Android: Broadcast Receiver for Screen on and Screen Off

android: broadcast receiver for screen on and screen off

The two actions for screen on and off are:

android.intent.action.SCREEN_OFF
android.intent.action.SCREEN_ON

But if you register a receiver for these broadcasts in a manifest, then the receiver will not receive these broadcasts.

For this problem, you have to create a long running service, which is registering a local broadcast receiver for these intents. If you do this way, then your app will look for screen off only when your service is running which won't irritate user.

PS: start the service in foreground to make it running longer.

A simple code snippet will be something like this:

IntentFilter screenStateFilter = new IntentFilter();
screenStateFilter.addAction(Intent.ACTION_SCREEN_ON);
screenStateFilter.addAction(Intent.ACTION_SCREEN_OFF);
registerReceiver(mScreenStateReceiver, screenStateFilter);

Don't forget to unregister the receiver in the Service's onDestroy:

unregisterReceiver(mScreenStateReceiver);

Just in case for people who are asking why the receiver does not work with the declare broadcasts in manifest for ACTION_SCREEN_ON and ACTION_SCREEN_OFF:

https://developer.android.com/reference/android/content/Intent.html#ACTION_SCREEN_ON https://developer.android.com/reference/android/content/Intent.html#ACTION_SCREEN_OFF

You cannot receive this through components declared in manifests, only
by explicitly registering for it with Context.registerReceiver().

This is a protected intent that can only be sent by the system.

Why isn't my Screen On/Off BroadcastReceiver working?

You can do this by trying dynamic calling of broadcast like below

public class YourActivity extends Activity {

    //Create broadcast object
    BroadcastReceiver mBroadcast = new BroadcastReceiver() {    
    //When Event is published, onReceive method is called
    @Override
    public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
        // TODO Auto-generated method stub
        Log.i("[BroadcastReceiver]", "MyReceiver");

        if (intent.getAction().equals(Intent.ACTION_SCREEN_ON)) {
            Log.d("[BroadcastReceiver]", "Screen ON");
        } else if (intent.getAction().equals(Intent.ACTION_SCREEN_OFF)) {
            Log.d("[BroadcastReceiver]", "Screen OFF");
        }

    }
};

    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

        registerReceiver(mBroadcast, new IntentFilter(Intent.ACTION_SCREEN_ON));
        registerReceiver(mBroadcast, new IntentFilter(Intent.ACTION_SCREEN_OFF));
    }
}

Listening for ACTION_SCREEN_OFF

You cannot declare ACTION_SCREEN_ON and ACTION_SCREEN_OFF in the AndroidManifest.xml.
You are only allowed to catch them while your activity is running.

Here's an example.

The BroadcastReceiver:

public class ScreenReceiver extends BroadcastReceiver {

    public static boolean wasScreenOn = true;

    @Override
    public void onReceive(final Context context, final Intent intent) {
        if (intent.getAction().equals(Intent.ACTION_SCREEN_OFF)) {
            // do whatever you need to do here
            wasScreenOn = false;
        } else if (intent.getAction().equals(Intent.ACTION_SCREEN_ON)) {
            // and do whatever you need to do here
            wasScreenOn = true;
        }
    }

}

The Activity:

public class ExampleActivity extends Activity {

    private BroadcastReceiver mReceiver = null;

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        // initialize receiver
        final IntentFilter filter = new IntentFilter(Intent.ACTION_SCREEN_ON);
        filter.addAction(Intent.ACTION_SCREEN_OFF);
        mReceiver = new ScreenReceiver();
        registerReceiver(mReceiver, filter);
        // your code
    }

    @Override
    protected void onPause() {
        // when the screen is about to turn off
        if (ScreenReceiver.wasScreenOn) {
            // this is the case when onPause() is called by the system due to a screen state change
            Log.e("MYAPP", "SCREEN TURNED OFF");
        } else {
            // this is when onPause() is called when the screen state has not changed
        }
        super.onPause();
    }

    @Override
    protected void onResume() {
        super.onResume();
        // only when screen turns on
        if (!ScreenReceiver.wasScreenOn) {
            // this is when onResume() is called due to a screen state change
            Log.e("MYAPP", "SCREEN TURNED ON");
        } else {
            // this is when onResume() is called when the screen state has not changed
        }
    }

    @Override
    protected void onDestroy() {
        if (mReceiver != null) {
            unregisterReceiver(mReceiver);
            mReceiver = null;
        }
        super.onDestroy();
    }

}

You could probably solve your question by listening to these events from a Service.

BroadcastReceiver for Screen On/Off not working

Hey try using dynamic calling of broadcast,I tried this it will surly work...

public class MainActivity extends Activity {

    //Create broadcast object
    BroadcastReceiver mybroadcast = new BroadcastReceiver() {    
        //When Event is published, onReceive method is called
        @Override
        public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
            // TODO Auto-generated method stub
            Log.i("[BroadcastReceiver]", "MyReceiver");

            if (intent.getAction().equals(Intent.ACTION_SCREEN_ON)) {
                Log.i("[BroadcastReceiver]", "Screen ON");
            }
            else if (intent.getAction().equals(Intent.ACTION_SCREEN_OFF)) {
                Log.i("[BroadcastReceiver]", "Screen OFF");
            }

        }
    };

    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

        registerReceiver(mybroadcast, new IntentFilter(Intent.ACTION_SCREEN_ON));
        registerReceiver(mybroadcast, new IntentFilter(Intent.ACTION_SCREEN_OFF));
    }
}

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