Oreo: how to catch location update from the backgr

Question

I migrate my app to oreo (as it's requiered by google play now), and i have now an error when i start my phone :

Not allowed to start service Intent

My app is listening in background any location update and send periodically those grabbed locations to a server. for this i do :

in AndroidManifest.xml

  <receiver android:name="com.myapp.StartServiceBroadcastReceiver">  
    <intent-filter>  
      <action android:name="android.intent.action.BOOT_COMPLETED" />  
    </intent-filter>  
  </receiver> 

in the StartServiceBroadcastReceiver i do :

  @Override
  public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {

    try {

        /* start the location service */  
        Intent startServiceIntent = new Intent(context, LocationService.class);
        context.startService(startServiceIntent);

    } catch (Throwable e){ Log.e(TAG, "Exception", e); }  

  }

and the LocationService basiqually do :

public void onCreate() {

  mLocationServices.setListener(this);
  mLocationServices.startLocationUpdates(true, // startWithLastKnownLocation,

                                         150000, // interval => 2.5 min  // Set the desired interval for active location updates, in milliseconds.
                                                                         // The location client will actively try to obtain location updates for your
                                                                         // application at this interval, so it has a direct influence on the amount
                                                                         // of power used by your application. Choose your interval wisely.

                                         30000, // fastestInterval => 30 s  // Explicitly set the fastest interval for location updates, in milliseconds.
                                                                            // This controls the fastest rate at which your application will receive location updates, which might be faster than setInterval(long)
                                                                            // in some situations (for example, if other applications are triggering location updates).
                                                                            // This allows your application to passively acquire locations at a rate faster than it actively acquires locations, saving power.

                                         900000, // maxWaitTime => 15 min  // Sets the maximum wait time in milliseconds for location updates.
                                                                           // If you pass a value at least 2x larger than the interval specified with setInterval(long), then location
                                                                           // delivery may be delayed and multiple locations can be delivered at once. Locations are determined at
                                                                           // the setInterval(long) rate, but can be delivered in batch after the interval you set in this method.
                                                                           // This can consume less battery and give more accurate locations, depending on the device's hardware
                                                                           // capabilities. You should set this value to be as large as possible for your needs if you don't
                                                                           // need immediate location delivery.

                                         LocationRequest.PRIORITY_BALANCED_POWER_ACCURACY, // priority => Block level accuracy is considered to be about 100 meter accuracy.
                                                                                           //             Using a coarse accuracy such as this often consumes less power.

                                         25); // smallestDisplacement => 25 meters // Set the minimum displacement between location updates in meters  


}

@Override
public void onLocationChanged(Location location) {
   ....
}

Everything was working well on pre-oreo but now it's failed on oreo+. What i can do to make my service running ?

Answer 1

Starting in Android Oreo you cannot simply start a background service while the app is in the background.

You can start your service as foreground service like that (Kotlin, but similar in Java):

val serviceIntent = Intent(context, LocationService::class.java)
if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.O) {
    context.startForegroundService(serviceIntent)
} else {
    context.startService(serviceIntent)
}

In your service make sure you call startForeground as soon as possible. This will also issue a notification so that the user knows your app is active in the background.

As Anis BEN NSIR has pointed out in the comments, you will probably also be affected by the new background location limits.

There is a nice article about Oreo's background exexution limits.