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

Warning: Google Play violation

Google has threatened to remove apps from the Play Store if they use accessibility services for non-accessibility purposes. However, this is reportedly being reconsidered.

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Use an AccessibilityService

• You can detect the currently active window by using an AccessibilityService.
• In the onAccessibilityEvent callback, check for the TYPE_WINDOW_STATE_CHANGED event type to determine when the current window changes.
• Check if the window is an activity by calling PackageManager.getActivityInfo().

Benefits

• Tested and working in Android 2.2 (API 8) through Android 7.1 (API 25).
• Doesn't require polling.
• Doesn't require the GET_TASKS permission.

Disadvantages

• Each user must enable the service in Android's accessibility settings.
• This isn't 100% reliable. Occasionally the events come in out-of-order.
• The service is always running.
• When a user tries to enable the AccessibilityService, they can't press the OK button if an app has placed an overlay on the screen. Some apps that do this are Velis Auto Brightness and Lux. This can be confusing because the user might not know why they can't press the button or how to work around it.
• The AccessibilityService won't know the current activity until the first change of activity.

Example

Service

public class WindowChangeDetectingService extends AccessibilityService {

    @Override
    protected void onServiceConnected() {
        super.onServiceConnected();

        //Configure these here for compatibility with API 13 and below.
        AccessibilityServiceInfo config = new AccessibilityServiceInfo();
        config.eventTypes = AccessibilityEvent.TYPE_WINDOW_STATE_CHANGED;
        config.feedbackType = AccessibilityServiceInfo.FEEDBACK_GENERIC;

        if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= 16)
            //Just in case this helps
            config.flags = AccessibilityServiceInfo.FLAG_INCLUDE_NOT_IMPORTANT_VIEWS;

        setServiceInfo(config);
    }

    @Override
    public void onAccessibilityEvent(AccessibilityEvent event) {
        if (event.getEventType() == AccessibilityEvent.TYPE_WINDOW_STATE_CHANGED) {
            if (event.getPackageName() != null && event.getClassName() != null) {
                ComponentName componentName = new ComponentName(
                    event.getPackageName().toString(),
                    event.getClassName().toString()
                );

                ActivityInfo activityInfo = tryGetActivity(componentName);
                boolean isActivity = activityInfo != null;
                if (isActivity)
                    Log.i("CurrentActivity", componentName.flattenToShortString());
            }
        }
    }

    private ActivityInfo tryGetActivity(ComponentName componentName) {
        try {
            return getPackageManager().getActivityInfo(componentName, 0);
        } catch (PackageManager.NameNotFoundException e) {
            return null;
        }
    }

    @Override
    public void onInterrupt() {}
}

AndroidManifest.xml

Merge this into your manifest:

<application>
    <service
        android:label="@string/accessibility_service_name"
        android:name=".WindowChangeDetectingService"
        android:permission="android.permission.BIND_ACCESSIBILITY_SERVICE">
        <intent-filter>
            <action android:name="android.accessibilityservice.AccessibilityService"/>
        </intent-filter>
        <meta-data
            android:name="android.accessibilityservice"
            android:resource="@xml/accessibilityservice"/>
    </service>
</application>

Service Info

Put this in res/xml/accessibilityservice.xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!-- These options MUST be specified here in order for the events to be received on first
 start in Android 4.1.1 -->
<accessibility-service
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:accessibilityEventTypes="typeWindowStateChanged"
    android:accessibilityFeedbackType="feedbackGeneric"
    android:accessibilityFlags="flagIncludeNotImportantViews"
    android:description="@string/accessibility_service_description"
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    tools:ignore="UnusedAttribute"/>

Enabling the Service

Each user of the app will need to explicitly enable the AccessibilityService in order for it to be used. See this StackOverflow answer for how to do this.

Note that the user won't be able to press the OK button when trying to enable the accessibility service if an app has placed an overlay on the screen, such as Velis Auto Brightness or Lux.

Update: this no longer works with other apps' activities as of Android 5.0

---

Here's a good way to do it using the activity manager. You basically get the runningTasks from the activity manager. It will always return the currently active task first. From there you can get the topActivity.

Example here

There's an easy way of getting a list of running tasks from the ActivityManager service. You can request a maximum number of tasks running on the phone, and by default, the currently active task is returned first.

Once you have that you can get a ComponentName object by requesting the topActivity from your list.

Here's an example.

    ActivityManager am = (ActivityManager) this.getSystemService(ACTIVITY_SERVICE);
    List<ActivityManager.RunningTaskInfo> taskInfo = am.getRunningTasks(1);
    Log.d("topActivity", "CURRENT Activity ::" + taskInfo.get(0).topActivity.getClassName());
    ComponentName componentInfo = taskInfo.get(0).topActivity;
    componentInfo.getPackageName();

You will need the following permission on your manifest:

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.GET_TASKS"/>

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

It can be done by:

1. Implement your own application class, register for ActivityLifecycleCallbacks - this way you can see what is going on with our app. On every on resume the callback assigns the current visible activity on the screen and on pause it removes the assignment. It uses method registerActivityLifecycleCallbacks() which was added in API 14.

   public class App extends Application {
   
   private Activity activeActivity;
   
   @Override
   public void onCreate() {
       super.onCreate();
       setupActivityListener();
   }
   
   private void setupActivityListener() {
   registerActivityLifecycleCallbacks(new ActivityLifecycleCallbacks() {
           @Override
           public void onActivityCreated(Activity activity, Bundle savedInstanceState) {
           }
           @Override
           public void onActivityStarted(Activity activity) {
           }
           @Override
           public void onActivityResumed(Activity activity) {
               activeActivity = activity;
           }
           @Override
           public void onActivityPaused(Activity activity) {
               activeActivity = null;
           }
           @Override
           public void onActivityStopped(Activity activity) {
           }
           @Override
           public void onActivitySaveInstanceState(Activity activity, Bundle outState) {
           }
           @Override
           public void onActivityDestroyed(Activity activity) {
           }
       });
   }
   
   public Activity getActiveActivity(){
       return activeActivity;
   }
   
   }
   

2. In your service call getApplication() and cast it to your app class name (App in this case). Than you can call app.getActiveActivity() - that will give you a current visible Activity (or null when no activity is visible). You can get the name of the Activity by calling activeActivity.getClass().getSimpleName()