Question

Is there a way to programmatically list all available content providers on a device? No real use case, I just thought it might be neat to see what apps I have installed on my phone that have exposed content providers.

Answer 1

It should be possible by calling PackageManager.getInstalledPackages() with GET_PROVIDERS.

EDIT: example:

for (PackageInfo pack : getPackageManager().getInstalledPackages(PackageManager.GET_PROVIDERS)) {
    ProviderInfo[] providers = pack.providers;
    if (providers != null) {
        for (ProviderInfo provider : providers) {
            Log.d("Example", "provider: " + provider.authority);
        }
    }
}