Android: How to Get the Current Foreground Activity (From a Service)

How to get current foreground activity context in android?

Knowing that ActivityManager manages Activity, so we can gain information from ActivityManager. We get the current foreground running Activity by

ActivityManager am = (ActivityManager)context.getSystemService(Context.ACTIVITY_SERVICE);
ComponentName cn = am.getRunningTasks(1).get(0).topActivity;

UPDATE 2018/10/03

getRunningTasks() is DEPRECATED. see the solutions below.

This method was deprecated in API level 21.
As of Build.VERSION_CODES.LOLLIPOP, this method is no longer available to third party applications: the introduction of document-centric recents means it can leak person information to the caller. For backwards compatibility, it will still return a small subset of its data: at least the caller's own tasks, and possibly some other tasks such as home that are known to not be sensitive.

Android: How can I get the current foreground activity (from a service)?

Is there a native android way to get a reference to the currently running Activity from a service?

You may not own the "currently running Activity".

I have a service running on the background, and I would like to update my current Activity when an event occurs (in the service). Is there a easy way to do that (like the one I suggested above)?

1. Send a broadcast Intent to the activity -- here is a sample project demonstrating this pattern
2. Have the activity supply a PendingIntent (e.g., via createPendingResult()) that the service invokes
3. Have the activity register a callback or listener object with the service via bindService(), and have the service call an event method on that callback/listener object
4. Send an ordered broadcast Intent to the activity, with a low-priority BroadcastReceiver as backup (to raise a Notification if the activity is not on-screen) -- here is a blog post with more on this pattern

Android M: How can I get the current foreground activity package name(from a service)

you can use below code and get the current foreground activity package name.

   if (android.os.Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= android.os.Build.VERSION_CODES.LOLLIPOP) {
            UsageStatsManager usm = (UsageStatsManager) getSystemService("usagestats");
            long time = System.currentTimeMillis();
            List<UsageStats> appList = usm.queryUsageStats(UsageStatsManager.INTERVAL_DAILY,
                            time - 1000 * 1000, time);
                    if (appList != null && appList.size() > 0) {
                        SortedMap<Long, UsageStats> mySortedMap = new TreeMap<Long, UsageStats>();
                        for (UsageStats usageStats : appList) {
                            mySortedMap.put(usageStats.getLastTimeUsed(),
                                    usageStats);
                        }
                        if (mySortedMap != null && !mySortedMap.isEmpty()) {
                            currentApp = mySortedMap.get(
                                    mySortedMap.lastKey()).getPackageName();
                        }
                    }
        } else {
                ActivityManager am = (ActivityManager) getBaseContext().getSystemService(ACTIVITY_SERVICE);
                currentApp = am.getRunningTasks(1).get(0).topActivity .getPackageName(); 

        }

Edit

Add this permission in to Manifest file.

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.GET_TASKS" /> 
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.PACKAGE_USAGE_STATS" tools:ignore="ProtectedPermissions" />

Note

Make sure you need to configure custom setting in your device to obtain the output you can config it with Setting > Security > Apps with usage access > Then enable your app permission

How to discover what Activity is on the foreground in Android app?

You have to implement onActivityPaused and onActivityResumed()

    public class YourApplication extends Application implements
    Application.ActivityLifecycleCallbacks {

    public static boolean isChatVisible=false;   

    public void onCreate() {
        super.onCreate();
        registerActivityLifecycleCallbacks(this);
    }

    @Override
    public void onActivityCreated(Activity p0, Bundle p1) {

    }

    @Override
    public void onActivityStarted(Activity p0) {

    }

    @Override
    public void onActivityResumed(Activity p0) {

         isChatVisible=p0 instanceof ChatActivity;
    }

    @Override
    public void onActivityPaused(Activity p0) {

    }

    @Override
    public void onActivityStopped(Activity p0) {

    }

}

Before building the notification just check YourApplication.isChatVisible()

How to get the package name of the current foreground activity?

The following method that returns Observable of current top package likely work:

    public Observable<String> topPackageNameObservable() {
    return Observable.fromCallable(() -> {
        String topPackageName = "";
        ActivityManager mActivityManager = (ActivityManager) getSystemService(Context.ACTIVITY_SERVICE);
        try {
            if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.LOLLIPOP) {
                UsageStatsManager mUsageStatsManager = (UsageStatsManager) getSystemService(Context.USAGE_STATS_SERVICE);
                List<UsageStats> stats =
                        mUsageStatsManager.queryUsageStats(
                                UsageStatsManager.INTERVAL_DAILY,
                                System.currentTimeMillis() - TimeUnit.DAYS.toMillis(1),
                                System.currentTimeMillis() + TimeUnit.DAYS.toMillis(1));
                if (stats != null) {
                    SortedMap<Long, UsageStats> mySortedMap = new TreeMap<>();
                    for (UsageStats usageStats : stats) {
                        mySortedMap.put(usageStats.getLastTimeUsed(), usageStats);
                    }
                    if (!mySortedMap.isEmpty()) {
                        topPackageName = mySortedMap.get(mySortedMap.lastKey()).getPackageName();
                    }
                } else {
                    topPackageName = mActivityManager.getRunningAppProcesses().get(0).processName;
                }
            } else {
                topPackageName = mActivityManager.getRunningTasks(1).get(0).topActivity.getPackageName();
            }
        } catch (Exception e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }

        return topPackageName;
    });

}

How to find the current foreground activity in android

My guess is that it you need to look at the ActivityManager class. I took a brief look at the docs and this is what I came up with.

There's a function:

public List<ActivityManager.RunningTaskInfo> getRunningTasks (int maxNum)

From the Android docs:

Return a list of the tasks that are currently running, with the most recent being first and older ones after in order. Note that "running" does not mean any of the task's code is currently loaded or activity -- the task may have been frozen by the system, so that it can be restarted in its previous state when next brought to the foreground.

My thought would be if you pass in maxNum=1, it should give you the most recent task that was run, ie. the top task. Each ActivityManager.RunningTaskInfo has a property called topActivity.

public ComponentName topActivity 

From the Android docs: The activity component at the top of the history stack of the task. This is what the user is currently doing.

Getting the Foreground Activity of any application in a Service written in other application

What I want is that I need the reference to the current Activity of ANY application that is on the foreground.

That is not possible. Other applications are running in other processes; you do not have access to Java objects, such as Activity instances, in those processes.

Way to get current running foreground app/process

first Add

  if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.M) {
            if (!Settings.System.canWrite(context)) {
                if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.M) {
                    Intent intent = new Intent(Settings.ACTION_MANAGE_WRITE_SETTINGS,
                            Uri.parse("package:" + getPackageName()));
                    startActivityForResult(intent, 200);
                }
            } else {
                //Do work
            }

      

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