Added in API level 1

Service

abstract class Service : ContextWrapper, ComponentCallbacks2
kotlin.Any
   ↳ android.content.Context
   ↳ android.content.ContextWrapper
   ↳ android.app.Service

A Service is an application component representing either an application's desire to perform a longer-running operation while not interacting with the user or to supply functionality for other applications to use. Each service class must have a corresponding <service> declaration in its package's AndroidManifest.xml. Services can be started with Context.startService() and android.content.Context#bindService.

Note that services, like other application objects, run in the main thread of their hosting process. This means that, if your service is going to do any CPU intensive (such as MP3 playback) or blocking (such as networking) operations, it should spawn its own thread in which to do that work. More information on this can be found in Processes and Threads. The androidx.core.app.JobIntentService class is available as a standard implementation of Service that has its own thread where it schedules its work to be done.

Topics covered here:

  1. What is a Service?
  2. Service Lifecycle
  3. Permissions
  4. Process Lifecycle
  5. Local Service Sample
  6. Remote Messenger Service Sample

What is a Service?

Most confusion about the Service class actually revolves around what it is not:

  • A Service is not a separate process. The Service object itself does not imply it is running in its own process; unless otherwise specified, it runs in the same process as the application it is part of.
  • A Service is not a thread. It is not a means itself to do work off of the main thread (to avoid Application Not Responding errors).

Thus a Service itself is actually very simple, providing two main features:

  • A facility for the application to tell the system about something it wants to be doing in the background (even when the user is not directly interacting with the application). This corresponds to calls to Context.startService(), which ask the system to schedule work for the service, to be run until the service or someone else explicitly stop it.
  • A facility for an application to expose some of its functionality to other applications. This corresponds to calls to android.content.Context#bindService, which allows a long-standing connection to be made to the service in order to interact with it.

When a Service component is actually created, for either of these reasons, all that the system actually does is instantiate the component and call its onCreate and any other appropriate callbacks on the main thread. It is up to the Service to implement these with the appropriate behavior, such as creating a secondary thread in which it does its work.

Note that because Service itself is so simple, you can make your interaction with it as simple or complicated as you want: from treating it as a local Java object that you make direct method calls on (as illustrated by Local Service Sample), to providing a full remoteable interface using AIDL.

Service Lifecycle

There are two reasons that a service can be run by the system. If someone calls Context.startService() then the system will retrieve the service (creating it and calling its onCreate method if needed) and then call its onStartCommand method with the arguments supplied by the client. The service will at this point continue running until Context.stopService() or stopSelf() is called. Note that multiple calls to Context.startService() do not nest (though they do result in multiple corresponding calls to onStartCommand()), so no matter how many times it is started a service will be stopped once Context.stopService() or stopSelf() is called; however, services can use their stopSelf(int) method to ensure the service is not stopped until started intents have been processed.

For started services, there are two additional major modes of operation they can decide to run in, depending on the value they return from onStartCommand(): START_STICKY is used for services that are explicitly started and stopped as needed, while START_NOT_STICKY or START_REDELIVER_INTENT are used for services that should only remain running while processing any commands sent to them. See the linked documentation for more detail on the semantics.

Clients can also use android.content.Context#bindService to obtain a persistent connection to a service. This likewise creates the service if it is not already running (calling onCreate while doing so), but does not call onStartCommand(). The client will receive the android.os.IBinder object that the service returns from its onBind method, allowing the client to then make calls back to the service. The service will remain running as long as the connection is established (whether or not the client retains a reference on the service's IBinder). Usually the IBinder returned is for a complex interface that has been written in aidl.

A service can be both started and have connections bound to it. In such a case, the system will keep the service running as long as either it is started or there are one or more connections to it with the Context.BIND_AUTO_CREATE flag. Once neither of these situations hold, the service's onDestroy method is called and the service is effectively terminated. All cleanup (stopping threads, unregistering receivers) should be complete upon returning from onDestroy().

Permissions

Global access to a service can be enforced when it is declared in its manifest's <service> tag. By doing so, other applications will need to declare a corresponding <uses-permission> element in their own manifest to be able to start, stop, or bind to the service.

As of android.os.Build.VERSION_CODES#GINGERBREAD, when using Context.startService(Intent), you can also set Intent.FLAG_GRANT_READ_URI_PERMISSION and/or Intent.FLAG_GRANT_WRITE_URI_PERMISSION on the Intent. This will grant the Service temporary access to the specific URIs in the Intent. Access will remain until the Service has called stopSelf(int) for that start command or a later one, or until the Service has been completely stopped. This works for granting access to the other apps that have not requested the permission protecting the Service, or even when the Service is not exported at all.

In addition, a service can protect individual IPC calls into it with permissions, by calling the checkCallingPermission method before executing the implementation of that call.

See the Security and Permissions document for more information on permissions and security in general.

Process Lifecycle

The Android system will attempt to keep the process hosting a service around as long as the service has been started or has clients bound to it. When running low on memory and needing to kill existing processes, the priority of a process hosting the service will be the higher of the following possibilities:

  • If the service is currently executing code in its onCreate(), onStartCommand(), or onDestroy() methods, then the hosting process will be a foreground process to ensure this code can execute without being killed.
  • If the service has been started, then its hosting process is considered to be less important than any processes that are currently visible to the user on-screen, but more important than any process not visible. Because only a few processes are generally visible to the user, this means that the service should not be killed except in low memory conditions. However, since the user is not directly aware of a background service, in that state it is considered a valid candidate to kill, and you should be prepared for this to happen. In particular, long-running services will be increasingly likely to kill and are guaranteed to be killed (and restarted if appropriate) if they remain started long enough.
  • If there are clients bound to the service, then the service's hosting process is never less important than the most important client. That is, if one of its clients is visible to the user, then the service itself is considered to be visible. The way a client's importance impacts the service's importance can be adjusted through Context#BIND_ABOVE_CLIENT, Context#BIND_ALLOW_OOM_MANAGEMENT, Context#BIND_WAIVE_PRIORITY, Context#BIND_IMPORTANT, and Context#BIND_ADJUST_WITH_ACTIVITY.
  • A started service can use the startForeground(int,android.app.Notification) API to put the service in a foreground state, where the system considers it to be something the user is actively aware of and thus not a candidate for killing when low on memory. (It is still theoretically possible for the service to be killed under extreme memory pressure from the current foreground application, but in practice this should not be a concern.)

Note this means that most of the time your service is running, it may be killed by the system if it is under heavy memory pressure. If this happens, the system will later try to restart the service. An important consequence of this is that if you implement onStartCommand() to schedule work to be done asynchronously or in another thread, then you may want to use START_FLAG_REDELIVERY to have the system re-deliver an Intent for you so that it does not get lost if your service is killed while processing it.

Other application components running in the same process as the service (such as an android.app.Activity) can, of course, increase the importance of the overall process beyond just the importance of the service itself.

Local Service Sample

One of the most common uses of a Service is as a secondary component running alongside other parts of an application, in the same process as the rest of the components. All components of an .apk run in the same process unless explicitly stated otherwise, so this is a typical situation.

When used in this way, by assuming the components are in the same process, you can greatly simplify the interaction between them: clients of the service can simply cast the IBinder they receive from it to a concrete class published by the service.

An example of this use of a Service is shown here. First is the Service itself, publishing a custom class when bound:

With that done, one can now write client code that directly accesses the running service, such as:

Remote Messenger Service Sample

If you need to be able to write a Service that can perform complicated communication with clients in remote processes (beyond simply the use of Context.startService to send commands to it), then you can use the android.os.Messenger class instead of writing full AIDL files.

An example of a Service that uses Messenger as its client interface is shown here. First is the Service itself, publishing a Messenger to an internal Handler when bound:

If we want to make this service run in a remote process (instead of the standard one for its .apk), we can use android:process in its manifest tag to specify one:

Note that the name "remote" chosen here is arbitrary, and you can use other names if you want additional processes. The ':' prefix appends the name to your package's standard process name.

With that done, clients can now bind to the service and send messages to it. Note that this allows clients to register with it to receive messages back as well:

Summary

Constants
static Int

Bits returned by onStartCommand describing how to continue the service if it is killed.

static Int

This flag is set in onStartCommand if the Intent is a re-delivery of a previously delivered intent, because the service had previously returned START_REDELIVER_INTENT but had been killed before calling stopSelf(int) for that Intent.

static Int

This flag is set in onStartCommand if the Intent is a retry because the original attempt never got to or returned from onStartCommand(android.content.Intent,int,int).

static Int

Constant to return from onStartCommand: if this service's process is killed while it is started (after returning from onStartCommand), and there are no new start intents to deliver to it, then take the service out of the started state and don't recreate until a future explicit call to Context.startService(Intent).

static Int

Constant to return from onStartCommand: if this service's process is killed while it is started (after returning from onStartCommand), then it will be scheduled for a restart and the last delivered Intent re-delivered to it again via onStartCommand.

static Int

Constant to return from onStartCommand: if this service's process is killed while it is started (after returning from onStartCommand), then leave it in the started state but don't retain this delivered intent.

static Int

Constant to return from onStartCommand: compatibility version of START_STICKY that does not guarantee that onStartCommand will be called again after being killed.

static Int

Selector for stopForeground(int): if set, the notification previously supplied to #startForeground will be detached from the service's lifecycle.

static Int

Selector for stopForeground(int): equivalent to passing false to the legacy API stopForeground(boolean).

static Int

Selector for stopForeground(int): if supplied, the notification previously supplied to #startForeground will be cancelled and removed from display.

Inherited constants
Public constructors

Public methods
Application!

Return the application that owns this service.

Int

If the service has become a foreground service by calling startForeground(int,android.app.Notification) or startForeground(int,android.app.Notification,int), getForegroundServiceType() returns the current foreground service type.

abstract IBinder?
onBind(intent: Intent!)

Return the communication channel to the service.

open Unit

open Unit

Called by the system when the service is first created.

open Unit

Called by the system to notify a Service that it is no longer used and is being removed.

open Unit

open Unit
onRebind(intent: Intent!)

Called when new clients have connected to the service, after it had previously been notified that all had disconnected in its onUnbind.

open Unit
onStart(intent: Intent!, startId: Int)

open Int
onStartCommand(intent: Intent!, flags: Int, startId: Int)

Called by the system every time a client explicitly starts the service by calling android.content.Context#startService, providing the arguments it supplied and a unique integer token representing the start request.

open Unit
onTaskRemoved(rootIntent: Intent!)

This is called if the service is currently running and the user has removed a task that comes from the service's application.

open Unit
onTimeout(startId: Int)

Callback called on timeout for ServiceInfo#FOREGROUND_SERVICE_TYPE_SHORT_SERVICE.

open Unit
onTrimMemory(level: Int)

open Boolean
onUnbind(intent: Intent!)

Called when all clients have disconnected from a particular interface published by the service.

Unit
startForeground(id: Int, notification: Notification!)

If your service is started (running through Context#startService(Intent)), then also make this service run in the foreground, supplying the ongoing notification to be shown to the user while in this state.

Unit
startForeground(id: Int, notification: Notification, foregroundServiceType: Int)

An overloaded version of startForeground(int,android.app.Notification) with additional foregroundServiceType parameter.

Unit
stopForeground(removeNotification: Boolean)

Legacy version of stopForeground(int).

Unit
stopForeground(notificationBehavior: Int)

Remove this service from foreground state, allowing it to be killed if more memory is needed.

Unit

Stop the service, if it was previously started.

Unit
stopSelf(startId: Int)

Old version of stopSelfResult that doesn't return a result.

Boolean
stopSelfResult(startId: Int)

Stop the service if the most recent time it was started was startId.

Protected methods
open Unit

open Unit
dump(fd: FileDescriptor!, writer: PrintWriter!, args: Array<String!>!)

Print the Service's state into the given stream.

Inherited functions

Constants

START_CONTINUATION_MASK

Added in API level 5
static val START_CONTINUATION_MASK: Int

Bits returned by onStartCommand describing how to continue the service if it is killed. May be START_STICKY, START_NOT_STICKY, START_REDELIVER_INTENT, or START_STICKY_COMPATIBILITY.

Value: 15

START_FLAG_REDELIVERY

Added in API level 5
static val START_FLAG_REDELIVERY: Int

This flag is set in onStartCommand if the Intent is a re-delivery of a previously delivered intent, because the service had previously returned START_REDELIVER_INTENT but had been killed before calling stopSelf(int) for that Intent.

Value: 1

START_FLAG_RETRY

Added in API level 5
static val START_FLAG_RETRY: Int

This flag is set in onStartCommand if the Intent is a retry because the original attempt never got to or returned from onStartCommand(android.content.Intent,int,int).

Value: 2

START_NOT_STICKY

Added in API level 5
static val START_NOT_STICKY: Int

Constant to return from onStartCommand: if this service's process is killed while it is started (after returning from onStartCommand), and there are no new start intents to deliver to it, then take the service out of the started state and don't recreate until a future explicit call to Context.startService(Intent). The service will not receive a onStartCommand(android.content.Intent,int,int) call with a null Intent because it will not be restarted if there are no pending Intents to deliver.

This mode makes sense for things that want to do some work as a result of being started, but can be stopped when under memory pressure and will explicit start themselves again later to do more work. An example of such a service would be one that polls for data from a server: it could schedule an alarm to poll every N minutes by having the alarm start its service. When its onStartCommand is called from the alarm, it schedules a new alarm for N minutes later, and spawns a thread to do its networking. If its process is killed while doing that check, the service will not be restarted until the alarm goes off.

Value: 2

START_REDELIVER_INTENT

Added in API level 5
static val START_REDELIVER_INTENT: Int

Constant to return from onStartCommand: if this service's process is killed while it is started (after returning from onStartCommand), then it will be scheduled for a restart and the last delivered Intent re-delivered to it again via onStartCommand. This Intent will remain scheduled for redelivery until the service calls stopSelf(int) with the start ID provided to onStartCommand. The service will not receive a onStartCommand(android.content.Intent,int,int) call with a null Intent because it will only be restarted if it is not finished processing all Intents sent to it (and any such pending events will be delivered at the point of restart).

Value: 3

START_STICKY

Added in API level 5
static val START_STICKY: Int

Constant to return from onStartCommand: if this service's process is killed while it is started (after returning from onStartCommand), then leave it in the started state but don't retain this delivered intent. Later the system will try to re-create the service. Because it is in the started state, it will guarantee to call onStartCommand after creating the new service instance; if there are not any pending start commands to be delivered to the service, it will be called with a null intent object, so you must take care to check for this.

This mode makes sense for things that will be explicitly started and stopped to run for arbitrary periods of time, such as a service performing background music playback.

Since Android version Build.VERSION_CODES#S, apps targeting Build.VERSION_CODES#S or above are disallowed to start a foreground service from the background, but the restriction doesn't impact restarts of a sticky foreground service. However, when apps start a sticky foreground service from the background, the same restriction still applies.

Value: 1

START_STICKY_COMPATIBILITY

Added in API level 5
static val START_STICKY_COMPATIBILITY: Int

Constant to return from onStartCommand: compatibility version of START_STICKY that does not guarantee that onStartCommand will be called again after being killed.

Value: 0

STOP_FOREGROUND_DETACH

Added in API level 24
static val STOP_FOREGROUND_DETACH: Int

Selector for stopForeground(int): if set, the notification previously supplied to #startForeground will be detached from the service's lifecycle. The notification will remain shown even after the service is stopped and destroyed.

Value: 2

STOP_FOREGROUND_LEGACY

Added in API level 33
Deprecated in API level 33
static val STOP_FOREGROUND_LEGACY: Int

Deprecated: Use STOP_FOREGROUND_DETACH instead. The legacy behavior was inconsistent, leading to bugs around unpredictable results.

Selector for stopForeground(int): equivalent to passing false to the legacy API stopForeground(boolean).

Value: 0

STOP_FOREGROUND_REMOVE

Added in API level 24
static val STOP_FOREGROUND_REMOVE: Int

Selector for stopForeground(int): if supplied, the notification previously supplied to #startForeground will be cancelled and removed from display.

Value: 1

Public constructors

Service

Added in API level 1
Service()

Public methods

getApplication

Added in API level 1
fun getApplication(): Application!

Return the application that owns this service.

getForegroundServiceType

Added in API level 29
fun getForegroundServiceType(): Int

If the service has become a foreground service by calling startForeground(int,android.app.Notification) or startForeground(int,android.app.Notification,int), getForegroundServiceType() returns the current foreground service type.

If there is no foregroundServiceType specified in manifest, ServiceInfo#FOREGROUND_SERVICE_TYPE_NONE is returned.

If the service is not a foreground service, ServiceInfo#FOREGROUND_SERVICE_TYPE_NONE is returned.

Return
Int current foreground service type flags. Value is either 0 or a combination of android.content.pm.ServiceInfo#FOREGROUND_SERVICE_TYPE_MANIFEST, android.content.pm.ServiceInfo#FOREGROUND_SERVICE_TYPE_NONE, android.content.pm.ServiceInfo#FOREGROUND_SERVICE_TYPE_DATA_SYNC, android.content.pm.ServiceInfo#FOREGROUND_SERVICE_TYPE_MEDIA_PLAYBACK, android.content.pm.ServiceInfo#FOREGROUND_SERVICE_TYPE_PHONE_CALL, android.content.pm.ServiceInfo#FOREGROUND_SERVICE_TYPE_LOCATION, android.content.pm.ServiceInfo#FOREGROUND_SERVICE_TYPE_CONNECTED_DEVICE, android.content.pm.ServiceInfo#FOREGROUND_SERVICE_TYPE_MEDIA_PROJECTION, android.content.pm.ServiceInfo#FOREGROUND_SERVICE_TYPE_CAMERA, android.content.pm.ServiceInfo#FOREGROUND_SERVICE_TYPE_MICROPHONE, android.content.pm.ServiceInfo#FOREGROUND_SERVICE_TYPE_HEALTH, android.content.pm.ServiceInfo#FOREGROUND_SERVICE_TYPE_REMOTE_MESSAGING, android.content.pm.ServiceInfo#FOREGROUND_SERVICE_TYPE_SYSTEM_EXEMPTED, android.content.pm.ServiceInfo#FOREGROUND_SERVICE_TYPE_SHORT_SERVICE, android.content.pm.ServiceInfo.FOREGROUND_SERVICE_TYPE_FILE_MANAGEMENT, android.content.pm.ServiceInfo.FOREGROUND_SERVICE_TYPE_MEDIA_PROCESSING, and android.content.pm.ServiceInfo#FOREGROUND_SERVICE_TYPE_SPECIAL_USE

onBind

Added in API level 1
abstract fun onBind(intent: Intent!): IBinder?

Return the communication channel to the service. May return null if clients can not bind to the service. The returned android.os.IBinder is usually for a complex interface that has been described using aidl.

Note that unlike other application components, calls on to the IBinder interface returned here may not happen on the main thread of the process. More information about the main thread can be found in Processes and Threads.

Parameters
intent Intent!: The Intent that was used to bind to this service, as given to android.content.Context#bindService. Note that any extras that were included with the Intent at that point will not be seen here.
Return
IBinder? Return an IBinder through which clients can call on to the service.

onConfigurationChanged

Added in API level 1
open fun onConfigurationChanged(newConfig: Configuration): Unit
Parameters
newConfig Configuration: The new device configuration. This value cannot be null.

onCreate

Added in API level 1
open fun onCreate(): Unit

Called by the system when the service is first created. Do not call this method directly.

onDestroy

Added in API level 1
open fun onDestroy(): Unit

Called by the system to notify a Service that it is no longer used and is being removed. The service should clean up any resources it holds (threads, registered receivers, etc) at this point. Upon return, there will be no more calls in to this Service object and it is effectively dead. Do not call this method directly.

onLowMemory

Added in API level 1
open fun onLowMemory(): Unit

onRebind

Added in API level 1
open fun onRebind(intent: Intent!): Unit

Called when new clients have connected to the service, after it had previously been notified that all had disconnected in its onUnbind. This will only be called if the implementation of onUnbind was overridden to return true.

Parameters
intent Intent!: The Intent that was used to bind to this service, as given to android.content.Context#bindService. Note that any extras that were included with the Intent at that point will not be seen here.

onStart

Added in API level 1
Deprecated in API level 15
open fun onStart(
    intent: Intent!,
    startId: Int
): Unit

Deprecated: Implement onStartCommand(android.content.Intent,int,int) instead.

onStartCommand

Added in API level 5
open fun onStartCommand(
    intent: Intent!,
    flags: Int,
    startId: Int
): Int

Called by the system every time a client explicitly starts the service by calling android.content.Context#startService, providing the arguments it supplied and a unique integer token representing the start request. Do not call this method directly.

For backwards compatibility, the default implementation calls onStart and returns either START_STICKY or START_STICKY_COMPATIBILITY.

Note that the system calls this on your service's main thread. A service's main thread is the same thread where UI operations take place for Activities running in the same process. You should always avoid stalling the main thread's event loop. When doing long-running operations, network calls, or heavy disk I/O, you should kick off a new thread, or use android.os.AsyncTask.

Parameters
intent Intent!: The Intent supplied to android.content.Context#startService, as given. This may be null if the service is being restarted after its process has gone away, and it had previously returned anything except START_STICKY_COMPATIBILITY.
flags Int: Additional data about this start request. Value is either 0 or a combination of android.app.Service#START_FLAG_REDELIVERY, and android.app.Service#START_FLAG_RETRY
startId Int: A unique integer representing this specific request to start. Use with stopSelfResult(int).
Return
Int The return value indicates what semantics the system should use for the service's current started state. It may be one of the constants associated with the START_CONTINUATION_MASK bits. Value is android.app.Service#START_STICKY_COMPATIBILITY, android.app.Service#START_STICKY, android.app.Service#START_NOT_STICKY, or android.app.Service#START_REDELIVER_INTENT

onTaskRemoved

Added in API level 14
open fun onTaskRemoved(rootIntent: Intent!): Unit

This is called if the service is currently running and the user has removed a task that comes from the service's application. If you have set ServiceInfo.FLAG_STOP_WITH_TASK then you will not receive this callback; instead, the service will simply be stopped.

Parameters
rootIntent Intent!: The original root Intent that was used to launch the task that is being removed.

onTimeout

Added in API level 34
open fun onTimeout(startId: Int): Unit

Callback called on timeout for ServiceInfo#FOREGROUND_SERVICE_TYPE_SHORT_SERVICE. See ServiceInfo#FOREGROUND_SERVICE_TYPE_SHORT_SERVICE for more details.

If the foreground service of type ServiceInfo#FOREGROUND_SERVICE_TYPE_SHORT_SERVICE doesn't finish even after it's timed out, the app will be declared an ANR after a short grace period of several seconds.

Note, even though ServiceInfo#FOREGROUND_SERVICE_TYPE_SHORT_SERVICE was added on Android version android.os.Build.VERSION_CODES#UPSIDE_DOWN_CAKE, it can be also used on on prior android versions (just like other new foreground service types can be used). However, because android.app.Service#onTimeout(int) did not exist on prior versions, it will never called on such versions. Because of this, developers must make sure to stop the foreground service even if android.app.Service#onTimeout(int) is not called on such versions.

Parameters
startId Int: the startId passed to onStartCommand(android.content.Intent,int,int) when the service started.

onUnbind

Added in API level 1
open fun onUnbind(intent: Intent!): Boolean

Called when all clients have disconnected from a particular interface published by the service. The default implementation does nothing and returns false.

Parameters
intent Intent!: The Intent that was used to bind to this service, as given to android.content.Context#bindService. Note that any extras that were included with the Intent at that point will not be seen here.
Return
Boolean Return true if you would like to have the service's onRebind method later called when new clients bind to it.

startForeground

Added in API level 5
fun startForeground(
    id: Int,
    notification: Notification!
): Unit

If your service is started (running through Context#startService(Intent)), then also make this service run in the foreground, supplying the ongoing notification to be shown to the user while in this state. By default started services are background, meaning that their process won't be given foreground CPU scheduling (unless something else in that process is foreground) and, if the system needs to kill them to reclaim more memory (such as to display a large page in a web browser), they can be killed without too much harm. You use #startForeground if killing your service would be disruptive to the user, such as if your service is performing background music playback, so the user would notice if their music stopped playing.

Note that calling this method does not put the service in the started state itself, even though the name sounds like it. You must always call startService(android.content.Intent) first to tell the system it should keep the service running, and then use this method to tell it to keep it running harder.

Apps targeting API android.os.Build.VERSION_CODES#P or later must request the permission android.Manifest.permission#FOREGROUND_SERVICE in order to use this API.

Apps built with SDK version android.os.Build.VERSION_CODES#Q or later can specify the foreground service types using attribute android.R.attr#foregroundServiceType in service element of manifest file. The value of attribute android.R.attr#foregroundServiceType can be multiple flags ORed together.

Note: Beginning with SDK Version android.os.Build.VERSION_CODES#S, apps targeting SDK Version android.os.Build.VERSION_CODES#S or higher are not allowed to start foreground services from the background. See Behavior changes: Apps targeting Android 12 for more details.

Note: Beginning with SDK Version android.os.Build.VERSION_CODES#UPSIDE_DOWN_CAKE, apps targeting SDK Version android.os.Build.VERSION_CODES#UPSIDE_DOWN_CAKE or higher are not allowed to start foreground services without specifying a valid foreground service type in the manifest attribute android.R.attr#foregroundServiceType. See Behavior changes: Apps targeting Android 14 for more details.

Parameters
id Int: The identifier for this notification as per NotificationManager.notify(int, Notification); must not be 0.
notification Notification!: The Notification to be displayed.
Exceptions
android.app.ForegroundServiceStartNotAllowedException If the app targeting API is android.os.Build.VERSION_CODES#S or later, and the service is restricted from becoming foreground service due to background restriction.
android.app.InvalidForegroundServiceTypeException If the app targeting API is android.os.Build.VERSION_CODES#UPSIDE_DOWN_CAKE or later, and the manifest attribute android.R.attr#foregroundServiceType is set to invalid types(i.e. ServiceInfo#FOREGROUND_SERVICE_TYPE_NONE).
android.app.MissingForegroundServiceTypeException If the app targeting API is android.os.Build.VERSION_CODES#UPSIDE_DOWN_CAKE or later, and the manifest attribute android.R.attr#foregroundServiceType is not set.
java.lang.SecurityException If the app targeting API is android.os.Build.VERSION_CODES#UPSIDE_DOWN_CAKE or later and doesn't have the permission to start the foreground service with the specified type in the manifest attribute android.R.attr#foregroundServiceType.

startForeground

Added in API level 29
fun startForeground(
    id: Int,
    notification: Notification,
    foregroundServiceType: Int
): Unit

An overloaded version of startForeground(int,android.app.Notification) with additional foregroundServiceType parameter.

Apps built with SDK version android.os.Build.VERSION_CODES#Q or later can specify the foreground service types using attribute android.R.attr#foregroundServiceType in service element of manifest file. The value of attribute android.R.attr#foregroundServiceType can be multiple flags ORed together.

The foregroundServiceType parameter must be a subset flags of what is specified in manifest attribute android.R.attr#foregroundServiceType, if not, an IllegalArgumentException is thrown. Specify foregroundServiceType parameter as android.content.pm.ServiceInfo#FOREGROUND_SERVICE_TYPE_MANIFEST to use all flags that is specified in manifest attribute foregroundServiceType.

Note: Beginning with SDK Version android.os.Build.VERSION_CODES#S, apps targeting SDK Version android.os.Build.VERSION_CODES#S or higher are not allowed to start foreground services from the background. See Behavior changes: Apps targeting Android 12 for more details.

Note: Beginning with SDK Version android.os.Build.VERSION_CODES#UPSIDE_DOWN_CAKE, apps targeting SDK Version android.os.Build.VERSION_CODES#UPSIDE_DOWN_CAKE or higher are not allowed to start foreground services without specifying a valid foreground service type in the manifest attribute android.R.attr#foregroundServiceType, and the parameter foregroundServiceType here must not be the ServiceInfo#FOREGROUND_SERVICE_TYPE_NONE. See Behavior changes: Apps targeting Android 14 for more details.

Parameters
id Int: The identifier for this notification as per NotificationManager.notify(int, Notification); must not be 0.
notification Notification: The Notification to be displayed. This value cannot be null.
foregroundServiceType Int: must be a subset flags of manifest attribute android.R.attr#foregroundServiceType flags; must not be ServiceInfo#FOREGROUND_SERVICE_TYPE_NONE. Value is either 0 or a combination of android.content.pm.ServiceInfo#FOREGROUND_SERVICE_TYPE_MANIFEST, android.content.pm.ServiceInfo#FOREGROUND_SERVICE_TYPE_NONE, android.content.pm.ServiceInfo#FOREGROUND_SERVICE_TYPE_DATA_SYNC, android.content.pm.ServiceInfo#FOREGROUND_SERVICE_TYPE_MEDIA_PLAYBACK, android.content.pm.ServiceInfo#FOREGROUND_SERVICE_TYPE_PHONE_CALL, android.content.pm.ServiceInfo#FOREGROUND_SERVICE_TYPE_LOCATION, android.content.pm.ServiceInfo#FOREGROUND_SERVICE_TYPE_CONNECTED_DEVICE, android.content.pm.ServiceInfo#FOREGROUND_SERVICE_TYPE_MEDIA_PROJECTION, android.content.pm.ServiceInfo#FOREGROUND_SERVICE_TYPE_CAMERA, android.content.pm.ServiceInfo#FOREGROUND_SERVICE_TYPE_MICROPHONE, android.content.pm.ServiceInfo#FOREGROUND_SERVICE_TYPE_HEALTH, android.content.pm.ServiceInfo#FOREGROUND_SERVICE_TYPE_REMOTE_MESSAGING, android.content.pm.ServiceInfo#FOREGROUND_SERVICE_TYPE_SYSTEM_EXEMPTED, android.content.pm.ServiceInfo#FOREGROUND_SERVICE_TYPE_SHORT_SERVICE, android.content.pm.ServiceInfo.FOREGROUND_SERVICE_TYPE_FILE_MANAGEMENT, android.content.pm.ServiceInfo.FOREGROUND_SERVICE_TYPE_MEDIA_PROCESSING, and android.content.pm.ServiceInfo#FOREGROUND_SERVICE_TYPE_SPECIAL_USE
Exceptions
java.lang.IllegalArgumentException if param foregroundServiceType is not subset of manifest attribute android.R.attr#foregroundServiceType.
android.app.ForegroundServiceStartNotAllowedException If the app targeting API is android.os.Build.VERSION_CODES#S or later, and the service is restricted from becoming foreground service due to background restriction.
android.app.InvalidForegroundServiceTypeException If the app targeting API is android.os.Build.VERSION_CODES#UPSIDE_DOWN_CAKE or later, and the manifest attribute android.R.attr#foregroundServiceType or the param foregroundServiceType is set to invalid types(i.e.ServiceInfo#FOREGROUND_SERVICE_TYPE_NONE).
android.app.MissingForegroundServiceTypeException If the app targeting API is android.os.Build.VERSION_CODES#UPSIDE_DOWN_CAKE or later, and the manifest attribute android.R.attr#foregroundServiceType is not set and the param foregroundServiceType is set to ServiceInfo#FOREGROUND_SERVICE_TYPE_MANIFEST.
java.lang.SecurityException If the app targeting API is android.os.Build.VERSION_CODES#UPSIDE_DOWN_CAKE or later and doesn't have the permission to start the foreground service with the specified type in foregroundServiceType. android.R.attr#foregroundServiceType.

stopForeground

Added in API level 5
Deprecated in API level 33
fun stopForeground(removeNotification: Boolean): Unit

Deprecated: call stopForeground(int) and pass either STOP_FOREGROUND_REMOVE or STOP_FOREGROUND_DETACH explicitly instead.

Legacy version of stopForeground(int).

Parameters
removeNotification Boolean: If true, the STOP_FOREGROUND_REMOVE selector will be passed to stopForeground(int); otherwise STOP_FOREGROUND_LEGACY will be passed.

stopForeground

Added in API level 24
fun stopForeground(notificationBehavior: Int): Unit

Remove this service from foreground state, allowing it to be killed if more memory is needed. This does not stop the service from running (for that you use stopSelf() or related methods), just takes it out of the foreground state.

If STOP_FOREGROUND_REMOVE is supplied, the service's associated notification will be cancelled immediately.

If STOP_FOREGROUND_DETACH is supplied, the service's association with the notification will be severed. If the notification had not yet been shown, due to foreground-service notification deferral policy, it is immediately posted when stopForeground(STOP_FOREGROUND_DETACH) is called. In all cases, the notification remains shown even after this service is stopped fully and destroyed.

If zero is passed as the argument, the result will be the legacy behavior as defined prior to Android L: the notification will remain posted until the service is fully stopped, at which time it will automatically be cancelled.

Parameters
notificationBehavior Int: the intended behavior for the service's associated notification Value is android.app.Service#STOP_FOREGROUND_LEGACY, android.app.Service#STOP_FOREGROUND_REMOVE, or android.app.Service#STOP_FOREGROUND_DETACH

stopSelf

Added in API level 1
fun stopSelf(): Unit

Stop the service, if it was previously started. This is the same as calling android.content.Context#stopService for this particular service.

stopSelf

Added in API level 1
fun stopSelf(startId: Int): Unit

Old version of stopSelfResult that doesn't return a result.

See Also

stopSelfResult

Added in API level 1
fun stopSelfResult(startId: Int): Boolean

Stop the service if the most recent time it was started was startId. This is the same as calling android.content.Context#stopService for this particular service but allows you to safely avoid stopping if there is a start request from a client that you haven't yet seen in onStart.

Be careful about ordering of your calls to this function.. If you call this function with the most-recently received ID before you have called it for previously received IDs, the service will be immediately stopped anyway. If you may end up processing IDs out of order (such as by dispatching them on separate threads), then you are responsible for stopping them in the same order you received them.

Parameters
startId Int: The most recent start identifier received in onStart.
Return
Boolean Returns true if the startId matches the last start request and the service will be stopped, else false.

See Also

Protected methods

attachBaseContext

Added in API level 1
protected open fun attachBaseContext(newBase: Context!): Unit
Parameters
base The new base context for this wrapper.

dump

Added in API level 1
protected open fun dump(
    fd: FileDescriptor!,
    writer: PrintWriter!,
    args: Array<String!>!
): Unit

Print the Service's state into the given stream. This gets invoked if you run "adb shell dumpsys activity service <yourservicename>" (note that for this command to work, the service must be running, and you must specify a fully-qualified service name). This is distinct from "dumpsys <servicename>", which only works for named system services and which invokes the IBinder#dump method on the IBinder interface registered with ServiceManager.

Parameters
fd FileDescriptor!: The raw file descriptor that the dump is being sent to.
writer PrintWriter!: The PrintWriter to which you should dump your state. This will be closed for you after you return.
args Array<String!>!: additional arguments to the dump request.