How to make a phone call without switching activities to a default calling app in android?

Question

I'm trying to make a phone call from my app in a way it does not need to switch activities, But every guide I find has the following code snippet,

Intent callIntent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_CALL);
callIntent.setData(Uri.parse("tel:XXXXXXXXX"));
startActivity(callIntent);

which switches the activity I start the call from to another activity (in this case to an activity in a different app). Is there a way to stop this from happening? I managed to do it with a third party library called "sinch" but I'm wondering if there is a native way to do it or maybe a better library?

Ps- the app I'm building it for myself, basically, I'm building a voice assistant that can make calls via voice commands, hence I can't let it switch activities. I have no intention of publishing it on the app store and I have no difficulty giving dangerous permissions:) My plan is to run it on a separate piece of hardware in the future.

Answer 1

This link can help you, but as Xavier Rubio Jansana wrote previously, Google hardly accepts applications that do not use intents to make phone calls: https://google-developer-training.github.io/android-developer-phone-sms-course/Lesson%201/1_c_phone_calls.html

Google wants any programmer to use an intent to make the user view the default phone application handle the phone call.

If your app does not need to be available on Google Play Store then it would be ok for you to make the phone call directly.

Answer 2

To elaborate on what I was talking about earlier, it is talked about in this stack overflow question (perhaps upvote their answers if they are helpful). How to make a phone call using intent in Android? .

From memory, ACTION_DIAL will bring up the dialler and pre-populate the number.. it requires no special permission because it requires the user to actually place the call.

On the other hand, ACTION_CALL will actually initiate the call and requires special permissions.

If returning focus (bringing your app back to the foreground) is a concern, you could try using a scheduled intent to (re) launch your activity (maybe using alarm manager or similar) some time after invoking the dialler. You can retain state with a little care around launch modes in the intent and/or a special "do nothing" activity published in your app manifest which does nothing but re-activate your app.