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After updating my app to target API 27 (previously 25) I'm encountering many ANR's from users, which I can't reproduce. They seem related to the Oreo background execution limits, with the ANR message

Context.startForegroundService() did not then call Service.startForeground(): ServiceRecord{73bc351 u0 com.xxx.xxxx/.player.PlayFileService}

However I do not call Context.startForegroundService() anywhere in my code. What are some reasons this ANR could be generated that are not a result of a direct call to this method?

Steve M
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2 Answers2

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In my case, even though I didn't call Context.startForegroundService() directly, it was being called because my music app would go into the background and the service would be destroyed by the system. Then, when the user pressed a media button to resume playback after a couple minutes, the service would get restarted by the system, with that call since the app was in the background. I did call startForeground() eventually but it was after a bunch of configuration. I added a call to startForeground() at the beginning of onCreate() of my service with a blank notification and all my ANR's have disappeared.

Steve M
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Based on the documentation:

Prior to Android 8.0, the usual way to create a foreground service was to create a background service, then promote that service to the foreground. With Android 8.0, there is a complication; the system doesn't allow a background app to create a background service. For this reason, Android 8.0 introduces the new method startForegroundService() to start a new service in the foreground.

After the system has created the service, the app has five seconds to call the service's startForeground() method to show the new service's user-visible notification. If the app does not call startForeground() within the time limit, the system stops the service and declares the app to be ANR

You can follow this SO which describes the approach to properly start the foreground service with Notification Channel.

Sagar
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  • I am doing it the old way. I only call startService() when app is in foreground, and call startForeground() when Activity goes to the background with a notification in a channel. Nowhere do I call the new startForegroundService() in my app. – Steve M May 30 '18 at 02:31
  • @SteveM You cannot start an Service with `context.startService()` when your app is on background. You need to use `startForegroundService()` – Sagar May 30 '18 at 02:35
  • I don't startService() with app in background. If I did that I would get IllegalStateException. – Steve M May 30 '18 at 02:37
  • @SteveM just to be clear, you are starting service when app is in foreground and when app goes to background you simply make it foreground ? – Sagar May 30 '18 at 02:50
  • Yes, I call startforeground in onPause – Steve M May 30 '18 at 02:55
  • @SteveM Have set NotificationId to non-zero value? – Sagar May 30 '18 at 03:21