Sending a running application to background programmatically

Question

Is it possible to send a activity into background programmatically in android?

I am creating a prank application that plays funny sounds after a specified time (input by the user). And I don't want the application to be visible when playing that sound and also the display should be dark.

can you give more details ? Why you want to send in background? — Paresh Mayani, Feb 09 '11 at 12:05
I am creating a prank application that plays funny sounds after a specified time (input by the user). And i don't want the application to be visible when playing that sound and also the display should be dark. — Mithraa, Feb 09 '11 at 12:10

score 28 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:09

Yes.

You can use either:

boolean sentAppToBackground = moveTaskToBack(true);

if(!sentAppToBackground){
  Intent i = new Intent();
  i.setAction(Intent.ACTION_MAIN);
  i.addCategory(Intent.CATEGORY_HOME);
  this.startActivity(i);
}

More information here: http://developer.android.com/reference/android/app/Activity.html#moveTaskToBack(boolean)

Or simply:

Intent i = new Intent();
i.setAction(Intent.ACTION_MAIN);
i.addCategory(Intent.CATEGORY_HOME);
this.startActivity(i);

According to Romain Guy a Android Framework Engineer, "You cannot simulate a press on the Home key.". So beware...

Check: http://osdir.com/ml/Android-Developers/2010-03/msg01887.html

Updated this answer according to: moveTaskToBack(true) returns false always

does'nt work as expected for me here:http://stackoverflow.com/questions/14473537/movetasktobacktrue-returns-false-always — Nezam, Jan 23 '13 at 07:25

score 11 · Answer 2 · edited May 22 '23 at 08:58

11

This function ultimately works for you

moveTaskToBack(true)

edited May 22 '23 at 08:58

blackgreen

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answered Jan 06 '17 at 05:03

Daniel Nyamasyo

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score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 09 '11 at 12:12

3

Maybe play the sound from a service instead?

answered Feb 09 '11 at 12:12

ns476

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score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Feb 09 '11 at 12:30

1

To expand on the answer by @ns476, the reason you should play it from a service is that any Activity that is no longer in the foreground can be killed at any time by the OS. Please review the activity lifecycle.

answered Feb 09 '11 at 12:30

dave.c

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Sending a running application to background programmatically

4 Answers4

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