How to start and stop android service from a adb shell?

Question

I need to write a shell script to start and stop an android service .

Answer 1

am startservice <INTENT>   

or actually from the OS shell

adb shell am startservice <INTENT>

Answer 2

You may get an error "*Error: app is in background *" while using

adb shell am startservice 

in Oreo (26+). This requires services in the foreground. Use the following.

adb shell am start-foreground-service com.some.package.name/.YourServiceSubClassName

Answer 3

To stop a service, you have to find service name using:

adb shell dumpsys activity services <your package>

for example: adb shell dumpsys activity services com.xyz.something

This will list services running for your package.
Output should be similar to:

ServiceRecord{xxxxx u0 com.xyz.something.beta/xyz.something.abc.XYZService}

Now select your service and run:

adb shell am stopservice <service_name> 

For example:

adb shell am stopservice com.xyz.something.beta/xyz.something.abc.XYZService

similarly, to start service:

adb shell am startservice <service_name>

To access service, your service(in AndroidManifest.xml) should set exported="true"

<!-- Service declared in manifest -->
<service
    android:name=".YourServiceName"
    android:exported="true"
    android:launchMode="singleTop">
    <intent-filter>
        <action android:name="com.your.package.name.YourServiceName"/>
        <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
        <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
    </intent-filter>
</service>

Answer 4

You need to add android:exported="true" to start service from ADB command line. Then your manifest looks something like this:

<!-- Service declared in manifest -->
<service
    android:name=".YourServiceName"
    android:exported="true"
    android:launchMode="singleTop">
    <intent-filter>
        <action android:name="com.your.package.name.YourServiceName"/>
        <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
        <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
    </intent-filter>
</service> <!-- Note: Service is exported to start it using ADB command -->

And then from ADB

To start service:

adb shell am startservice com.your.package.name/.YourServiceName

To stop service (on Marshmallow):

adb shell am stopservice com.your.package.name/.YourServiceName

To stop service (on Jelly Bean):

adb shell am force-stop com.your.package.name

Answer 5

I can start service through

am startservice com.xxx/.service.XXXService

but i don't know how to stop it yet.

Answer 6

If you want to run the script in adb shell, then I am trying to do the same, but with an application. I think you can use "am start" command

usage: am [subcommand] [options]

start an Activity: am start [-D] [-W] <INTENT>
    -D: enable debugging
    -W: wait for launch to complete

**start a Service: am startservice <INTENT>**

send a broadcast Intent: am broadcast <INTENT>

start an Instrumentation: am instrument [flags] <COMPONENT>
    -r: print raw results (otherwise decode REPORT_KEY_STREAMRESULT)
    -e <NAME> <VALUE>: set argument <NAME> to <VALUE>
    -p <FILE>: write profiling data to <FILE>
    -w: wait for instrumentation to finish before returning

start profiling: am profile <PROCESS> start <FILE>
stop profiling: am profile <PROCESS> stop

start monitoring: am monitor [--gdb <port>]
    --gdb: start gdbserv on the given port at crash/ANR

<INTENT> specifications include these flags:
    [-a <ACTION>] [-d <DATA_URI>] [-t <MIME_TYPE>]
    [-c <CATEGORY> [-c <CATEGORY>] ...]
    [-e|--es <EXTRA_KEY> <EXTRA_STRING_VALUE> ...]
    [--esn <EXTRA_KEY> ...]
    [--ez <EXTRA_KEY> <EXTRA_BOOLEAN_VALUE> ...]
    [-e|--ei <EXTRA_KEY> <EXTRA_INT_VALUE> ...]
    [-n <COMPONENT>] [-f <FLAGS>]
    [--grant-read-uri-permission] [--grant-write-uri-permission]
    [--debug-log-resolution]
    [--activity-brought-to-front] [--activity-clear-top]
    [--activity-clear-when-task-reset] [--activity-exclude-from-recents]
    [--activity-launched-from-history] [--activity-multiple-task]
    [--activity-no-animation] [--activity-no-history]
    [--activity-no-user-action] [--activity-previous-is-top]
    [--activity-reorder-to-front] [--activity-reset-task-if-needed]
    [--activity-single-top]
    [--receiver-registered-only] [--receiver-replace-pending]
    [<URI>]