How to prevent SMS going to inbox in Android Kitkat

Question

In previous versions of android we could block SMS by using following code:

 <receiver android:name=".broadcastreceivers.OnSMSReceived"
                  android:exported="true" android:permission="android.permission.BROADCAST_SMS">

            <intent-filter android:priority="1000">
                <action android:name="android.provider.Telephony.SMS_RECEIVED"/>
            </intent-filter>
        </receiver>

and in broadcast receiver, abortBroadcast() function prevent SMS from going to inbox. But this method is not working in kitkat as, from Kitkat SMS will only be received by default SMS app. Is there any workaround to create SMS blocker app in kitkat?

yes that could be an option, but can't say for sure that which SMS app is being used by our user — Raheel, Dec 27 '13 at 18:40

score 7 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 27 '13 at 19:06

You should read this page: http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2013/10/getting-your-sms-apps-ready-for-kitkat.html

A change was introduced in KitKat that only allows one application at a time (the default SMS app) to have write permissions on the SMS DB and to be able to consume it.

You have 2 ways of solving your problem:

Follow Google advice on how to request the user to switch the default SMS application to your application during the time when you need to perform your changes (and once you finish doing it, allow the user to switch back to the original default SMS app).
Find a temporary hacky way to do what you need to do. As a hint, there is a hidden API: AppOpsManager#setMode that you could potentially exploit in order to give your application write permissions (OP_WRITE_SMS), head over to this XDA page to learn more about it: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2551072

Needless to say, any hacky solution is just temporary as a private/hidden API could change at any moment. It is strongly encouraged to implement what Google advised us to implement which again is described here.

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 27 '13 at 18:54

you can check that your application is a default SMS application or not. for this purpose see this link. you can get the package name of default SMS app and check with your name, if equal with each other then you can block SMS with Delete from inbox. this should be worked for you.

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 23 '14 at 16:28

I know this is an old question, but here's a possible solution to KitKat SMS blocking:

http://superdupersms.com/

Since it isn't a technical solution but rather a product based solution, it's possible this should be a comment and not an "answer" - and I am involved in the development.

But I haven't found any other solution that allows other apps to interact with the SMS database like they did prior to KitKat - which directly addresses the question. This solution allows a non-default SMS app to block SMS.

This still requires it to be the default SMS app, right? – lang2 Aug 09 '16 at 03:53 — lang2, Aug 09 '16 at 03:53

How to prevent SMS going to inbox in Android Kitkat

3 Answers3

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