service when the user clicks actions this action must call the foreground service and then the foreground service could call startForeground (with same id) with a new notification with priority set to default, if your notification could not be updated you may need to call stopForeground(true) or notificationManager.cancel(id) first before calling startForeground with new notification. both of these two notifications should has on going set to true and auto cancel set to false
In my opinion the first solution is better than the second because the notification may not update in second solution.

As the documentation says :
A started service can use the startForeground(int, Notification) API to put the service in a foreground state, where the system considers it to be something the user is actively aware of ...
android system does not allow you to have a foreground service without notification or a hidden notification. and that's because of user awareness of what is happening in his/her system.
also killing the notification will stop your foreground service.
so you never can have both of the options (foreground service and hidden notification)
a not clear solution for your problem:
when you call action that sends the intent to the service, do this with a mediator activity i mean first open an activity and in the activity send intent to the service.
I hope this solve your problem as you told :
The problem is that when i click on a action that sends the intent to the service the notification doesn't hide. This not seems to occur when the intent opens a Activity

Notification click behaviors depending on the state of the app

After a long search, I was not able to find exactly what I need.
I simply want : When a notification is displayed to the user, if the app is simply in background I want to reopen MainActivity. But if the app/activity has been killed, I want to restart the app completely.
My actual code :
NotificationCompat.Builder mBuilder =
new NotificationCompat.Builder(context)
.setSmallIcon(R.drawable.notification_icon)
.setContentTitle(notification.getSubject())
.setContentText(notification.getMessage())
.setSound(Settings.System.DEFAULT_NOTIFICATION_URI);
mBuilder.setContentIntent(
PendingIntent.getActivity(context, 0, new Intent(context, MainActivity.class)
.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_SINGLE_TOP), PendingIntent.FLAG_UPDATE_CURRENT));
NotificationManager mNotificationManager =
(NotificationManager) context.getSystemService(Context.NOTIFICATION_SERVICE);
Notification notif = mBuilder.build();
notif.flags = Notification.DEFAULT_VIBRATE | Notification.FLAG_AUTO_CANCEL;
Case which is not working actually is to restart the app if app or activity has been killed.
EDIT : By killed I mean the app has been closed in the app manager. Or we lost the focus and the activity is destroyed. In those cases I would like to fully restart the app.

I think you don't entirely understand how android functions. Whenever your program is needed, the program is started by android (See the Application class for an onCreate that you can override).
Whenever an activity is necessary it is (re)created or brought to the foreground.
That means that an activity restart does not necessarily imply a restart of the application. In practice, if the program was still in memory, then an application restart won't happen.
If you want to investigate this further
create an Application.onCreate method so you see whether your app is restarted or not.
trigger the notification
go to the android settings, application tab, and there select 'show cached processes'. Clear your process from the list.
tap the notification.
This should trigger a restart of the application. If this is indeed the problem then you cannot 'solve' it. Android decides when it will kill your application and when it removes it from memory.
The best solution then is to redesign your activity that whatever the application restart would trigger is also performed in the activity itself. Or so, without more detail what functionality you would like to see performed on an 'activity/application-restart' it is difficult to advice further on this matter.

I think you need to change your setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_SINGLE_TOP) value to setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_REORDER_TO_FRONT).
The reason is due to the way that FLAG_ACTIVITY_REORDER_TO_FRONT
works. When you use this flag, Android looks for an instance of the
desired activity in your activity stack, starting from the front of
the stack and scanning until it gets to the root/back of the stack. As
soon as it finds an instance of the specified activity, it brings that
one to the front (ie: if there are multiple instances of the specified
activity it will bring to the front the most recent instance).
Original I found here.
See android developer doc here.
I hope its help you.

Android service is frequently stopped and restarted

I'm trying to develop an Android application which draws a floating overlay on the screen, as it is done by Facebook messenger with chat heads.
I've created an Android service from which I handle the UI. Everything works well, but on some devices the service is stopped very frequently and sometimes it is started again after more than 60 seconds.
I know this is a behavior defined by the Android System, but I was wondering if there is a way to give my service the maximum priority. Is this possible? Could this behavior be worsened by something in my implementation which is wrong?

One option is to make your Service a "Foreground Service" as briefly explained in Android documentation. This means that it shows an icon and possibly some status data in the status bar. Quoting:
A foreground service is a service that's considered to be something
the user is actively aware of and thus not a candidate for the system
to kill when low on memory. A foreground service must provide a
notification for the status bar, which is placed under the "Ongoing"
heading, which means that the notification cannot be dismissed unless
the service is either stopped or removed from the foreground.
In practice you just need to modify the Service's onStartCommand() method to set up the notification and to call startForeGround(). This example is from the Android documentation:
// Set the icon and the initial text to be shown.
Notification notification = new Notification(R.drawable.icon, getText(R.string.ticker_text), System.currentTimeMillis());
// The pending intent is triggered when the notification is tapped.
Intent notificationIntent = new Intent(this, ExampleActivity.class);
PendingIntent pendingIntent = PendingIntent.getActivity(this, 0, notificationIntent, 0);
// 2nd parameter is the title, 3rd one is a status message.
notification.setLatestEventInfo(this, getText(R.string.notification_title), getText(R.string.notification_message), pendingIntent);
// You can put anything non-zero in place of ONGOING_NOTIFICATION_ID.
startForeground(ONGOING_NOTIFICATION_ID, notification);
That's actually a deprecated way of setting up a notification but the idea is the same anyway even if you use Notification.Builder.

Android Notification without click event?

I would like to try and make a Notification that does not respond to a click. Is this possible? i.e. when it is visible in the Notification area, and the user touches it, I want "nothing" to happen.
This is different to a normal Notification - when it is visible, and the user touches it, the Notification Area hides, and the Intent is launched. I do not want the Notification Area to hide when it is touched.
I can make one that doesn't launch an activity:
Possible to make an Android Notification that does not call an Intent?
Android - notification manager, having a notification without an intent
But it still responds to a click, by hiding the notification bar again (i.e. standard expected behaviour).
This question is a duplicate of How to disable a click event of notification in android development but that question does not have an answer. (if there is a better way to ~bump~ that question up again, I will do that & delete this question)
Note: I know this is not "the Android way", but it is still something I would like to try.

I do not want the Notification Area to hide when it is touched.
That would require firmware modifications. You are not in control over the notification area; the OS is.

Use Intent intent = new Intent() and insert this into the PendingIntent.

Have you ever tried
new NotificationCompat.Builder(this, CHANNEL_ID)
.setSmallIcon(R.drawable.notification_icon)
.setContentTitle("My notification")
.setContentText("Hello World!")
.setPriority(NotificationCompat.PRIORITY_DEFAULT)
// Set the intent null or empty and autoCancel false
.setContentIntent(null)
.setAutoCancel(false);
For more info about setAutoCancel() check Android Document here.