[java] How to launch an Activity from another Application in Android

I want to launch an installed package from my Android application. I assume that it is possible using intents, but I didn't find a way of doing it. Is there a link, where to find the information?

Edit depending on comment

In some versions - as suggested in comments - the exception thrown may be different.

Thus the solution below is slightly modified

Intent launchIntent = null;
try{
   launchIntent = getPackageManager().getLaunchIntentForPackage("applicationId");
} catch (Exception ignored) {}

if(launchIntent == null){
    startActivity(new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW).setData(Uri.parse("https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=" + "applicationId")));
} else {
    startActivity(launchIntent);
}

Original Answer

Although answered well, there is a pretty simple implementation that handles if the app is not installed. I do it like this

try{
    startActivity(getPackageManager().getLaunchIntentForPackage("applicationId"));
} catch (PackageManager.NameNotFoundException e) {
    startActivity(new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW).setData(Uri.parse("https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=" + "applicationId")));
}

Replace "applicationId" with the package that you want to open such as com.google.maps, etc.

Steps to launch new activity as follows:

1.Get intent for package

2.If intent is null redirect user to playstore

3.If intent is not null open activity

public void launchNewActivity(Context context, String packageName) {
    Intent intent = null;
    if (android.os.Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= android.os.Build.VERSION_CODES.CUPCAKE) {
        intent = context.getPackageManager().getLaunchIntentForPackage(packageName);
    }
    if (intent == null) {
        try {
            intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW);
            intent.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
            intent.setData(Uri.parse("market://details?id=" + packageName));
            context.startActivity(intent);
        } catch (android.content.ActivityNotFoundException anfe) {
            startActivity(new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW, Uri.parse("https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=" + packageName)));
        }
    } else {
        intent.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
        context.startActivity(intent);
    }
}

I know this has been answered but here is how I implemented something similar:

Intent intent = getPackageManager().getLaunchIntentForPackage("com.package.name");
if (intent != null) {
    // We found the activity now start the activity
    intent.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
    startActivity(intent);
} else {
    // Bring user to the market or let them choose an app?
    intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW);
    intent.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
    intent.setData(Uri.parse("market://details?id=" + "com.package.name"));
    startActivity(intent);
}

Even better, here is the method:

public void startNewActivity(Context context, String packageName) {
    Intent intent = context.getPackageManager().getLaunchIntentForPackage(packageName);
    if (intent != null) {
        // We found the activity now start the activity
        intent.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
        context.startActivity(intent);
    } else {
        // Bring user to the market or let them choose an app?
        intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW);
        intent.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
        intent.setData(Uri.parse("market://details?id=" + packageName));
        context.startActivity(intent);
    }
}

Removed duplicate code:

public void startNewActivity(Context context, String packageName) {
    Intent intent = context.getPackageManager().getLaunchIntentForPackage(packageName);
    if (intent == null) {
        // Bring user to the market or let them choose an app?
        intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW);
        intent.setData(Uri.parse("market://details?id=" + packageName));
    }
    intent.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
    context.startActivity(intent);
}

Since kotlin is becoming very popular these days, I think it's appropriate to provide a simple solution in Kotlin as well.

    var launchIntent: Intent? = null
    try {
        launchIntent = packageManager.getLaunchIntentForPackage("applicationId")
    } catch (ignored: Exception) {
    }
    if (launchIntent == null) {
        startActivity(Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW).setData(Uri.parse("https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=" + "applicationId")))
    } else {
        startActivity(launchIntent)
    }

Try code below:

Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_MAIN);
intent.setComponent(new ComponentName("package_name", "Class_name"));
if (intent.resolveActivity(getPackageManager()) != null) 
{
   startActivity(intent);
}

If you want to open specific activity of another application we can use this.

Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_MAIN, null);
intent.addCategory(Intent.CATEGORY_LAUNCHER);
final ComponentName cn = new ComponentName("com.android.settings", "com.android.settings.fuelgauge.PowerUsageSummary");
intent.setComponent(cn);
intent.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
try 
{
    startActivity(intent)
}catch(ActivityNotFoundException e){
    Toast.makeText(context,"Activity Not Found",Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show()
}

If you must need other application, instead of showing Toast you can show a dialog. Using dialog you can bring the user to Play-Store to download required application.

It is possible to start an app's activity by using Intent.setClassName according to the docs.

An example:

val activityName = "com.google.android.apps.muzei.MuzeiActivity" // target activity name
val packageName = "net.nurik.roman.muzei" // target package's name
val intent = Intent().setClassName(packageName, activityName)
startActivity(intent)

To open it outside the current app, add this flag before starting the intent.

intent.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK)

A related answer here

private fun openOtherApp() {
        val sendIntent = packageManager.getLaunchIntentForPackage("org.mab.dhyanaqrscanner")
        startActivity(sendIntent)
        finishAffinity()
    }

I found the solution. In the manifest file of the application I found the package name: com.package.address and the name of the main activity which I want to launch: MainActivity The following code starts this application:

Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_MAIN);
intent.setComponent(new ComponentName("com.package.address","com.package.address.MainActivity"));
startActivity(intent);

// check for the app if it exist in the phone it will lunch it otherwise, it will search for the app in google play app in the phone and to avoid any crash, if no google play app installed in the phone, it will search for the app in the google play store using the browser : 

 public void onLunchAnotherApp() {

        final String appPackageName = getApplicationContext().getPackageName();

        Intent intent = getPackageManager().getLaunchIntentForPackage(appPackageName);
        if (intent != null) {

            intent.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
            startActivity(intent);

        } else {

            onGoToAnotherInAppStore(intent, appPackageName);

        }

    }

    public void onGoToAnotherInAppStore(Intent intent, String appPackageName) {

        try {

            intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW);
            intent.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
            intent.setData(Uri.parse("market://details?id=" + appPackageName));
            startActivity(intent);

        } catch (android.content.ActivityNotFoundException anfe) {

            intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW);
            intent.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
            intent.setData(Uri.parse("http://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=" + appPackageName));
            startActivity(intent);

        }

    }

If you don't know the main activity, then the package name can be used to launch the application.

Intent launchIntent = getPackageManager().getLaunchIntentForPackage("com.package.address");
if (launchIntent != null) { 
    startActivity(launchIntent);//null pointer check in case package name was not found
}

If you know the data and the action the installed package react on, you simply should add these information to your intent instance before starting it.

If you have access to the AndroidManifest of the other app, you can see all needed information there.

// in onCreate method
String appName = "Gmail";
String packageName = "com.google.android.gm";
openApp(context, appName, packageName);

public static void openApp(Context context, String appName, String packageName) {
    if (isAppInstalled(context, packageName))
        if (isAppEnabled(context, packageName))
            context.startActivity(context.getPackageManager().getLaunchIntentForPackage(packageName));
        else Toast.makeText(context, appName + " app is not enabled.", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
    else Toast.makeText(context, appName + " app is not installed.", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
}

private static boolean isAppInstalled(Context context, String packageName) {
    PackageManager pm = context.getPackageManager();
    try {
        pm.getPackageInfo(packageName, PackageManager.GET_ACTIVITIES);
        return true;
    } catch (PackageManager.NameNotFoundException ignored) {
    }
    return false;
}

private static boolean isAppEnabled(Context context, String packageName) {
    boolean appStatus = false;
    try {
        ApplicationInfo ai = context.getPackageManager().getApplicationInfo(packageName, 0);
        if (ai != null) {
            appStatus = ai.enabled;
        }
    } catch (PackageManager.NameNotFoundException e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
    }
    return appStatus;
}

Here is my example of launching bar/QR code scanner from my app if someone finds it useful

Intent intent = new Intent("com.google.zxing.client.android.SCAN");
intent.setPackage("com.google.zxing.client.android");

try 
{
    startActivityForResult(intent, SCAN_REQUEST_CODE);
} 
catch (ActivityNotFoundException e) 
{
    //implement prompt dialog asking user to download the package
    AlertDialog.Builder downloadDialog = new AlertDialog.Builder(this);
    downloadDialog.setTitle(stringTitle);
    downloadDialog.setMessage(stringMessage);
    downloadDialog.setPositiveButton("yes",
            new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() 
            {
                public void onClick(DialogInterface dialogInterface, int i) 
                {
                    Uri uri = Uri.parse("market://search?q=pname:com.google.zxing.client.android");
                    Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW, uri);
                    try
                    {
                        myActivity.this.startActivity(intent);
                    }
                    catch (ActivityNotFoundException e)
                    {
                        Dialogs.this.showAlert("ERROR", "Google Play Market not found!");
                    }
                }
            });
    downloadDialog.setNegativeButton("no",
            new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() 
            {
                public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog, int i) 
                {
                    dialog.dismiss();
                }
            });
    downloadDialog.show();
}