Trying to start a service on boot on Android

Question

I\'ve been trying to start a service when a device boots up on android, but I cannot get it to work. I\'ve looked at a number of links online but none of the code works. Am

Answer 1

I think your manifest needs to add:

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

Answer 2

The other answers look good, but I thought I'd wrap everything up into one complete answer.

You need the following in your AndroidManifest.xml file:

1. In your <manifest> element:

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

2. In your <application> element (be sure to use a fully-qualified [or relative] class name for your BroadcastReceiver):

   <receiver android:name="com.example.MyBroadcastReceiver">  
       <intent-filter>  
           <action android:name="android.intent.action.BOOT_COMPLETED" />  
       </intent-filter>  
   </receiver>
   

   (you don't need the android:enabled, exported, etc., attributes: the Android defaults are correct)

   In MyBroadcastReceiver.java:

   package com.example;
   
   public class MyBroadcastReceiver extends BroadcastReceiver {
       @Override
       public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
           Intent startServiceIntent = new Intent(context, MyService.class);
           context.startService(startServiceIntent);
       }
   }
   

From the original question:

• it's not clear if the <receiver> element was in the <application> element
• it's not clear if the correct fully-qualified (or relative) class name for the BroadcastReceiver was specified
• there was a typo in the <intent-filter>

Answer 3

Along with

<action android:name="android.intent.action.BOOT_COMPLETED" />  

also use,

<action android:name="android.intent.action.QUICKBOOT_POWERON" />

HTC devices dont seem to catch BOOT_COMPLETED

Answer 4

Before mounting external storage BOOT_COMPLETE is sent execute.if your app is installed to external storage it won't receive BOOT_COMPLETE broadcast message. To prevent this you can install your application in internal storage. you can do this just adding this line in menifest.xml

<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:installLocation="internalOnly"
... >

Some HTC devices can enable a "fast boot" feature that is more like a deep hibernation and not a real reboot and therefore should not give the BOOT_COMPLETE intent. To recover this you can add this intent filter inside your receiver:

            <intent-filter>
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.BOOT_COMPLETED" />
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.QUICKBOOT_POWERON" />
            </intent-filter>