How to detect user inactivity in Android

Question

User start my app and logs in.
Selects Session Timeout to be 5 mins.
Does some operations on the app. (all in foreground)
Now User bring Myapp to background and starts some other app.
----> Count down timer starts and logs out user after 5 mins
OR user turns the screen OFF.
----> Count down timer starts and logs out user after 5 mins

I want the same behavior even when the app is in the foreground but user doesn't interact with the app for a long-time say 6-7 mins. Assume the screen is ON all the time. I want to detect kind of user inactivity (No interaction with app even though the app is in the foreground) and kick start my count down timer.

Answer 1

User inactivity can detect using onUserInteraction() override method in android

  @Override
    public void onUserInteraction() {
        super.onUserInteraction();

    }

Here is the sample code, signout (HomeActivity-->LoginActivity) after 3min when user inactive

public class HomeActivity extends AppCompatActivity {

    private static String TAG = "HomeActivity";
    private Handler handler;
    private Runnable r;


    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_home);


        handler = new Handler();
        r = new Runnable() {

            @Override
            public void run() {

                Intent intent = new Intent(getApplicationContext(), LoginActivity.class);
                startActivity(intent);
                Log.d(TAG, "Logged out after 3 minutes on inactivity.");
                finish();

                Toast.makeText(HomeActivity.this, "Logged out after 3 minutes on inactivity.", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
            }
        };

        startHandler();

    }

    public void stopHandler() {
        handler.removeCallbacks(r);
        Log.d("HandlerRun", "stopHandlerMain");
    }

    public void startHandler() {
        handler.postDelayed(r, 3 * 60 * 1000);
        Log.d("HandlerRun", "startHandlerMain");
    }

    @Override
    public void onUserInteraction() {
        super.onUserInteraction();
        stopHandler();
        startHandler();
    }

    @Override
    protected void onPause() {

        stopHandler();
        Log.d("onPause", "onPauseActivity change");
        super.onPause();

    }

    @Override
    protected void onResume() {
        super.onResume();
        startHandler();

        Log.d("onResume", "onResume_restartActivity");

    }

    @Override
    protected void onDestroy() {
        super.onDestroy();
        stopHandler();
        Log.d("onDestroy", "onDestroyActivity change");

    }

}

Answer 2

public class MyApplication extends Application {
      private int lastInteractionTime;
      private Boolean isScreenOff = false; 
      public void onCreate() {
        super.onCreate();
        // ......   
        startUserInactivityDetectThread(); // start the thread to detect inactivity
        new ScreenReceiver();  // creating receive SCREEN_OFF and SCREEN_ON broadcast msgs from the device.
      }

      public void startUserInactivityDetectThread() {
        new Thread(new Runnable() {
          @Override
          public void run() {
            while(true) {
              Thread.sleep(15000); // checks every 15sec for inactivity
              if(isScreenOff || getLastInteractionTime()> 120000 ||  !isInForeGrnd)
                {
                  //...... means USER has been INACTIVE over a period of
                  // and you do your stuff like log the user out 
                }
              }
          }
        }).start();
      }

      public long getLastInteractionTime() {
        return lastInteractionTime;
      }

      public void setLastInteractionTime(int lastInteractionTime) {
        this.lastInteractionTime = lastInteractionTime;
      }

      private class ScreenReceiver extends BroadcastReceiver {

        protected ScreenReceiver() {
           // register receiver that handles screen on and screen off logic
           IntentFilter filter = new IntentFilter();
           filter.addAction(Intent.ACTION_SCREEN_ON);
           filter.addAction(Intent.ACTION_SCREEN_OFF);
           registerReceiver(this, filter);
        }

        @Override
        public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
          if (intent.getAction().equals(Intent.ACTION_SCREEN_OFF)) {
            isScreenOff = true;
          } else if (intent.getAction().equals(Intent.ACTION_SCREEN_ON)) {
            isScreenOff = false;
          }
        }
      }
    }

isInForeGrnd ===> logic is not shown here as it is out of scope of the question

You can wake the lock to the cpu by using the device code below-

  if(isScreenOff || getLastInteractionTime()> 120000 ||  !isInForeGrnd)
    {
      //...... means USER has been INACTIVE over a period of
      // and you do your stuff like log the user out 

      PowerManager pm = (PowerManager) context.getSystemService(Context.POWER_SERVICE);

      boolean isScreenOn = pm.isScreenOn();
      Log.e("screen on.................................", "" + isScreenOn);

      if (isScreenOn == false) {

        PowerManager.WakeLock wl = pm.newWakeLock(PowerManager.FULL_WAKE_LOCK | PowerManager.ACQUIRE_CAUSES_WAKEUP | PowerManager.ON_AFTER_RELEASE, "MyLock");

        wl.acquire(10000);
        PowerManager.WakeLock wl_cpu = pm.newWakeLock(PowerManager.PARTIAL_WAKE_LOCK, "MyCpuLock");

        wl_cpu.acquire(10000);
      }
    }

Answer 3

I think you should go with this code, this is for 5min idle session timeout:->

Handler handler;
Runnable r;
@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
    handler = new Handler();
    r = new Runnable() {

       @Override
       public void run() {
            // TODO Auto-generated method stub
            Toast.makeText(MainActivity.this, "user is inactive from last 5 minutes",Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
        }
    };
    startHandler();
}
@Override
public void onUserInteraction() {
     // TODO Auto-generated method stub
     super.onUserInteraction();
     stopHandler();//stop first and then start
     startHandler();
}
public void stopHandler() {
    handler.removeCallbacks(r);
}
public void startHandler() {
    handler.postDelayed(r, 5*60*1000); //for 5 minutes 
}

Answer 4

@Override
public void onUserInteraction() {
    super.onUserInteraction();
    delayedIdle(IDLE_DELAY_MINUTES);
}

Handler _idleHandler = new Handler();
Runnable _idleRunnable = new Runnable() {
    @Override
    public void run() {
        //handle your IDLE state
    }
};

private void delayedIdle(int delayMinutes) {
    _idleHandler.removeCallbacks(_idleRunnable);
    _idleHandler.postDelayed(_idleRunnable, (delayMinutes * 1000 * 60));
}

Answer 5

In my activity base class I created protected class:

protected class IdleTimer
{
    private Boolean isTimerRunning;
    private IIdleCallback idleCallback;
    private int maxIdleTime;
    private Timer timer;

    public IdleTimer(int maxInactivityTime, IIdleCallback callback)
    {
        maxIdleTime = maxInactivityTime;
        idleCallback = callback;
    }

    /*
     * creates new timer with idleTimer params and schedules a task
     */
    public void startIdleTimer()
    {
        timer = new Timer();            
        timer.schedule(new TimerTask() {

            @Override
            public void run() {             
                idleCallback.inactivityDetected();
            }
        }, maxIdleTime);
        isTimerRunning = true;
    }

    /*
     * schedules new idle timer, call this to reset timer
     */
    public void restartIdleTimer()
    {
        stopIdleTimer();
        startIdleTimer();
    }

    /*
     * stops idle timer, canceling all scheduled tasks in it
     */
    public void stopIdleTimer()
    {
        timer.cancel();
        isTimerRunning = false;
    }

    /*
     * check current state of timer
     * @return boolean isTimerRunning
     */
    public boolean checkIsTimerRunning()
    {
        return isTimerRunning;
    }
}

protected interface IIdleCallback
{
    public void inactivityDetected();
}

So in onResume method - you can specify action in your callback what do you wish to do with it...

idleTimer = new IdleTimer(60000, new IIdleCallback() {
            @Override
            public void inactivityDetected() {
                ...your move...
            }
        });
        idleTimer.startIdleTimer();

Answer 6

Even you can manage your requirement with @gfrigon or @AKh solutions.

But I was thinking about some Timer and Handlers free solutions for this. I already have well managed Timer solution for this. But i have successfully implemented Timer and Handler free solution.

First i tell you what you have to manage if you use Timer or Handlers.

• If your app is killed by user or by a optimizer, your app will never be logout automatically, because all your callbacks are destroyed. (Manage some Alarm Manager or Service?)
• Is it good to have timer in every base class? You are making many threads for just invoking logout process (Manage static Handler or Timer at app level?).
• What if user is in background, your Handler will start Login Activity if user is doing some other work outside your app. (Manage app foreground or background?).
• What if screen gets off automatically. (Manage screen off on broadcast receiver?)

Finally i implemented a solution which is

1. You don't have to use Hander or Timer.
2. You don't have to use Alarm Manager.
3. You don't have to use App Lifecycle.
4. You don't have to use ACTION_SCREEN_ON / ACTION_SCREEN_OFF Broadcast Receiver.

Solution

We will not observe user inactivity by timers rather than we will check last activity time on user activity. So when user interact app next time, i check last interaction time.

Here is BaseActivity.class which you will extend from every of your activity class instead of LoginActivity. You will define your logout time in field TIMEOUT_IN_MILLI in this class.

import android.content.Intent;
import android.content.SharedPreferences;
import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity;
import android.widget.Toast;

public class BaseActivity extends AppCompatActivity {
    public static final long TIMEOUT_IN_MILLI = 1000 * 20;
    public static final String PREF_FILE = "App_Pref";
    public static final String KEY_SP_LAST_INTERACTION_TIME = "KEY_SP_LAST_INTERACTION_TIME";

    @Override
    public void onUserInteraction() {
        super.onUserInteraction();
        if (isValidLogin())
            getSharedPreference().edit().putLong(KEY_SP_LAST_INTERACTION_TIME, System.currentTimeMillis()).apply();
        else logout();
    }

    public SharedPreferences getSharedPreference() {
        return getSharedPreferences(PREF_FILE, MODE_PRIVATE);
    }

    public boolean isValidLogin() {
        long last_edit_time = getSharedPreference().getLong(KEY_SP_LAST_INTERACTION_TIME, 0);
        return last_edit_time == 0 || System.currentTimeMillis() - last_edit_time < TIMEOUT_IN_MILLI;
    }

    public void logout() {
        Intent intent = new Intent(this, LoginActivity.class);
        intent.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TASK | Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TOP);
        startActivity(intent);
        finish();
        Toast.makeText(this, "User logout due to inactivity", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
        getSharedPreference().edit().remove(KEY_SP_LAST_INTERACTION_TIME).apply(); // make shared preference null.
    }
}