How to programmatically restart an app in Android 10?

Question

I want a way to restart an app after the user has made any in-app purchase that removes ad banners, so that the onCreate() methods gets called again.

The problem is, I don’t want any services to be killed, I just want the app to restart with changed restrictions

I found this code on Stack Overflow:

Intent mStartActivity = new Intent(getApplicationContext(), MainActivity.class);
int mPendingIntentId = 123456;
PendingIntent mPendingIntent = PendingIntent.getActivity(getApplicationContext(), mPendingIntentId, mStartActivity, PendingIntent.FLAG_CANCEL_CURRENT);
AlarmManager mgr = (AlarmManager)getApplicationContext().getSystemService(Context.ALARM_SERVICE);
mgr.set(AlarmManager.RTC, System.currentTimeMillis() + 100, mPendingIntent);
System.exit(0);

Since Android 10 you can't launch from background. use my method below. Use this: https://stackoverflow.com/a/71392776/2603965 — grebulon, Mar 08 '22 at 09:41
Does this answer your question? [Restarting Android app programmatically](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/46070938/restarting-android-app-programmatically) — grebulon, Mar 08 '22 at 09:41

Arvind · Accepted Answer · 2020-10-07T13:48:36.137

6

Update: To restart your application, Make your Root Activity's Intent, while setting these flags

intent.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK | Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TASK);

This will ensure a fresh instance of your root activity is launched (the first flag), while all previous activities are popped off the stack (the second flag)

~~Use recreate() when inside the same activity.~~

If your app is not running, it's already refreshed on opening anyways.

edited Oct 07 '20 at 13:48

answered Oct 07 '20 at 13:28

Arvind

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Thanks but this doesn't restart the whole app, it just restarts the activity. What if the user then goes back to the previous activity, its state would still be the same as when there was no purchase made, meaning banner ads would still be there. – User104163 Oct 07 '20 at 13:44
1

Yes. In that case, use an Intent as mentioned in @Francesco's solution, while adding the flags as mentioned in the updated answer. – Arvind Oct 07 '20 at 13:49
Now I only have one more problem, who do I give Accepted answer to? :) – User104163 Oct 07 '20 at 13:57
Yes, the second flag does that. – Arvind Oct 07 '20 at 13:59
Whose to accept is up to you, but I believe I've answered the actual/critical part of the question. – Arvind Oct 07 '20 at 14:01
Convincing argument :) – User104163 Oct 07 '20 at 14:02
it also works in android 11 – Evgeny GooDi Aug 11 '22 at 05:06

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 07 '20 at 13:15

3

Try this:

Intent refresh= new Intent(getActivity(), MainActivity.class);
startActivity(refresh);

answered Oct 07 '20 at 13:15

Francesco Bocci

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This is great but is there a way to make it wait 1 or two seconds before it restarts? I want the app to have finished writing a boolean to sharedpreferences before it starts again (the boolean is to state that a purchase was made) – User104163 Oct 07 '20 at 13:26
if you put this code after sharedpreferences, it will wait that all is finish (is usless "wait 1 or 2 seconds") – Francesco Bocci Oct 07 '20 at 13:28
Hi are you certain that editor.apply() will always finish before the code under it? – User104163 Oct 07 '20 at 13:39
You can check if editor.apply() was successful. But using timer is not a good idea – Francesco Bocci Oct 07 '20 at 13:43
Also what if the user returns to a previous activity after restarting this one? The previous activity is still using the state that it was created in earlier, meaning it still has the ad banner. Isn't better to restart the whole app rather than just the activity the user is currently in? – User104163 Oct 07 '20 at 13:47
This is not good solution man.. Where is your flags? This code keep activities in ram.. – Samir Alakbarov Dec 18 '20 at 10:28
This worked great for me, though it doesn't restart the app, just the activity. Note for future readers, getActivity doesn't work in Activities (according to s.o on SF), use getApplicationContext instead. – StellarEquilibrium Aug 03 '21 at 13:46

How to programmatically restart an app in Android 10?

2 Answers2