In android 4.4, swiping app out of recent tasks permanently kills application with its service . Any idea why?

Question

Unlike previous versions, in 4.4, swiping app out of recent tasks permanently kills app along with its service(like force-stop) even though it's running background services. It shows 0 processes 1 service but service also doesn't work. Ideally it shouldn't kill background service, and it doesn't in versions prior to 4.3. Any idea why is it happening in 4.4?

Vipul J · Accepted Answer · 2014-01-22T07:16:13.310

26

Got it. Its a bug in 4.4. I tried this and it worked perfectly fine(its a dirty workout though).

Just override this method -:

public void onTaskRemoved(Intent rootIntent) {
    Log.e("FLAGX : ", ServiceInfo.FLAG_STOP_WITH_TASK + "");
    Intent restartServiceIntent = new Intent(getApplicationContext(),
            this.getClass());
    restartServiceIntent.setPackage(getPackageName());

    PendingIntent restartServicePendingIntent = PendingIntent.getService(
            getApplicationContext(), 1, restartServiceIntent,
            PendingIntent.FLAG_ONE_SHOT);
    AlarmManager alarmService = (AlarmManager) getApplicationContext()
            .getSystemService(Context.ALARM_SERVICE);
    alarmService.set(AlarmManager.ELAPSED_REALTIME,
            SystemClock.elapsedRealtime() + 1000,
            restartServicePendingIntent);

    super.onTaskRemoved(rootIntent);
}

edited Jan 22 '14 at 07:16

answered Dec 19 '13 at 09:30

Vipul J

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why are you using the AlarmManager here? Will I have to implement this on a regular service too ? – Rakeeb Rajbhandari Dec 19 '13 at 09:46
5

I am using it because the moment you swipe, android kills everything, including your service and then there is no way to restart your service. By setting alarm, I am ensuring restart of service. – Vipul J Dec 19 '13 at 10:03
I upvoted ... but how can I accept the answer ? its your question :P – Rakeeb Rajbhandari Dec 19 '13 at 10:11
haha dude it's your question. only you have the power to accept :P – Rakeeb Rajbhandari Dec 19 '13 at 10:21
Its my question, thats why I can't accept it. :P Anyways! :-D – Vipul J Dec 19 '13 at 10:22
Deleting these comments, else people will spam it. :-) – Vipul J Dec 19 '13 at 10:23
let us [continue this discussion in chat](http://chat.stackoverflow.com/rooms/43501/discussion-between-vipul-j-and-user2247689) – Vipul J Dec 19 '13 at 10:24
@VipulJ you can accept your answer, but in two days from asking it. – Zoltán Dec 19 '13 at 10:33
@Vipul - What is the source of the information regarding the new 4.4 behavior of swiping aside recent apps? Did you read an official documentation or is it just personal experience? – Dev-iL Jun 28 '14 at 15:25
This is what I got to know after playing a lot. Didnt find anything that time. – Vipul J Jun 28 '14 at 15:30

score 4 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 14 '14 at 12:27

From this issue Foreground service killed when receiving broadcast after acitivty swiped away in task list

Here is the solution

In the foreground service:

@Override
public void onTaskRemoved( Intent rootIntent ) {
   Intent intent = new Intent( this, DummyActivity.class );
   intent.addFlags( Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK );
   startActivity( intent );
}

In the manifest:

<activity
android:name=".DummyActivity"
android:theme="@android:style/Theme.NoDisplay"
android:enabled="true"
android:allowTaskReparenting="true"
android:noHistory="true"
android:excludeFromRecents="true"
android:alwaysRetainTaskState="false"
android:stateNotNeeded="true"
android:clearTaskOnLaunch="true"
android:finishOnTaskLaunch="true"
/>

In DummyActivity.java:

public class DummyActivity extends Activity {
    @Override
    public void onCreate( Bundle icicle ) {
        super.onCreate( icicle );
        finish();
    }
}

This is an solution for android 4.4, not for 5.1 though. My one device with android 6.0 doesn't have the bug so it seems. — Harmen, Apr 20 '16 at 14:32

In android 4.4, swiping app out of recent tasks permanently kills application with its service . Any idea why?

2 Answers2

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