Android service gets restarted when application is removed from Recent Apps list

Question

Code to start the service on button click

public void serviceBtnClicked(View view) {
    SharedPreferences sharedPreferences = getSharedPreferences("my.package.name", MODE_PRIVATE);
    if (!sharedPreferences.getBoolean("_done", false) && !isMyServiceRunning(MyService.class)) {
        startService(new Intent(this, MyService.class));
    }
}

private boolean isMyServiceRunning(Class<?> serviceClass) {
    ActivityManager manager = (ActivityManager) getSystemService(Context.ACTIVITY_SERVICE);
    for (ActivityManager.RunningServiceInfo service : manager.getRunningServices(Integer.MAX_VALUE)) {
        if (serviceClass.getName().equals(service.service.getClassName())) {
            return true;
        }
    }
    return false;
}

MyService.java

@Override    
public void onCreate() {
    Log.d("_pop", "create");
    super.onCreate();
}

@Override
public int onStartCommand(Intent intent, int flags, int startId) {
    new MyFirstTask().execute();
    return super.onStartCommand(intent, flags, startId);
}

public class MyFirstTask extends AsyncTask<String, Void, Void> {
    @Override
    protected void onPreExecute() {
        super.onPreExecute();
    }

    @Override
    protected Void doInBackground(String... params) {
        doStuff(0);
        return null;
    }

    @Override
    protected void onPostExecute(Void aVoid) {
        SharedPreferences sharedPreferences = getSharedPreferences("my.package.name", MODE_PRIVATE);
        SharedPreferences.Editor editor = sharedPreferences.edit();
        editor.putBoolean("_done", true);
        editor.apply();       
        super.onPostExecute(aVoid);
    }
}

When I click the button, the service starts as expected and does all the work properly. But the problem is when I remove my application from the Recent Apps list the service get started again . One interesting thing is that when I restart the application, the service does not starts which means that the SharedPreferences _done boolean check is working.

Answer 1

Ideally, you would replace your entire service with an IntentService , getting rid of your AsyncTask (not used by services) and putting your doInBackground() and onPostExecute() code into onHandleIntent() .

Beyond that, replace:

return super.onStartCommand(intent, flags, startId);

with:

return START_NOT_STICKY;

as the default of onStartCommand() is to start a sticky service, meaning that the service will be restarted automatically some time after your process is terminated.