Receiving package install and uninstall events

Other answers point out listening for ACTION_PACKAGE_ADDED and ACTION_PACKAGE_REPLACED broadcasts. That is fine for Android 7.1 and lower. On Android 8.0+, you cannot register for those broadcasts in the manifest.

Instead, you need to call getChangedPackages() on PackageManager periodically, such as via a periodic JobScheduler job. This will not give you real-time results, but real-time results are no longer an option on Android 8.0+.

I tried to register the BroadcastReceiver in either manifest file or java code. But both of these two methods failed to trigger the onReceive() method. After googling this problem, I found a solution for both methods from another Thread in SO: Android Notification App

In the manifest file (this approach no longer applies since API 26 (Android 8), it was causing performance issues on earlier Android versions):

<receiver android:name=".YourReceiver">
    <intent-filter>
        <action android:name="android.intent.action.PACKAGE_INSTALL" />
        <action android:name="android.intent.action.PACKAGE_ADDED" />
        <data android:scheme="package"/>
    </intent-filter>
</receiver>

In java code:

IntentFilter intentFilter = new IntentFilter();
intentFilter.addAction(Intent.ACTION_PACKAGE_ADDED);
intentFilter.addAction(Intent.ACTION_PACKAGE_INSTALL);
intentFilter.addDataScheme("package");
registerReceiver(br, intentFilter);

This should work for you.