Android Use of AsyncTaskLoader in a Service

Question

I need to make a design decision.
From what I read in the android developers site I think I want to implement a Service which launches an AsyncTaskLoader to load data from an OS process in the background.
In the android developers site documentation it says that AsyncTaskLoader can be used in Activities and Fragments, but no mention of Services.

Is it a bad practice to use AsyncTaskLoader in a Service?
If so, how do I collect data from a running OS process in the background? (Note: I need the collection to go on even if the app is closed/destroyed)

Answer 1

Loaders are really for Activities and Fragments, it might make sense to consider an IntentService if you just want a good way to do some work in background threads. Is there something specific that looked useful in AsyncTaskLoader?

Either way you won't be able to keep collecting if your app is destroyed. If your app is destroyed, it's not there to do any work. A Service of some sort is definitely what you want to use to do work in the background though.

Answer 2

Loaders are generally used for UI elements that are created and destroyed relatively often, and need to access the previously queried objects without re-querying every time. A Service won't be destroyed mid load like an Activity or Fragment will, so spawning a new Thread is considered the best practice for loading data in the background in a Service.