Sending Email in Android using JavaMail API without using the default/built-in app

Send e-mail in Android using the JavaMail API using Gmail authentication.

Steps to create a sample Project:

MailSenderActivity.java:

public class MailSenderActivity extends Activity {
    
    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.main);
        
        final Button send = (Button) this.findViewById(R.id.send);
        send.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
            
            public void onClick(View v) {
                try {   
                    GMailSender sender = new GMailSender("[email protected]", "password");
                    sender.sendMail("This is Subject",   
                            "This is Body",   
                            "[email protected]",   
                            "[email protected]");   
                } catch (Exception e) {   
                    Log.e("SendMail", e.getMessage(), e);   
                } 
                
            }
        });
        
    }
}

GMailSender.java:

public class GMailSender extends javax.mail.Authenticator {   
    private String mailhost = "smtp.gmail.com";   
    private String user;   
    private String password;   
    private Session session;   
  
    static {   
        Security.addProvider(new com.provider.JSSEProvider());   
    }  
  
    public GMailSender(String user, String password) {   
        this.user = user;   
        this.password = password;   
  
        Properties props = new Properties();   
        props.setProperty("mail.transport.protocol", "smtp");   
        props.setProperty("mail.host", mailhost);   
        props.put("mail.smtp.auth", "true");   
        props.put("mail.smtp.port", "465");   
        props.put("mail.smtp.socketFactory.port", "465");   
        props.put("mail.smtp.socketFactory.class",   
                "javax.net.ssl.SSLSocketFactory");   
        props.put("mail.smtp.socketFactory.fallback", "false");   
        props.setProperty("mail.smtp.quitwait", "false");   
  
        session = Session.getDefaultInstance(props, this);   
    }   
  
    protected PasswordAuthentication getPasswordAuthentication() {   
        return new PasswordAuthentication(user, password);   
    }   
  
    public synchronized void sendMail(String subject, String body, String sender, String recipients) throws Exception {   
        try{
        MimeMessage message = new MimeMessage(session);   
        DataHandler handler = new DataHandler(new ByteArrayDataSource(body.getBytes(), "text/plain"));   
        message.setSender(new InternetAddress(sender));   
        message.setSubject(subject);   
        message.setDataHandler(handler);   
        if (recipients.indexOf(',') > 0)   
            message.setRecipients(Message.RecipientType.TO, InternetAddress.parse(recipients));   
        else  
            message.setRecipient(Message.RecipientType.TO, new InternetAddress(recipients));   
        Transport.send(message);   
        }catch(Exception e){
            
        }
    }   
  
    public class ByteArrayDataSource implements DataSource {   
        private byte[] data;   
        private String type;   
  
        public ByteArrayDataSource(byte[] data, String type) {   
            super();   
            this.data = data;   
            this.type = type;   
        }   
  
        public ByteArrayDataSource(byte[] data) {   
            super();   
            this.data = data;   
        }   
  
        public void setType(String type) {   
            this.type = type;   
        }   
  
        public String getContentType() {   
            if (type == null)   
                return "application/octet-stream";   
            else  
                return type;   
        }   
  
        public InputStream getInputStream() throws IOException {   
            return new ByteArrayInputStream(data);   
        }   
  
        public String getName() {   
            return "ByteArrayDataSource";   
        }   
  
        public OutputStream getOutputStream() throws IOException {   
            throw new IOException("Not Supported");   
        }   
    }   
}  

JSSEProvider.java:

/*
 *  Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
 *  contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
 *  this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
 *  The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
 *  (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
 *  the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
 *
 *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
 *
 *  Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
 *  distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
 *  WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
 *  See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 *  limitations under the License.
 */

/**
 * @author Alexander Y. Kleymenov
 * @version $Revision$
 */


import java.security.AccessController;
import java.security.Provider;

public final class JSSEProvider extends Provider {

    public JSSEProvider() {
        super("HarmonyJSSE", 1.0, "Harmony JSSE Provider");
        AccessController.doPrivileged(new java.security.PrivilegedAction<Void>() {
            public Void run() {
                put("SSLContext.TLS",
                        "org.apache.harmony.xnet.provider.jsse.SSLContextImpl");
                put("Alg.Alias.SSLContext.TLSv1", "TLS");
                put("KeyManagerFactory.X509",
                        "org.apache.harmony.xnet.provider.jsse.KeyManagerFactoryImpl");
                put("TrustManagerFactory.X509",
                        "org.apache.harmony.xnet.provider.jsse.TrustManagerFactoryImpl");
                return null;
            }
        });
    }
}

ADD 3 jars found in the following link to your Android Project

  • mail.jar
  • activation.jar
  • additional.jar

Click here - How to add External Jars

And don't forget to add this line in your manifest:

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

Just click below link to change account access for less secure apps https://www.google.com/settings/security/lesssecureapps

Run the project and check your recipient mail account for the mail. Cheers!

P.S. And don't forget that you cannot do network operation from any Activity in android. Hence it is recommended to use AsyncTask or IntentService to avoid network on main thread exception.

Jar files: https://code.google.com/archive/p/javamail-android/


Thank you for your valuable information. Code is working fine. I am able to add attachment also by adding following code.

private Multipart _multipart; 
_multipart = new MimeMultipart(); 

public void addAttachment(String filename,String subject) throws Exception { 
    BodyPart messageBodyPart = new MimeBodyPart(); 
    DataSource source = new FileDataSource(filename); 
    messageBodyPart.setDataHandler(new DataHandler(source)); 
    messageBodyPart.setFileName(filename); 
    _multipart.addBodyPart(messageBodyPart);

    BodyPart messageBodyPart2 = new MimeBodyPart(); 
    messageBodyPart2.setText(subject); 

    _multipart.addBodyPart(messageBodyPart2); 
} 



message.setContent(_multipart);

Could not connect to SMTP host: smtp.gmail.com, port: 465

Add this line in your manifest:

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