GCM Message is not sent when the app is not open?

Question

Recently I implement the GCM on my app. I followed the tutorial code at this website

http://javapapers.com/android/google-cloud-messaging-gcm-for-android-and-push-notifications/

However, the behavior is quite strange , for example

If I kill the app, then when I send the notification, it will not show on the notification bar immediately , but only when the user open the app again, say, if I send two notification when I kill app, I receive two notification only when I open the app.

Is it the behavior of GCM? As I expect it should be something like the whatsapp (even I did not open app, the device should still receive the notification and display)

here is my code. Thanks for helping

GcmBroadcastReceiver

public class GcmBroadcastReceiver extends WakefulBroadcastReceiver {

    @Override
    public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
        ComponentName comp = new ComponentName(context.getPackageName(),
                GCMNotificationIntentService.class.getName());
        startWakefulService(context, (intent.setComponent(comp)));
        setResultCode(Activity.RESULT_OK);
    }
}

GCMNotificationIntentService

public class GCMNotificationIntentService extends IntentService {

    public static final int NOTIFICATION_ID = 1;
    private NotificationManager mNotificationManager;
    NotificationCompat.Builder builder;

    public GCMNotificationIntentService() {
        super("GcmIntentService");
    }

    public static final String TAG = "GCMNotificationIntentService";

    @Override
    protected void onHandleIntent(Intent intent) {
        Bundle extras = intent.getExtras();
        GoogleCloudMessaging gcm = GoogleCloudMessaging.getInstance(this);

        String messageType = gcm.getMessageType(intent);

        if (!extras.isEmpty()) {
            if (GoogleCloudMessaging.MESSAGE_TYPE_SEND_ERROR.equals(messageType)) {
                sendNotification("Send error: " + extras.toString());
            } else if (GoogleCloudMessaging.MESSAGE_TYPE_DELETED.equals(messageType)) {
                sendNotification("Deleted messages on server: " + extras.toString());
            } else if (GoogleCloudMessaging.MESSAGE_TYPE_MESSAGE.equals(messageType)) {

                for (int i = 0; i < 3; i++) {
                    Log.i(TAG, "Working... " + (i + 1) + "/5 @ " + SystemClock.elapsedRealtime());
                    try {
                        Thread.sleep(5000);
                    } catch (InterruptedException e) {
                    }
                }

                Log.i(TAG, "Completed work @ " + SystemClock.elapsedRealtime());
                sendNotification(getResources().getString(R.string.gcm_news_remind));
                Log.i(TAG, "Received: " + extras.toString());
            }
        }
        GcmBroadcastReceiver.completeWakefulIntent(intent);
    }

    private void sendNotification(String msg) {
        Log.d(TAG, "Preparing to send notification...: " + msg);
        mNotificationManager = (NotificationManager) this.getSystemService(Context.NOTIFICATION_SERVICE);

        PendingIntent contentIntent = PendingIntent.getActivity(this, 0, new Intent(this, SplashScreen.class), 0);

        NotificationCompat.Builder mBuilder = new NotificationCompat.Builder(
                this).setSmallIcon(R.drawable.ic_launcher)
                .setContentTitle(getResources().getString(R.string.app_name))
                .setStyle(new NotificationCompat.BigTextStyle().bigText(msg))
                .setContentText(msg);

        mBuilder.setContentIntent(contentIntent);
        mNotificationManager.notify(NOTIFICATION_ID, mBuilder.build());
        Log.d(TAG, "Notification sent successfully.");
    }
}

Manifest

<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    package="com.example.oshpedia"
    android:versionCode="1"
    android:versionName="1.0" >

    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE" />
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.GET_ACCOUNTS" />
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WAKE_LOCK" />
    <uses-permission android:name="com.example.oshpedia.permission.C2D_MESSAGE" />
    <uses-permission android:name="com.google.android.c2dm.permission.RECEIVE" />
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE" />
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.VIBRATE" />

    <permission
        android:name="com.example.oshpedia.permission.C2D_MESSAGE"
        android:protectionLevel="signature" />

    <uses-sdk
        android:minSdkVersion="9"
        android:targetSdkVersion="19" />

    <application
        android:name=".Defination.MyApp"
        android:allowBackup="true"
        android:icon="@drawable/ic_launcher"
        android:label="@string/app_name"
        android:largeHeap="true"
        android:theme="@style/AppTheme" >
        <activity
            android:name=".Activity.SplashScreen"
            android:label="@string/app_name"
            android:theme="@android:style/Theme.NoTitleBar.Fullscreen" >
            <intent-filter>
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />

                <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
            </intent-filter>
        </activity>
        <activity
            android:name=".Activity.Main"
            android:screenOrientation="portrait"
            android:windowSoftInputMode="stateHidden|adjustPan" >
        </activity>
        <activity
            android:name=".Activity.AboutUs"
            android:screenOrientation="portrait" >
        </activity>
        <activity
            android:name=".Activity.AboutApp"
            android:screenOrientation="portrait" >
        </activity>
        <activity
            android:name=".Activity.Disclaimer"
            android:screenOrientation="portrait" >
        </activity>
        <activity
            android:name=".Activity.EnquiryForm"
            android:screenOrientation="portrait"
            android:windowSoftInputMode="stateHidden|adjustPan" >
        </activity>
        <activity
            android:name=".Activity.NewsDetail"
            android:screenOrientation="portrait" >
        </activity>
        <activity
            android:name=".Activity.EnquiryDetail"
            android:screenOrientation="portrait" >
        </activity>
        <activity
            android:name=".Activity.SearchResult"
            android:screenOrientation="portrait" >
        </activity>
        <activity
            android:name=".Activity.LawDetail"
            android:screenOrientation="portrait" >
        </activity>
        <activity
            android:name=".Activity.AdvanceSearch"
            android:screenOrientation="portrait" >
        </activity>
        <activity
            android:name=".Activity.VideoChannel"
            android:screenOrientation="portrait" >
        </activity>
        <activity android:name=".Activity.VideoViewer" >
        </activity>

        <receiver
            android:name=".GCM.GcmBroadcastReceiver"
            android:permission="com.google.android.c2dm.permission.SEND" >
            <intent-filter>
                <action android:name="com.google.android.c2dm.intent.RECEIVE" />
                <action android:name="com.google.android.c2dm.intent.REGISTRATION" />

                <category android:name="com.example.oshpedia" />
            </intent-filter>
        </receiver>

        <service android:name=".GCM.GCMNotificationIntentService" />
    </application>

</manifest>

Answer 1

WhatsApp doesn't rely entirely on GCM (I'm not sure if it relies on GCM at all). If you open your Android device's Settings and go to Applications and then Running services (the menus may be a little different if you are using a different Android version than I'm using, which is 2.3.6), you'll see there's a WhatsApp service running in the background (assuming you have WhatsApp installed). If you stop that service, you would stop receiving messages from WhatsApp until you launch that app again.

Your app can accept GCM broadcasts only as long as you don't kill it explicitly. Once you kill it, it won't receive any broadcasts until the next time you launch it (according to what I read, that has been the case since Android 3.x). If, however, you move your app to the background (for example by launching another app or hitting the back button until you move to the home screen or to another app), your app would still get messages from GCM.

Answer 2

The GCM engine will try to deliver a message once it detects you've established a connection to them. I guess that when you kill your app, so is killed the open socket waiting to get messages and they won't try to deliver the message again.

When you open up the app again, all the pending messages are delivered as the GCM engine will try to deliver all of them once it detects you've established a connection to them, that's why you get them all at the same time.