Android get broadcast about the application installed or removed

Question

I want to develop an app that can receive broadcast about the other apps being installed or removed. So far, I tried the code below but, it only provides a broadcast event when an installation on deletion occurs, it does not provide info about the other apps beibg installed or removed. So, is there a way to get the package name of the newly installed application.

in manifset:

receiver android:name=".apps.AppListener">
    <intent-filter android:priority="100">
         <action android:name="android.intent.action.PACKAGE_INSTALL"/>
         <action android:name="android.intent.action.PACKAGE_ADDED"/>  
         <action android:name="android.intent.action.PACKAGE_REMOVED"/>
         <data android:scheme="package"/> 
    </intent-filter>
</receiver>

in AppListener:

public class AppListener extends BroadcastReceiver {

@Override
public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
      // there is a broadcast event here
      // but how to get the package name of the newly installed application 
      Log.v(TAG, "there is a broadcast");
    }
}

Addition: This is deprecated for Api 14 or upper.

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

Answer 1

Package name is embedded into the Intent you are receiving in onReceive() method. You can read it using below code snippet :

Uri data = broadcastIntent.getData();
String installedPackageName = data.getEncodedSchemeSpecificPart();

For PACKAGE_ADDED, PACKAGE_REMOVED and PACKAGE_REPLACED, you can get package name using above code.

In case of application update, you will get 2 broadcasts back to back as below : 1. PACKAGE_REMOVED 2. PACKAGE_REPLACED

In case of application update, PACKAGE_REMOVED intent will contain extra boolean to differentiate between app removal and app update. You can read this boolean as below :

boolean isReplacing = broadcastIntent.getBooleanExtra(Intent.EXTRA_REPLACING, false);

Just to get package name you are calling PackageManagerService api is overhead. Must avoid it.

Hope, this will help you.

Answer 2

There are 2 options:

1) If you are asking if you can receive a broadcast when your same app is being uninstalled, then the answer is:

This cannot be done, unless you are a System app.

Android does not notify the app when it is going to be installed. This would be a security risk, as it would enable apps to prevent uninstallation.

2) If you are asking about when other apps are being uninstalled, then this might be a duplicate of:

• Android: How to get the installed App information using Broadcast receiver
• How to find the package name which has been uninstalled when using Intent.ACTION_PACKAGE_REMOVED
• Created BroadcastReceiver which displays application name and version number on install/ uninstall of any application?

Answer 3

Intent that you get in onReceive function contains the information related to the package being added or removed.

intent.getData().toString()

You can get the application name by this function:

  private String getApplicationName(Context context, String data, int flag) {

        final PackageManager pckManager = context.getPackageManager();
        ApplicationInfo applicationInformation;
        try {
            applicationInformation = pckManager.getApplicationInfo(data, flag);
        } catch (PackageManager.NameNotFoundException e) {
            applicationInformation = null;
        }
        final String applicationName = (String) (applicationInformation != null ? pckManager.getApplicationLabel(applicationInformation) : "(unknown)");

        return applicationName;
    }

For more info check: Created BroadcastReceiver which displays application name and version number on install/ uninstall of any application?