Detect a new Android notification

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The question:

In the Android app that I’m working on, I’d like to be able to detect when a new status bar notification appears, regardless of if it was caused by my app. To be more specific, I want to count the number of notifications in a given time frame.

Is this even possible, and if so, how?

The Solutions:

Below are the methods you can try. The first solution is probably the best. Try others if the first one doesn’t work. Senior developers aren’t just copying/pasting – they read the methods carefully & apply them wisely to each case.

Method 1

Actually, it is possible, I use it in my app.

For Android 4.2 and below:

You need to register an AccessibilityService and make sure the user enables the service.

Example for a service:

public class InstantMessenger extends AccessibilityService {

@Override
public void onAccessibilityEvent(AccessibilityEvent event) {
    if (event.getEventType() == AccessibilityEvent.TYPE_NOTIFICATION_STATE_CHANGED) {
        //Do something, eg getting packagename
        final String packagename = String.valueOf(event.getPackageName());  
}
}

@Override
protected void onServiceConnected() {
    if (isInit) {
        return;
    }
    AccessibilityServiceInfo info = new AccessibilityServiceInfo();
    info.eventTypes = AccessibilityEvent.TYPE_NOTIFICATION_STATE_CHANGED;
    info.feedbackType = AccessibilityServiceInfo.FEEDBACK_SPOKEN;
    setServiceInfo(info);
    isInit = true;
}

@Override
public void onInterrupt() {
    isInit = false;
}
}

Example for checking if your Service is activated

For Android 4.3 and above:

Use the Notification Listener API

Method 2

The new Notification Listener API in Android 4.3 enables you to do this.

With this there is less need for the accessibility hack. It also allows you to dismiss notifications.


All methods was sourced from stackoverflow.com or stackexchange.com, is licensed under cc by-sa 2.5, cc by-sa 3.0 and cc by-sa 4.0

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