I would like to run predefined service in my app if I do two short volume up pushes (or one long hold).
It should works also if phone has locked screen or another app is in foreground.
Thanks for any advice or example how can i do it.
The official Broadcast Receiver for volume changes only gets triggered when the state changes from volume to/from silent to/from vibrate. So perhaps, it could detect a long volume up hold under some circumstances, but I don't know. That Broadcast Receiver is not granular at all.
I've seen non-rooted apps on Google Play that detect the volume keys at a more granular level, but I believe those apps are making use of undocumented functionality (of which I do not know about).
If you're making your own rom as your username might imply, detecting those keys would be much easier to do. Is that the case? Are you making your own rom? Will the app you're making have root access?
I read this unable to detect shake event when my phones screen is off in android article. But this question is differ from this.
I created an application which speak (using TextToSpeach API) time when I shake device. For that I have created a "Service" in which "ShakeListener" was registered. While I shake device, it will speak current time.
But this works fine while my device is "ON". When I lock my device, it stops working. Can any one elaborate what is the problem behind?
I think the problem here is that when you lock the device, it goes to sleep mode. And your ShakeListener doesn't receive shake events. The best way to implement what you want would be to register broadcast receiver to receive shake events. But as I know, android doesn't provide such broadcast. Another solution is to acuire a partial WakeLock. It'll prevent android from sleep. But of course it'll cause battery issues. Also take a look on this thread: Android accelerometer not working when screen is turned off
Probably you can not receive this notification until you patch some kernel implementation. Android doesn't broadcast such notification.
I have a service that detects when the display of my Android phone is turned on or off. When turned off, the service calls an activity that uses dispatchKeyEvent to detect when the volume up button has been pressed. Unfortunately, apparently the activity can't do this when the screen is off. (See this post.)
I've noticed, though, that something at some level is detecting that event, since the following LogCat message appears when I press the volume-up button when the screen is off: "CatService: Return current sInstance". The message seems to be device specific, since on a different device something different appears in the log, but I'm really only concerned about the first device.
I've done some research into CatService, but haven't found much and can't figure out how I might be able to use it, or whatever is generating the log message, to detect the volume up button press. I'd appreciate any light that anyone can shed on this.
The only way to keep detecting things like this when the screen is off is to acquire a WakeLock that will allow the screen to turn off, and still let your app function. However, this drains the battery life quite a bit, and should only be used when absolutely necessary.
In this case, you will need a PARTIAL_WAKE_LOCK.
For this question I'm going to quote another user who got no response to their question:
I've written an Andoid app that uses the hardware Volume buttons for another purpose.
It works fine if the app is running and visible, but when I turn the
screen off or let it time out, the button clicks don't get into my
handlers.
Does anyone know if there is a way to detect these button clicks when
the screen is off?
Source: AV695's question
I'm working on an app myself that makes use of the volume buttons, but as this user also noted, the normal behavior of checking buttons with onKeyPress stops working once the screen is off. This is because the Activity gets paused on screen off.
Is there a way to keep the activity running while the screen is off, or check for the usage of the volume buttons when the screen is off? I tried using a Service for this before but it's impossible to check for the volume keys like that as noted by Commonsware.
I doubt that this is supported (without resorting to a battery-draining wakelock) at either the platform, kernel, or underlying radio firmware levels without modifications to the last to bring volume presses during sleep to the attention of the kernel.
Within the realm of reasonable system-ROM modifications, a more reasonable one might be to modify an existing open source ROM for the device to insert some custom platform level code into the handling of the power button usually used to wake up the device preparatory to unlocking it - that at least we know does get the attention of the kernel. That code could then inform the user by sound or vibration if there are unacknowledged notifications.
You could optionally wait briefly, check device orientation, or look for another key press to avoid doing this in an annoying way when the user is holding the device outside their pocket and trying to unlock it.
Or you could not use the volume key and just set a timer to wake up every 15 minutes and vibrate if there are unacknowledged notifications, avoiding the need to fumble in ones pockets.
You mention it's a custom request: if implies it's one off or low-volume, another option to consider would be that a few vendors have "bluetooth watches" out with an SDK that lets you push notifications from an android device.
If you can capture the notification when it's generated, you could push it to the user's wrist, and then let the phone go back to sleep.
You cannot intercept the key while your application is in background, but instead of listening to the KeyPress itself. You can register a ContentObserver, as described in this question.
As Chris Stratton mentioned, the only way to keep your App alive is by using battery-draining wake locks.
However, since I found myself in the same situation, I came up with another solution. Unfortunately, you'll need a rooted device as well as the Xposed framework.
With Xposed, which replaces the zygot process so you can hook yourself into any constructor and method of the system, you will be able to catch the raw KeyEvents before the system handles them.
This is done in PhoneWindowManager.interceptKeyBeforeQueueing(). By using a XC_MethodHook, you can use beforeHookedMethod() on the afore mentioned method to catch every hardware button event, even if the device is in deep sleep.
After catching events you are interested in, you can create a temporary wake lock to do your things but don't forget to release the wake lock after you finished your work.
A good example of how to accomplish this is the Xposed Torch Module.
If you, however, rely on a non rooted system, the bad news is that it's simply not possible without draining the battery...
I was also trying to implement volume button press detection in my app and I left that part to be developed later once the core part is done. I was able to detect volume key press while screen is on even when phone is locked, from a background service.
Background Video Recorder 2 (BVR2) (and possible BVR1 also, I did not try) is one of the apps that can detect volume key press even when screen is off. While trying to implement volume key detection while screen is off in my app, I installed BVR2, hoping to find how it works. To my surprise it gave my app the ablity to detect volume keys even when screen is off. My app had a ContentObserver to monitor volume changes, but was not working when screen is off. When BVR2 is active my app also could detect volume key press when screen is off. Still digging.
But BVR2 has its own trigger action, that is to record video, an action you may not want to occur just for the sake of you application detecting volume key presses.
Another app is QuickClick. This app can give your app what it lacks, the power to detect volume key presses even when screen is off, without extra unwanted actions. Just install QuickClick and do not configure any action. Create a ContentObserver to monitor for stream volume changes and you are ready. You app will now be able to detect volume key presses even when screen is off.
Please note that my app runs as a background service.
Both of the apps mentioned above are meant for other uses, but uses volume key detection to perform action. I am in no way connected to any of the apps mentioned.
If these apps, and possibly dozens others, can detect volume key press, it can be done. I request experts to find out how to do it, so that we can implement in our app without relying on another app.
If you find this answer useful, please up-vote.
I am not sure if it is as simple as this but check this android blog:
Allowing applications to play nice(r) with each other: Handling remote control buttons
It explains the usage of a broadcast receiver that receives the up/down volume controls and other music controls.
In summary you should use registerMediaButtonEventReceiver
I tried posting this on the Android Developers list and didn't hear anything - maybe some of you have insight into this!
I'm working on an app that should have the ability to disable incoming calls for a user-specified period of time. It should work much the way a "DND" (do not disturb) button works on an office phone.
I've looked over the SDK, and I can't find any way to send phone calls to voicemail or disable the big incoming call screen without putting the phone in airplane mode. That would be OK if I could keep Bluetooth enabled. (I'd like the user to be able to listen to music via a Bluetooth headset while phone calls are blocked.)
In summary, any of the following would work if I could do them from my app:
Programmatically send all calls to voicemail (like a "DND" button) this would be ideal since it would still be in the call log at the end of the "do not disturb" time.
Intercept the incoming call in my app and bounce it.
Disable all radios but Bluetooth and Wi-Fi - This has the disadvantage of losing the call log.
Prevent the built-in phone call app from displaying its incoming call screen (I can disable the ringer and vibration) even though the call is received
Is any of these possible? Or maybe another approach I haven't thought of?
Just a side note: For Android phones to be the best possible productivity tool, it should be possible to use a device for email/Internet/apps without receiving constant interruptions from calls. Humans have a significant context-switch time.
As a security measure, the SDK does not provide APIs to handle incoming calls. Apart from cutting off the network radio and going into a semi-airplane mode (Option 3), I don't see how this is possible, IMHO.