Context.startForegroundService() did not then call Service.startForeground

Question

My app will call startForegroundService(intent) in the onCreate of the MainActivity. And I put startForeground(ON_SERVICE_CONNECTION_NID, notification) in both the onCreate and the startCommand of the Service. But I'm still receiving this error occasionally.

Exception android.app.RemoteServiceException: Context.startForegroundService() did not then call Service.startForeground()
android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage (ActivityThread.java:1775)
android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage (Handler.java:105)
android.os.Looper.loop (Looper.java:164)
android.app.ActivityThread.main (ActivityThread.java:6541)
java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke (Method.java)
com.android.internal.os.Zygote$MethodAndArgsCaller.run (Zygote.java:240)
com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main (ZygoteInit.java:767)

How could this happen? Is it possible that the onCreate or startCommand doesn't get called in 5 seconds? If so, how should we call startForegroundService with no error?

Updated 2017-12-09

I don't know why every one said that it's the same as this question: Context.startForegroundService() did not then call Service.startForeground() You can even find a comment from me over there.

The reason why it's different is what you can see at the first line of this question. I have put the startForegroundService and startForeground at the right place, but it's still showing this error randomly.

And Here's the Google issue tracker: https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/67920140

Stopping the service before this happens will cause a crash.

This is another problem about the lifecycle of the service. The assertion may be incorrectly triggered after the service closed.

I think it's clear enough to explain the problem with plain text. Could you tell me what do you want to know? So I can add more infomations. — Kimi Chiu, Oct 18 '17 at 06:06
see this answer https://stackoverflow.com/questions/44425584/context-startforegroundservice-did-not-then-call-service-startforeground exact question is here — UltimateDevil, Oct 18 '17 at 06:15
@UltimateDevil, Read my question here, and you can find out that I've already put `startForeground` in the `onCreate` of the `Service`. Just so you know, I've commented under the "Answer" over there. — Kimi Chiu, Oct 18 '17 at 09:36
Possible duplicate of [Context.startForegroundService() did not then call Service.startForeground()](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/44425584/context-startforegroundservice-did-not-then-call-service-startforeground) — Anup, Dec 09 '17 at 10:15
@Anup It's not the same. I've commented under that answer in your link and @UltimateDevil's link. I've already put the `startForegroundService` and `startForeground` in the right place as I described in my question. — Kimi Chiu, Dec 09 '17 at 10:43
I opened a new one with a clear repro at https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/76112072 — swooby, Mar 21 '18 at 23:35
@swooby Thanks! Actually, I've created another thread already. And that one was closed too. Even if I provided all the informations and attachments they needed. They said it "Works as Intended". After then, I figure out that the `startForegroundService(intent)` shouldn't be inside `onCreate` of Activities. So I move it to `onPause` which only promotes the service to foreground after the Activity is in background state. And the `startForeground(ON_SERVICE_CONNECTION_NID, notification)` should only be inside `onCreate` of the service. Finally the error report stops. — Kimi Chiu, Mar 22 '18 at 14:45

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 09 '18 at 07:24

I am facing same issue and after spending time found a solutons you can try below code. If your using Service then put this code in onCreate else your using Intent Service then put this code in onHandleIntent.

if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= 26) {
    String CHANNEL_ID = "my_app";
    NotificationChannel channel = new NotificationChannel(CHANNEL_ID,
            "MyApp", NotificationManager.IMPORTANCE_DEFAULT);
    ((NotificationManager) getSystemService(Context.NOTIFICATION_SERVICE)).createNotificationChannel(channel);
    Notification notification = new NotificationCompat.Builder(this, CHANNEL_ID)
            .setContentTitle("")
            .setContentText("").build();
    startForeground(1, notification);
}

and call this

if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.O) {
        context.startForegroundService(getSyncIntent(context));
    } else {
        context.startService(getSyncIntent(context));
    }

Consider using `ContextCompat.startForegroundService()` instead — Mark, May 22 '18 at 08:19

Realerik · Answer 2 · 2018-04-26T08:52:26.423

i had the same problem.
What helped me in the end, was to initialize the NotificationChannel as early as possible ( i did it in the application class itself) and then create and use the notification in the service.

I put this in the Application class:

private void createNotificationChannel() {
    if (android.os.Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.O) {
        NotificationManager notificationManager = (NotificationManager) getSystemService(Context.NOTIFICATION_SERVICE);
        CharSequence name = "MyStreamingApplication";
        String description = "radio";
        int importance = NotificationManager.IMPORTANCE_DEFAULT;
        NotificationChannel mChannel = new NotificationChannel(CHANNEL_ID, name, importance);
        mChannel.setSound(null, null);
        mChannel.enableVibration(false);
        mChannel.setDescription(description);
        notificationManager.createNotificationChannel(mChannel);
    }
}

and in the onStartCommand method of the service i call:

if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT > Build.VERSION_CODES.N_MR1) {
        startForeground(NOTIFICATION_ID, createNotification());
    }

score 0 · Answer 3 · edited May 23 '19 at 19:20

I experienced this issue for Galaxy Tab A(Android 8.1.0). In my application, I start a foreground service in the constructor of MainApplication(Application-extended class). With the Debugger, I found it took more than 5 second to reach OnCreate() of the service after startForegroundService(intent). I got crash even though startForeground(ON_SERVICE_CONNECTION_NID, notification) got called in OnCreate().

After trying different approach, I found one works for me as the following:

In the constructor, I used AlarmManager to wakeup a receiver, and in the receiver, I started the foreground service.

I guessed that the reason I had the issue because heavy workload of application starting delayed the creation of the foreground service.

Try my approach, you might resolve the issue as well. Good luck.

Context.startForegroundService() did not then call Service.startForeground

3 Answers3

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