Android app with custom URL scheme launching from within Chrome?

Question

I created a basic Android app from the Eclipse wizard. I then added the following intent filter to AndroidManifest.xml , after the existing one. This makes it support a custom "sample://" URL scheme:

<intent-filter>
    <action android:name="android.intent.action.VIEW" />
    <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
    <category android:name="android.intent.category.BROWSABLE" />
    <data android:scheme="sample" />
</intent-filter>

If I run Chrome or the default browser, and click a "sample://" link, it launches my app. However, if I look at the task switcher, my app isn't listed. Instead, Chrome is shown, with my app's screen shot.

Why is this? Can it be fixed? I'm running Android 4.2.2 on a Galaxy Nexus phone.

I notice that if I add android:launchMode="singleInstance" to the activity, it opens in a separate app. But the docs say this is "not recommended for general use". Why not?

Answer 1

The reason why you Activity appears in Recent Apps as Chrome is because it now belongs to the Chrome task, because it was launched from there.

As you noticed android:launchMode="singleInstance" solves your problem, however it is not recommended or discouraged because it would brake the user experience and navigation and how users expect your application to behave.

Fortunately, I think there's a way of specifying Intent flags in your HREF , try something like this:

<A HREF="intent:#Intent;action=android.intent.action.MAIN;category=android.intent.category.LAUNCHER;launchFlags=0x10000000;component=com.example.package/.MyActivity;end" />

in the previous example launchFlags=FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK . This flag is generally used by activities that want to present a "launcher" style behavior: they give the user a list of separate things that can be done, which otherwise run completely independently of the activity launching them.