Start android service from another app to initialise it

Question

Is it possible to launch a service in App A, from a service (widget) in App B, if app A is installed but has never been opened manually by the user?

I was wondering because it seems that there are many restrictions to apps that hasn't been explicitly started before.

Answer 1

Yes, You can achieve using a widget. Here you go..

I have an widget in App B as below..

public class CustomAppWidgetProvider extends AppWidgetProvider{
@Override
public void onUpdate(Context context, AppWidgetManager appWidgetManager, int[] appWidgetIds) {
    final int N = appWidgetIds.length;

    for (int i = 0; i < N; i++) {
        int appWidgetId = appWidgetIds[i];

        RemoveControlWidget removeControlWidget = new RemoveControlWidget(context,context.getPackageName(), R.layout.widget_play_layout);

        appWidgetManager.updateAppWidget(appWidgetId, removeControlWidget);
    }
    super.onUpdate(context, appWidgetManager, appWidgetIds);
 }
}

And my custom remote view (layout with a button id play_control)

public class RemoveControlWidget extends RemoteViews {

public static final String ACTION_PLAY = "com.example.app.ACTION_PLAY";

public RemoveControlWidget(Context context, String packageName, int layoutId) {
    super(packageName, layoutId);
    Intent intent = new Intent(ACTION_PLAY);
    PendingIntent pendingIntent = PendingIntent.getService(context.getApplicationContext(), 100,
            intent, PendingIntent.FLAG_UPDATE_CURRENT);
    setOnClickPendingIntent(R.id.play_control, pendingIntent);
 }
}

Now I have a custom service in my App A which will display a notification.

This is what need to be aded in manifest

<application
    android:allowBackup="true"
    android:icon="@drawable/ic_launcher"
    android:label="@string/app_name"
    android:theme="@style/AppTheme" >
    <service android:name=".CustomService">

        <intent-filter >
            <action android:name="com.example.app.ACTION_PLAY"/>
            <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT"></category>
        </intent-filter>
    </service>
</application>