Android 8.0: java.lang.IllegalStateException: Not allowed to start service Intent

Question

On application launch, app starts the service that should to do some network task. After targeting API level 26, my application fails to start service on Android 8.0 on back

Answer 1

As @kosev said in his answer you can use JobIntentService. But I use an alternative solution - I catch IllegalStateException and start the service as foreground. For example, this function starts my service:

@JvmStatic
protected fun startService(intentAction: String, serviceType: Class<*>, intentExtraSetup: (Intent) -> Unit) {
    val context = App.context
    val intent = Intent(context, serviceType)
    intent.action = intentAction
    intentExtraSetup(intent)
    intent.putExtra(NEED_FOREGROUND_KEY, false)

    try {
        context.startService(intent)
    }
    catch (ex: IllegalStateException) {
        intent.putExtra(NEED_FOREGROUND_KEY, true)
        if(Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.O) {
            context.startForegroundService(intent)
        }
        else {
            context.startService(intent)
        }
    }
}

and when I process Intent I do such thing:

override fun onHandleIntent(intent: Intent?) {
    val needToMoveToForeground = intent?.getBooleanExtra(NEED_FOREGROUND_KEY, false) ?: false
    if(needToMoveToForeground) {
        val notification = notificationService.createSyncServiceNotification()
        startForeground(notification.second, notification.first)

        isInForeground = true
    }

    intent?.let {
        getTask(it)?.process()
    }
}