Listen to Phone Restarts on Android

When a phone is restarted the system broadcasts ACTION_BOOT_COMPLETED to all the apps that have the RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED permission. In this article, we will learn how to make our app listen to phone restarts.

1) Add permission to the AndroidManifest.xml file.

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED"/>

2) Create a broadcast receiver and add ACTION_BOOT_COMPLETED intent filter to receive the broadcasts.

<receiver
    android:name=".BootCompletedReceiver">
    <intent-filter>
        <action android:name="android.intent.action.BOOT_COMPLETED" />
    </intent-filter>
</receiver>

public class BootCompletedReceiver extends BroadcastReceiver {
    private static final String TAG = BootCompletedReceiver.class.getSimpleName();


    @Override
    public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
        if (intent != null && intent.getAction() != null && intent.getAction().equals(Intent.ACTION_BOOT_COMPLETED)) {
            Log.i(TAG, "Boot Completed")
        }
    }
}

That's it, the onReceive is called whenever the device is restarted. We can start the alarms or start a foreground service, JobIntentService, WorkManger for long running tasks. The lifespan of a broadcast receiver is 10 seconds, so, avoid any time consuming tasks in the onReceive method.

There is another broadcast similar to ACTION_BOOT_COMPLETED that notifies the apps that the device is restarted, its called ACTION_LOCKED_BOOT_COMPLETED. There are few differences between both the broadcasts.

When ACTION_LOCKED_BOOT_COMPLETED is broadcasted on 24+ versions, the device is started but the screen is still in the locked state and when ACTION_BOOT_COMPLETED is broadcasted, the device is started and the screen is unlocked by the user.

Until the screen is unlocked (i.e., when ACTION_LOCKED_BOOT_COMPLETED is broadcasted and ACTION_BOOT_COMPLETED is yet to be broadcasted), the apps can only access device protected storage. So, take these limitations into consideration when listening for ACTION_BOOT_COMPLETED and ACTION_LOCKED_BOOT_COMPLETED.

Popular posts from this blog

Create Assets Folder, Add Files and Read Data From It

How to Read Metadata from AndriodManifest File

Add Spacing to Recycler View Linear Layout Manager Using Item Decoration

Run the Emulator directly in Android Studio

How to Change Material Chip Text Size, Text Style and Font