Unable to force stop an application programmatically

Question

My app checks whether an application is running, shows its PID, and aims to kill it on a button click. I am using android.os.Process.killProcess(); but it is just on happening. When I check for it in the Running Applications section in settings, I still find it running. Is there any other way to achieve what I want ?

import java.util.List;
import android.app.Activity;
import android.app.ActivityManager;
import android.app.ActivityManager.RunningAppProcessInfo;
import android.content.Context;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.util.Log;
import android.view.Menu;
import android.view.MenuItem;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.View.OnClickListener;
import android.widget.Button;
import android.widget.TextView;
import android.widget.Toast;

public class MainActivity extends Activity {

int pid;


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

    Button B = (Button) findViewById(R.id.button);
    TextView PI = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.tV);

    if (isAppRunning("com.whatsapp")) {
        Toast.makeText(this, "Running", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
        PI.setText(Integer.toString(getPid("com.whatsapp")));
        B.setOnClickListener(new OnClickListener() {

            @Override
            public void onClick(View arg0) {
                android.os.Process.killProcess(getPid("com.whatsapp"));
                Toast.makeText(MainActivity.this, "Killed", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();

            }
        });

    }else
        Toast.makeText(this, "Not Running", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show(); 
}   


public boolean isAppRunning (String aApplicationPackageName)
{
            ActivityManager activityManager = (ActivityManager) this.getSystemService(ACTIVITY_SERVICE);
                if (activityManager == null)
                    {
                        return false;
                    }
                    List<RunningAppProcessInfo> procInfos = activityManager.getRunningAppProcesses();
                    for(int idx = 0; idx < procInfos.size(); idx++)
                        {   

                            if(procInfos.get(idx).processName.equals(aApplicationPackageName))
                            {   
                                    return true;
                            }
                        }
                                return false;
}

public int getPid (String packageName){
    ActivityManager am = (ActivityManager)getApplicationContext().getSystemService(Context.ACTIVITY_SERVICE);
    List<ActivityManager.RunningAppProcessInfo> pids = am.getRunningAppProcesses();
    int processid = 0;
    for(int i = 0; i < pids.size(); i++) {
        ActivityManager.RunningAppProcessInfo info = pids.get(i);

        Log.i("PID",pids.get(i) + "");
        Log.i("PID Package",info.processName);

        if(info.processName.equalsIgnoreCase(packageName)){
            processid = info.pid;
            return processid;
        } 
    }
    return -1;
}
}

score 1 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 10:29

1

This is not allowed; you may only terminate an application that has the same user ID as the one that is attempting the termination. See here for more information: Kill another application on Android?

edited May 23 '17 at 10:29

Community

1
1

answered Feb 02 '15 at 21:54

Willis

5,308
3
32
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I don't want to kill my app! Instead a 3rd party app. Please look into my code. – Feb 02 '15 at 21:56
4

You are not understanding. It is not possible to do this without root. In any case, why do you want to? – Simon Feb 02 '15 at 21:59

Rohit5k2 · Answer 2 · 2015-02-02T22:36:43.383

0

Seem you are trying to kill a different app. Well, that's not possible.

You can only kill a process that has the same userID as the one that is doing the killing. If you are trying to kill your own process it should work. Otherwise you can't do it (unless you have a rooted device and your application has root priviledges).

Since Android 2.2, you can only kill the background processes of other apps, you won't be able to kill their activities.

If your app is targeting Android <2.2, you can use android.permission.RESTART_PACKAGE.

If you want it to work properly on 2.2 and above, use android.permission.KILL_BACKGROUND_PROCESSES, but, this only kills background services and might "mess up" the other app rather than doing any good.

With the right permissions, you can then do the following:

private ActivityManager am = (ActivityManager) this.getSystemService(ACTIVITY_SERVICE);
am.restartPackage("com.whatsapp");

EDIT Once you get the root privileged (how to do it?) you can use the commands like pm disable com.my.app.package which will kill it. Then use pm enable com.my.app.package so that you can launch it again.

edited Feb 02 '15 at 22:36

answered Feb 02 '15 at 21:59

Rohit5k2

17,948
8
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How do I do it if I gather root privileges ? – Feb 02 '15 at 22:09
Please see this http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4905743/android-how-to-gain-root-access-in-an-android-application – Rohit5k2 Feb 02 '15 at 22:11
I know how to get root privileges. I wanted to know how do I kill a 3rd party app when I have root ? – Feb 02 '15 at 22:17
1

Run this command `pm disable com.my.app.package` when you get the root privileges – Rohit5k2 Feb 02 '15 at 22:33
I managed to do what I wanted. That too, without `ROOT`. Thanks for the help :) – Feb 02 '15 at 23:04
@Maven- can u describe how u achieved? – Mahalakshmi Apr 25 '16 at 12:17
@user4298677 how did force stop your app without root access? – 2bornot2b Nov 20 '19 at 16:00

Unable to force stop an application programmatically

2 Answers2