<receiver>

There are two ways to make a broadcast receiver known to the system. One is to declare it in the manifest file with this element. The other is to create the receiver dynamically in code and register it with the Context.registerReceiver() method or one of its overloaded versions.

For more information about how to dynamically create receivers, see the BroadcastReceiver class description.

If this receiver handles non-system broadcasts, specify a value for android:exported. Set this value to "true" if you want your receiver to be able to receiver broadcasts from other applications or "false" if you only want your receiver to be able to receive broadcasts from your own app.

You don't have to remove the android:permission attribute if you already declared it.

Warning: Limit how many broadcast receivers you set in your app. Having too many broadcast receivers can affect your app's performance and the battery life of users' devices. For more information about APIs you can use instead of the BroadcastReceiver class for scheduling background work, see Background optimization.

android:directBootAware

Whether the broadcast receiver is Direct-Boot aware, that is, whether it can run before the user unlocks the device.

Note: During Direct Boot, a broadcast receiver in your application can only access the data that is stored in device protected storage.

The default value is "false".

android:enabled

Whether the broadcast receiver can be instantiated by the system. It's "true" if it can be, and "false" if not. The default value is "true".

The <application> element has its own enabled attribute that applies to all application components, including broadcast receivers. The <application> and <receiver> attributes must both be "true" for the broadcast receiver to be enabled. If either is "false", it's disabled and can't be instantiated.

android:exported

Whether the broadcast receiver can receive messages from non-system sources outside its application. It's "true" if it can, and "false" if not. If "false", the only messages the broadcast receiver receives are those sent by the system, components of the same application, or applications with the same user ID.

If unspecified, the default value depends on whether the broadcast receiver contains intent filters. If the receiver contains at least one intent filter, then the default value is "true". Otherwise, the default value is "false".

This attribute is not the only way to limit a broadcast receiver's external exposure. You can also use a permission to limit the external entities that can send it messages. See the permission attribute.

android:icon

An icon representing the broadcast receiver. This attribute is set as a reference to a drawable resource containing the image definition. If it isn't set, the icon specified for the application as a whole is used instead. See the <application> element's icon attribute.

The broadcast receiver's icon, whether set here or by the <application> element, is also the default icon for all the receiver's intent filters. See the <intent-filter> element's icon attribute.

android:label

A user-readable label for the broadcast receiver. If this attribute isn't set, the label set for the application as a whole is used instead. See the <application> element's label attribute.

The broadcast receiver's label, whether set here or by the <application> element, is also the default label for all the receiver's intent filters. See the <intent-filter> element's label attribute.

The label is set as a reference to a string resource, so that it can be localized like other strings in the user interface. However, as a convenience while you're developing the application, it can also be set as a raw string.

android:name

The name of the class that implements the broadcast receiver, a subclass of BroadcastReceiver. This is a fully qualified class name, such as "com.example.project.ReportReceiver". However, as a shorthand, if the first character of the name is a period, for example, ".ReportReceiver", it is appended to the package name specified in the <manifest> element.

Once you publish your application, don't change this name, unless you set android:exported="false".

There is no default. The name must be specified.

android:permission

The name of a permission that broadcasters need in order to send a message to the broadcast receiver. If this attribute isn't set, the permission set by the <application> element's permission attribute applies to the broadcast receiver. If neither attribute is set, the receiver isn't protected by a permission.

For more information about permissions, see the Permissions section in the app manifest overview and Security tips.

android:process

The name of the process in which the broadcast receiver runs. Normally, all components of an application run in the default process created for the application. It has the same name as the application package.

The <application> element's process attribute can set a different default for all components. But each component can override the default with its own process attribute, letting you spread your application across multiple processes.

If the name assigned to this attribute begins with a colon (:), a new process, private to the application, is created when it's needed, and the broadcast receiver runs in that process.

If the process name begins with a lowercase character, the receiver runs in a global process of that name, provided that it has permission to do so. This lets components in different applications share a process, reducing resource usage.