Detect When other Application opened or Launched

Question

I would like to track or detect when the user tries to open a application in the mobile like facebook or yahoo or gmail or any other application. Eg:- To know these are the application user has opened in last 30 minutes.

In Android, I am creating an application where in it will be working background, my application has to detect what are all other application the user has opened or Launched or used. — Deeps, Mar 19 '14 at 09:42
Possible duplicate of [Android, Detect when other apps are launched](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3290936/android-detect-when-other-apps-are-launched) — Manuel Allenspach, Dec 05 '16 at 11:37

score 10 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 19 '14 at 10:50

10

You cannot detect an App launch in Android. But you can get the list of currently open apps using this code and check if the app you're looking for is open or not:

ActivityManager am = (ActivityManager) getSystemService(Context.ACTIVITY_SERVICE);
List<ActivityManager.RunningAppProcessInfo> runningAppProcessInfo = am.getRunningAppProcesses();

for (int i = 0; i < runningAppProcessInfo.size(); i++) {
  if(runningAppProcessInfo.get(i).processName.equals("com.the.app.you.are.looking.for") {
    // Do you stuff
  }
}

You can also check if the app is running in the foreground using this method

public static boolean isForeground(Context ctx, String myPackage){
    ActivityManager manager = (ActivityManager) ctx.getSystemService(ACTIVITY_SERVICE);
    List< ActivityManager.RunningTaskInfo > runningTaskInfo = manager.getRunningTasks(1); 

    ComponentName componentInfo = runningTaskInfo.get(0).topActivity;
    if(componentInfo.getPackageName().equals(myPackage)) {
        return true;
    }       
    return false;
}

answered Mar 19 '14 at 10:50

desidigitalnomad

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@Pedram You are right. Same problem facing here. Can you provide us any other way for this? – VVB Jan 23 '16 at 12:21
Which permission is required? – M. Usman Khan Feb 23 '17 at 12:42
ActivityManager.getRunningAppProcesses() returns only the current process on 9.0 – Ondrej Sotolar Feb 11 '19 at 10:51
1

I suspect about this "You ***cannot*** detect an App launch in Android". Because there are many apps in Google Play store seem to be able to do that such as [App Locker](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=dev.tuantv.android.applocker), [AppLock](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.domobile.applockwatcher) – tuantv.dev May 13 '21 at 01:03

score -3 · Answer 2 · edited Aug 25 '18 at 15:12

With the help of @aaRBiyecH's answer, I have created a service which can detect if other application launches. In this example, the service detects for the Android Dialer app (com.android.dialer):

@Override
public int onStartCommand(Intent intent, int flags, int startId){
    private static final String TAG = "com.myapp.Service"; // Replace this with your actual class' name
    Timer timer  =  new Timer();
    timer.scheduleAtFixedRate(new TimerTask() {
        boolean isDialerAppLaunched = false, isDialerAppClosed = false;
        int dialerAppLaunches = 0;
        @Override
        public void run() {
            ActivityManager am = (ActivityManager) getSystemService(Context.ACTIVITY_SERVICE);
            List<ActivityManager.RunningAppProcessInfo> runningAppProcessInfo = am.getRunningAppProcesses();

            for ( ActivityManager.RunningAppProcessInfo appProcess: runningAppProcessInfo ) {
                Log.d(appProcess.processName.toString(),"is running");
                if (appProcess.processName.equals("com.android.dialer")) {
                    if ( appProcess.importance == ActivityManager.RunningAppProcessInfo.IMPORTANCE_FOREGROUND){
                        if (!isDialerAppLaunched){
                            isDialerAppLaunched = true;
                            Log.d(TAG, "Dialer app has been launched");
                        }
                        else if (isDialerAppClosed){
                            phonelaunches++;
                            isDialerAppClosed = false;
                            Log.d("Dialer app has been launched " + String.valueOf(phonelaunches) + "times.");
                        }
                    }
                    else {
                        isDialerAppClosed = true;
                        Log.d(str,"Dialer app has been closed.");

                    }
                }
            }
        }
    },2000,3000);

    return START_STICKY;
}

Here I go through all the running tasks and check if it is our intended application. If so, I check if the application is in the foreground and application is never launched using the isDialerAppLaunched variable. isDialerAppClosed is used when the intended application is in the background and the variable is set accordingly.

All this is implemented in a Service class.

Is this going to check every 3 seconds 24/7? I think it would kill the battery no? — 124697, Sep 10 '16 at 18:35
Hi there Shashank! Please take note that in Java, there's a data type known as `boolean`s. I believe this is what you're looking for instead of using `0` to indicate a false value and `1` for a true value. Please also take note that the `Toast` in your service class would keep showing every 3 seconds which would be detrimental to the user who keeps seeing the toast every few seconds. This is a bad case. Also, as @code511788465541441 said, it's a bad idea to make the service run every 3 seconds. This can be bad especially for phones with lots of apps and can even drain the phone's battery! — Edric, Aug 25 '18 at 15:15

Detect When other Application opened or Launched

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