Question

I’m trying to develop an application launcher application for android. I’m in the very beginning but I have a problem here: How do I get a list of all installed applications in android?

Answer 1

Use these methods in your activty to get a list of installed applications.

  private ArrayList<PackageInfoStruct> getPackages() {
        ArrayList<PackageInfoStruct> apps = getInstalledApps(false);
        final int max = apps.size();
        for (int i=0; i < max; i++) {
            apps.get(i);
        }
        return apps;
    }

    private ArrayList<PackageInfoStruct> getInstalledApps(boolean getSysPackages) {

        List<PackageInfo> packs = getPackageManager().getInstalledPackages(0);
        try{
            app_labels = new String[packs.size()];
        }catch(Exception e){
            Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(),e.getMessage(),Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
        }
        for(int i=0;i < packs.size();i++) {
            PackageInfo p = packs.get(i);
            if ((!getSysPackages) && (p.versionName == null)) {
                continue ;
            }
            PackageInfoStruct newInfo = new PackageInfoStruct();
            newInfo.appname = p.applicationInfo.loadLabel(getPackageManager()).toString();
            newInfo.pname = p.packageName;
            newInfo.versionName = p.versionName;
            newInfo.versionCode = p.versionCode;
            newInfo.icon = p.applicationInfo.loadIcon(getPackageManager());
            res.add(newInfo);

            app_labels[i] = newInfo.appname;
        }
        return res;
    }