I'm trying to launch my Android App, using deep linking. Basically, the users will receive emails with links, when the user clicked the link, the App should launch.
I know how to do the basic deep linking, however, I want to launch the actual App not just a specific activity. My deep linking scheme is something like "mydeeplinking" and in the email is like "mydeeplinking://".
I am looking for Something similar to the iOS deep linking, which launch the entire App.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
Basically, all you need to do is use intent-filter to tell Android what type of data should be routed to your app.
AndroidManifest.xml:
<activity android:name="com.example.MainActivity" >
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="android.intent.action.VIEW" />
<category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
<category android:name="android.intent.category.BROWSABLE" />
<data android:scheme="http" />
<data android:scheme="https" />
<data android:host="www.example.com" />
<data android:path="/" />
<data android:path="/map" />
</intent-filter>
</activity>
This will launch your MainActivity when the user clicks any of these links:
http://www.example.com/
https://www.example.com/
http://www.example.com/map
https://www.example.com/map
Deep linking is greatly enhanced by Firebase. It's a little hard to get started, but it works great! Check this link for an example.
Comparing this deep linking to iOS is where the confusion may come in, because theirs works differently. Android has always been able to push information from one app to another and even pull from the web, which is what iOS is doing. That isn't deep linking per-se. It can go MUCH further than that- it is meant to provide a personalized app experience even before a user creates a profile (or something similar). It's also important to note that deep linking holds onto this personalized info even through the installation of an app and opens the app with whatever that info was! It's not just an intent! Your question has to do with URI schemes. Maybe this will help if you still agree that you're looking for deep linking.
If you are simply looking to launch an app (already installed on the users device or not), intent filters are the way to go, and intents can pass information. If you are wanting a user to use an activity in an app without ever installing it, android instant apps is the right choice. If you're looking for a way to pass information "deeply" from the user's email or internet to your app, deep linking is advised.
Intent filters can be used to open some apps from web pages. When a link is selected that could be opened in a browser or in an app (or multiple apps), a box will pull up from the bottom of the phone's screen, asking for the user's preference for the default to open in on future clicks. (see image below) The web site's javascript may have to be altered to detect the user's operating system and send the proper URL call. iOS works a little differently.
Here is how to use an intent filter. It has some extra code that you may find useful..
public void startNewActivity(Context context, String packageName) {
Intent intent = context.getPackageManager().getLaunchIntentForPackage(packageName);
if (intent == null) {
// brings user to the market if app is not installed already
intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW);
intent.setData(Uri.parse("market://details?id=" + packageName));
}
intent.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK); // opens a new "page" instead of overlapping the same app
context.startActivity(intent);
}
If you need to pass data at the same time, use intent.putExtra("name", "value");
Related
Having seen the questions about activities with no GUI here, here and here. In addition, these answer are rather old, I don't know if they're still relevant.
I want to create an app for which the only user interaction is a quick tile.
I understood there can't be no activity at all, so I have a blank activity with no display using #android:style/Theme.NoDisplay
<activity
android:name=".MainActivity"
android:label="#string/app_name"
android:theme="#android:style/Theme.NoDisplay">
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN"/>
<category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER"/>
</intent-filter>
</activity>
<service
android:name=".AdaptativeSleepTile"
android:icon="#drawable/ic_launcher_background">
</service>
But the app appears in my app list (with nothing happening when I click it, logically), which is not what is written in the comments of this answer.
I can't remove the line <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER"/> otherwise I get the error message
Could not identify launch activity: Default Activity not found
Error while Launching activity
So what should I do to have a service for which the only user interaction is the quick tile? (Same question would also apply for no interaction at all, or only widget I guess)
Using Android Studio 4 and Sdk 29
I want to create an app for which the only user interaction is a quick tile.
That may or may not be practical. Since Android 3.1, apps are installed in a "stopped state", and it takes an explicit Intent to move them out of the stopped state and allow them to run. Normally, that comes from the user tapping on an icon in a launcher to run your MAIN/LAUNCHER activity.
It is possible that simply having a TileService available in the manifest is enough to get you listed in the notification shade, and the act of adding the tile will be enough to move your app out of the stopped state. However, I certainly cannot guarantee that, and it would not surprise me if this does not work.
Also, please bear in mind that you may need an activity for other reasons:
To display your terms of service
To display your privacy policy
To provide access to tech support
To allow for configuration of the app
And so on
But the app appears in my app list (with nothing happening when I click it, logically), which is not what is written in the comments of this answer.
If you mean the first comment, that is simply wrong, as is pointed out by other comments on that answer.
I can't remove the line otherwise I get the error message
I assume that you are getting that from Android Studio. You will need to change your run configuration to not try starting an activity.
Same question would also apply for no interaction at all
Fortunately, there is no solution for that. Malware authors think that totally invisible apps are wonderful, and Android takes steps to prevent such apps from being able to work. And, this is why I would not be surprised if you need an activity for your TileService.
I'm making my own Android launcher and I want to react to requests from other apps to add a shortcut to home screen.
So far, I was only able to find out, that apps have to check if shortcut pinning is supported by calling isRequestPinShortcutSupported() from ShortcutManager and then send a request by calling requestPinShortcut() - but how do I implement the other side of that?
I don't know how to tell ShortcutManager my launcher wants to receive these requests and where to handle them. I have tried registering various BroadcastReceivers but that wasn't enough.
Only helpful thing I could find was LauncherApps.PinItemRequest, that can be created from Intent, but I can't find how do I receive this intent.
Okay, I had to study android source code for this but I figured out I need to create an Activity like this:
<activity android:name=".Activities.AddShortcutActivity">
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="android.content.pm.action.CONFIRM_PIN_SHORTCUT" />
</intent-filter>
</activity>
And then in that Activity's onCreate() I can call
LauncherApps().getPinItemRequest( this.getIntent() );
//handle request...
this.finish();
and do whatever I need with that request. Hope this helps someone.
So currently at my wits end for this issue.
I am trying to set my app as the default app launched when long pressing the Home button.
I am doing this by:
Setting Intent Filters in the manifest (I also experimented with adding MAIN and LAUNCHER action/category tags)
<action android:name="android.intent.action.ASSIST" />
<action android:name="android.intent.action.SEARCH_LONG_PRESS" />
<category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
Requesting the default app on an intent to allow users to change (there's also one for the Search Long Press action)
Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_ASSIST);
intent.addCategory(Intent.CATEGORY_DEFAULT);
intent.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
This approach works perfectly fine for devices running pre 6.0 software.
On post 6 devices the request is asked but the default assistant app is unchanged.
My app can be set as the default home app on post 6 devices perfectly fine when using these exact steps.
I'm unsure as to whether there's some kind of specific permission I'm missing or something. Nothing seems to work at all. The google app will always be used on long press. If I disable the google app then my app will run on long press.
Extra information: This is a kiosk app for business so I prefer to not have to disable the Google app for every single device this will go on. I don't mind if solutions are hacky as this is not going on the app store.
To implement your Assistant like app, the assistant app must provide an implementation of VoiceInteractionSessionService and VoiceInteractionSession.
It also requires the BIND_VOICE_INTERACTION permission.
See also:
Implementing Your Own Assistant
VoiceInteraction sample app
--Use case:
1-System app apk in priv-app folder to be used as device owner.
2-User starts up device and Google setup wizard comes up.
3-Immediately starts device provisioning activity.
--Things that used to work:
This method used to work on Android 6.0 Marshmallow using the action intent:
<activity android:theme="#style/InvisibleNoTitle" android:name="OwnerActivity" android:launchMode="singleTop" android:immersive="true">
<intent-filter android:priority="5">
<action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
<action android:name="android.intent.action.DEVICE_INITIALIZATION_WIZARD" />
<category android:name="android.intent.category.HOME" />
<category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
</intent-filter>
</activity>
without any problem.
After updating to Android 8.1 Oreo, this method no longer works. The OwnerActivity shows up only after setup wizard finishes which is useless since device is already provisioned by user and can't be provision again.
Is there any newer way of doing this so that my OwnerActivity shows up first to provision the device? What is changed in Oreo?
This is a bit late for an answer, and without talking to Google it's a little hard to see what the design decisions have been. However, what we can know is what's changed.
1. android.intent.action.DEVICE_INITIALIZATION_WIZARD is deprecated atleast as early as Oreo.
2. Package Manager Service has had changes to reference the setup wizard. The new approach appears to be the category android.intent.category.SETUP_WIZARD which your manifest definition lacks.
Reading the comments around the code (which you can find below) we see this log:
Slog.e(TAG, "There should probably be exactly one setup wizard; found " + matches.size()
+ ": matches=" + matches);
https://android.googlesource.com/platform/frameworks/base/+/nougat-mr2.3-release/services/core/java/com/android/server/pm/PackageManagerService.java#17872
So it seems like as of Nougat, Android doesn't support having multiple setup wizards that are chained together.
For your specific problem of how to setup the device admin I have 2 suggestions.
If you care about CDD and CTS then you should get your users to go through the Google device owner provisioning process which they keep updated.
If you don't care about that and you just want your build to always have a device owner, just make changes in the frameworks or add some system binary that always runs before the setup wizard which will set your device owner application for you.
I had a discussion with a friend and he told me that some applications can be installed on android without any activity or icon showed in menu. Because i'm studying android too i was surprised because i never heard of that.
App's name is showed in "Manage Applications" section and its easy to uninstall it.
So now i'm asking as programmer. How is possible(if it is) to install that kind of application? (with no activity or launcher ).
Just remove all of the following intent filters from your manifest:
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
<category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
</intent-filter>
Keep in mind though that from Android 3.1 onwards, your app will not receive any broadcasts, or be listed in any other places where an intent filter would make it available (like in the share menu) if the user hasn't manually opened your app UI (main Activity) at least once from the launcher.
There is another way that works even on Android3.1+ .You can not disable the icon itself, but you can disable one component of an application. So disabling the applications launcher activity will result its icon to be removed from launcher.
The code to do this is simple:
ComponentName componentToDisable =
new ComponentName("com.helloandroid.apptodisable",
"com.helloandroid.apptodisable.LauncherActivity");
getPackageManager().setComponentEnabledSetting(
componentToDisable,
PackageManager.COMPONENT_ENABLED_STATE_DISABLED,
PackageManager.DONT_KILL_APP);
There is a few things to know about this solution:
1-the disabled component will not be launchable in any way
2-other non disabled activities will be launchable from other applications
3-an application can only disable its own component. There is a permission "android.permission.CHANGE_COMPONENT_ENABLED_STATE", but it wont work, 3rd party plications can not have this permission
4-the icon will only disapper when the launcher is restarted, so likely on next phone reboot, forcing the launcher to restart is not recommended
In this way,App must be run atleast on time.
Reference:
Removing an app icon from launcher
Yeah this kind of application is possible. You have to create an Application that has no Launcher Activity in the Manifest file.
For eg:- You can register a Broadcast for on boot received. So, that when the device boots your application will be called though it doesn't have any UI. You can checkout this one.
NOTE - This type of Application will only work below 3.1.