How to check if a service is running on Android?

Question

How do I check if a background service (on Android) is running?

I want an Android activity that toggles the state of the service -- it lets me turn it on if it is off and off if it is on.

Answer 1

There can be several services with the same class name.

I've just created two apps. The package name of the first app is com.example.mock. I created a subpackage called lorem in the app and a service called Mock2Service. So its fully qualified name is com.example.mock.lorem.Mock2Service.

Then I created the second app and a service called Mock2Service. The package name of the second app is com.example.mock.lorem. The fully qualified name of the service is com.example.mock.lorem.Mock2Service, too.

Here is my logcat output.

03-27 12:02:19.985: D/TAG(32155): Mock-01: com.example.mock.lorem.Mock2Service
03-27 12:02:33.755: D/TAG(32277): Mock-02: com.example.mock.lorem.Mock2Service

A better idea is to compare ComponentName instances because equals() of ComponentName compares both package names and class names. And there can't be two apps with the same package name installed on a device.

The equals() method of ComponentName.

@Override
public boolean equals(Object obj) {
    try {
        if (obj != null) {
            ComponentName other = (ComponentName)obj;
            // Note: no null checks, because mPackage and mClass can
            // never be null.
            return mPackage.equals(other.mPackage)
                    && mClass.equals(other.mClass);
        }
    } catch (ClassCastException e) {
    }
    return false;
}

ComponentName

Answer 2

Take it easy guys... :)

I think the most suitable solution is holding a key-value pair in SharedPreferences about if the service is running or not.

Logic is very straight; at any desired position in your service class; put a boolean value which will act as a flag for you about whether the service is running or not. Then read this value whereever you want in your application.

A sample code which I am using in my app is below:

In my Service class (A service for Audio Stream), I execute the following code when the service is up;

private void updatePlayerStatus(boolean isRadioPlaying)
{
        SharedPreferences sharedPref = this.getSharedPreferences(getString(R.string.str_shared_file_name), Context.MODE_PRIVATE);
        SharedPreferences.Editor editor = sharedPref.edit();
        editor.putBoolean(getString(R.string.str_shared_file_radio_status_key), isRadioPlaying);
        editor.commit();
}

Then in any activity of my application, I am checking the status of the service with the help of following code;

private boolean isRadioRunning() {
        SharedPreferences sharedPref = this.getSharedPreferences(getString(R.string.str_shared_file_name), Context.MODE_PRIVATE);

        return sharedPref.getBoolean(getString(R.string.str_shared_file_radio_status_key), false);
}

No special permissions, no loops... Easy way, clean solution :)

If you need extra information, please refer the link

Hope this helps.

Answer 3

Inside TheServiceClass define:

 public static Boolean serviceRunning = false;

Then In onStartCommand(...)

 public int onStartCommand(Intent intent, int flags, int startId) {

    serviceRunning = true;
    ...
}

 @Override
public void onDestroy()
{
    serviceRunning = false;

} 

Then, call if(TheServiceClass.serviceRunning == true) from any class.

Answer 4

This applies more towards Intent Service debugging since they spawn a thread, but may work for regular services as well. I found this thread thanks to Binging

In my case, I played around with the debugger and found the thread view. It kind of looks like the bullet point icon in MS Word. Anyways, you don't have to be in debugger mode to use it. Click on the process and click on that button. Any Intent Services will show up while they are running, at least on the emulator.

Answer 5

The proper way to check if a service is running is to simply ask it. Implement a BroadcastReceiver in your service that responds to pings from your activities. Register the BroadcastReceiver when the service starts, and unregister it when the service is destroyed. From your activity (or any component), send a local broadcast intent to the service and if it responds, you know it's running. Note the subtle difference between ACTION_PING and ACTION_PONG in the code below.

public class PingableService extends Service
{
    public static final String ACTION_PING = PingableService.class.getName() + ".PING";
    public static final String ACTION_PONG = PingableService.class.getName() + ".PONG";

    public int onStartCommand (Intent intent, int flags, int startId)
    {
        LocalBroadcastManager.getInstance(this).registerReceiver(mReceiver, new IntentFilter(ACTION_PING));
        return super.onStartCommand(intent, flags, startId);
    }

    @Override
    public void onDestroy ()
    {
        LocalBroadcastManager.getInstance(this).unregisterReceiver(mReceiver);
        super.onDestroy();
    }

    private BroadcastReceiver mReceiver = new BroadcastReceiver()
    {
        @Override
        public void onReceive (Context context, Intent intent)
        {
            if (intent.getAction().equals(ACTION_PING))
            {
                LocalBroadcastManager manager = LocalBroadcastManager.getInstance(getApplicationContext());
                manager.sendBroadcast(new Intent(ACTION_PONG));
            }
        }
    };
}


public class MyActivity extends Activity
{
    private boolean isSvcRunning = false;

    @Override
    protected void onStart()
    {
        LocalBroadcastManager manager = LocalBroadcastManager.getInstance(getApplicationContext());
        manager.registerReceiver(mReceiver, new IntentFilter(PingableService.ACTION_PONG));
        // the service will respond to this broadcast only if it's running
        manager.sendBroadcast(new Intent(PingableService.ACTION_PING));
        super.onStart();
    }

    @Override
    protected void onStop()
    {
        LocalBroadcastManager.getInstance(this).unregisterReceiver(mReceiver);
        super.onStop();
    }

    protected BroadcastReceiver mReceiver = new BroadcastReceiver()
    {
        @Override
        public void onReceive (Context context, Intent intent)
        {
            // here you receive the response from the service
            if (intent.getAction().equals(PingableService.ACTION_PONG))
            {
                isSvcRunning = true;
            }
        }
    };
}

Answer 6

simple use bind with don't create auto - see ps. and update...

public abstract class Context {

 ... 

  /*
  * @return {true} If you have successfully bound to the service, 
  *  {false} is returned if the connection is not made 
  *  so you will not receive the service object.
  */
  public abstract boolean bindService(@RequiresPermission Intent service,
        @NonNull ServiceConnection conn, @BindServiceFlags int flags);

example :

    Intent bindIntent = new Intent(context, Class<Service>);
    boolean bindResult = context.bindService(bindIntent, ServiceConnection, 0);

why not using? getRunningServices()

List<ActivityManager.RunningServiceInfo> getRunningServices (int maxNum)
Return a list of the services that are currently running.

Note: this method is only intended for debugging or implementing service management type user interfaces.

---

ps. android documentation is misleading i have opened an issue on google tracker to eliminate any doubts:

https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/68908332

as we can see bind service actually invokes a transaction via ActivityManager binder through Service cache binders - i dint track which service is responsible for binding but as we can see the result for bind is:

int res = ActivityManagerNative.getDefault().bindService(...);
return res != 0;

transaction is made through binder:

ServiceManager.getService("activity");

next:

  public static IBinder getService(String name) {
    try {
        IBinder service = sCache.get(name);
        if (service != null) {
            return service;
        } else {
            return getIServiceManager().getService(name);

this is set in ActivityThread via:

 public final void bindApplication(...) {

        if (services != null) {
            // Setup the service cache in the ServiceManager
            ServiceManager.initServiceCache(services);
        }

this is called in ActivityManagerService in method:

 private final boolean attachApplicationLocked(IApplicationThread thread,
            int pid) {
    ...
    thread.bindApplication(... , getCommonServicesLocked(),...)

then:

 private HashMap<String, IBinder> getCommonServicesLocked() {

but there is no "activity" only window package and alarm..

so we need get back to call:

 return getIServiceManager().getService(name);

    sServiceManager = ServiceManagerNative.asInterface(BinderInternal.getContextObject());

this makes call through:

    mRemote.transact(GET_SERVICE_TRANSACTION, data, reply, 0);

which leads to :

BinderInternal.getContextObject()

and this is native method....

  /**
     * Return the global "context object" of the system.  This is usually
     * an implementation of IServiceManager, which you can use to find
     * other services.
     */
    public static final native IBinder getContextObject();

i don't have time now to dug in c so until i dissect rest call i suspend my answer.

but best way for check if service is running is to create bind (if bind is not created service not exist) - and query the service about its state through the bind (using stored internal flag on it state).

update 23.06.2018

i found those interesting:

/**
 * Provide a binder to an already-bound service.  This method is synchronous
 * and will not start the target service if it is not present, so it is safe
 * to call from {@link #onReceive}.
 *
 * For peekService() to return a non null {@link android.os.IBinder} interface
 * the service must have published it before. In other words some component
 * must have called {@link android.content.Context#bindService(Intent, ServiceConnection, int)} on it.
 *
 * @param myContext The Context that had been passed to {@link #onReceive(Context, Intent)}
 * @param service Identifies the already-bound service you wish to use. See
 * {@link android.content.Context#bindService(Intent, ServiceConnection, int)}
 * for more information.
 */
public IBinder peekService(Context myContext, Intent service) {
    IActivityManager am = ActivityManager.getService();
    IBinder binder = null;
    try {
        service.prepareToLeaveProcess(myContext);
        binder = am.peekService(service, service.resolveTypeIfNeeded(
                myContext.getContentResolver()), myContext.getOpPackageName());
    } catch (RemoteException e) {
    }
    return binder;
}

in short :)

"Provide a binder to an already-bound service. This method is synchronous and will not start the target service if it is not present."

public IBinder peekService(Intent service, String resolvedType, String callingPackage) throws RemoteException;

*

public static IBinder peekService(IBinder remote, Intent service, String resolvedType)
             throws RemoteException {
    Parcel data = Parcel.obtain();
    Parcel reply = Parcel.obtain();
    data.writeInterfaceToken("android.app.IActivityManager");
    service.writeToParcel(data, 0);
    data.writeString(resolvedType);
    remote.transact(android.os.IBinder.FIRST_CALL_TRANSACTION+84, data, reply, 0);
    reply.readException();
    IBinder binder = reply.readStrongBinder();
    reply.recycle();
    data.recycle();
    return binder;
}

*