Question

In my application, there’s a feature that allows users to dial a specific number and brings up an activity to front. I have the following receiver, and the only receiver registered in AndroidManifest.xml.

<receiver android:name="com.example.myapp.OutgoingCallListener" android:exported="true">
    <intent-filter>
        <action android:name="android.intent.action.NEW_OUTGOING_CALL" />
    </intent-filter>
</receiver>

Please note there’s no BOOT_COMPLETED intent or service.

Now here’s the thing I couldn’t figure out. When I reboot my device, go check the Running Apps, my application is not listed there. But, if I dial the specific number, my application starts and the activity is brought to front.

My question is: If the app is not a service, and not started on boot, how could it recieve intent from Android? That is, in my case, how could my app listen to NEW_OUTGOING_CALL while it’s not started at all?

Answer 1

A BroadcastReceiver that is registered in the manifest is always capable of responding to a matching broadcast. If your process is not running for any reason, Android will start up a process for you.