[android] How to get a list of installed android applications and pick one to run

I asked a similar question to this earlier this week but I'm still not understanding how to get a list of all installed applications and then pick one to run.

I've tried:

Intent intent = new Intent(ACTION_MAIN);
intent.addCategory(CATEGORY_LAUNCHER);

and this only shows application that are preinstalled or can run the ACTION_MAIN Intent type.

I also know I can use PackageManager to get all the installed applications, but how do I use this to run a specific application?

@Jas: I don't have that code anymore, but I've found something close. I've made this to search for "components" of my application, they are just activities with a given category.

private List<String> getInstalledComponentList() {
    Intent componentSearchIntent = new Intent();
    componentSearchIntent.addCategory(Constants.COMPONENTS_INTENT_CATEGORY);
    componentSearchIntent.setAction(Constants.COMPONENTS_INTENT_ACTION_DEFAULT);
    List<ResolveInfo> ril = getPackageManager().queryIntentActivities(componentSearchIntent, PackageManager.MATCH_DEFAULT_ONLY);
    List<String> componentList = new ArrayList<String>();
    Log.d(LOG_TAG, "Search for installed components found " + ril.size() + " matches.");
    for (ResolveInfo ri : ril) {
        if (ri.activityInfo != null) {
            componentList.add(ri.activityInfo.packageName);// + ri.activityInfo.name);
            Log.d(LOG_TAG, "Found installed: " + componentList.get(componentList.size()-1));
        }
    }
    return componentList;
}

I've commented the part where it gets the activity name, but it's pretty straightforward.

you can use this :

PackageManager pm = getApplicationContext().getPackageManager();
                List<ResolveInfo> activityList = pm.queryIntentActivities(shareIntent, 0);
                for (final ResolveInfo app : activityList) 
                {
                   if ((app.activityInfo.name).contains("facebook")) 
                   {
                     // facebook  
                   }

                   if ((app.activityInfo.name).contains("android.gm")) 
                   {
                     // gmail  
                   }

                   if ((app.activityInfo.name).contains("mms")) 
                   {
                     // android messaging app
                   }

                   if ((app.activityInfo.name).contains("com.android.bluetooth")) 
                   {
                     // android bluetooth  
                   }
                }

Clean solution that filter successfuly out system apps

The idea behind this solution is that the main activity of every system app does not have a custom activity icon. This method gives me an excellent result:

 public static Set<PackageInfo> getInstalledApps(Context ctx) {
    final PackageManager packageManager = ctx.getPackageManager();

    final List<PackageInfo> allInstalledPackages = packageManager.getInstalledPackages(PackageManager.GET_META_DATA);
    final Set<PackageInfo> filteredPackages = new HashSet();

    Drawable defaultActivityIcon = packageManager.getDefaultActivityIcon();

    for(PackageInfo each : allInstalledPackages) {
        if(ctx.getPackageName().equals(each.packageName)) {
            continue;  // skip own app
        }

        try {
            // add only apps with application icon
            Intent intentOfStartActivity = packageManager.getLaunchIntentForPackage(each.packageName);
            if(intentOfStartActivity == null)
                continue;

            Drawable applicationIcon = packageManager.getActivityIcon(intentOfStartActivity);
            if(applicationIcon != null && !defaultActivityIcon.equals(applicationIcon)) {
                filteredPackages.add(each);
            }
        } catch (PackageManager.NameNotFoundException e) {
            Log.i("MyTag", "Unknown package name " + each.packageName);
        }
    }

    return filteredPackages;
}

private static boolean isThisASystemPackage(Context context, PackageInfo  packageInfo ) {
        try {
            PackageInfo sys = context.getPackageManager().getPackageInfo("android", PackageManager.GET_SIGNATURES);
            return (packageInfo != null && packageInfo.signatures != null &&
                    sys.signatures[0].equals(packageInfo.signatures[0]));
        } catch (NameNotFoundException e) {
            return false;
        }
    }

Here a good example:

class PInfo {
    private String appname = "";
    private String pname = "";
    private String versionName = "";
    private int versionCode = 0;
    private Drawable icon;
    private void prettyPrint() {
        Log.v(appname + "\t" + pname + "\t" + versionName + "\t" + versionCode);
    }
}

private ArrayList<PInfo> getPackages() {
    ArrayList<PInfo> apps = getInstalledApps(false); /* false = no system packages */
    final int max = apps.size();
    for (int i=0; i<max; i++) {
        apps.get(i).prettyPrint();
    }
    return apps;
}

private ArrayList<PInfo> getInstalledApps(boolean getSysPackages) {
    ArrayList<PInfo> res = new ArrayList<PInfo>();        
    List<PackageInfo> packs = getPackageManager().getInstalledPackages(0);
    for(int i=0;i<packs.size();i++) {
        PackageInfo p = packs.get(i);
        if ((!getSysPackages) && (p.versionName == null)) {
            continue ;
        }
        PInfo newInfo = new PInfo();
        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);
    }
    return res; 
}

Getting list of installed non-system apps

public static void installedApps()
{
    List<PackageInfo> packList = getPackageManager().getInstalledPackages(0);
    for (int i=0; i < packList.size(); i++)
    {
        PackageInfo packInfo = packList.get(i);
        if (  (packInfo.applicationInfo.flags & ApplicationInfo.FLAG_SYSTEM) == 0)
        {
            String appName = packInfo.applicationInfo.loadLabel(getPackageManager()).toString();
            Log.e("App ? " + Integer.toString(i), appName);
        }
    }
}

To filter on sytem based apps :

private boolean isSystemPackage(ResolveInfo ri) {
    return (ri.activityInfo.applicationInfo.flags & ApplicationInfo.FLAG_SYSTEM) != 0;
}

Get All the apps:

    PackageManager pm = getContext().getPackageManager();
    List<ApplicationInfo> apps = pm.getInstalledApplications(0);

Check if installed app then open:

if((app.flags & (ApplicationInfo.FLAG_UPDATED_SYSTEM_APP | ApplicationInfo.FLAG_SYSTEM)) > 0) {
                String app_package = app.packageName;
Intent launchIntent = context.getPackageManager().getLaunchIntentForPackage(app_package);
context.startActivity(launchIntent);

I have another solution:

ArrayList<AppInfo> myAppsToUpdate;

    // How to get the system and the user apps.
    public ArrayList<AppInfo> getAppsToUpdate() {

        PackageManager pm = App.getContext().getPackageManager();
        List<ApplicationInfo> installedApps = pm.getInstalledApplications(0);
        myAppsToUpdate = new ArrayList<AppInfo>();
        for (ApplicationInfo aInfo : installedApps) {

            if ((aInfo.flags & ApplicationInfo.FLAG_SYSTEM) != 0) {
                // System apps 
            } else {
                // Users apps
                AppInfo appInfo = new AppInfo();
                appInfo.setAppName(aInfo.loadLabel(pm).toString());
                appInfo.setPackageName(aInfo.packageName);
                appInfo.setLaunchActivity(pm.getLaunchIntentForPackage(aInfo.packageName).toString());
                try {
                    PackageInfo info = pm.getPackageInfo(aInfo.packageName, 0);
                    appInfo.setVersionName(info.versionName.toString());
                    appInfo.setVersionCode("" + info.versionCode);
                    myAppsToUpdate.add(appInfo);
                } catch (NameNotFoundException e) {
                    Log.e("ERROR", "we could not get the user's apps");
                }

            }
        }
        return myAppsToUpdate;
    }

To get al installed apps you can use Package Manager..

    List<PackageInfo> apps = getPackageManager().getInstalledPackages(0);

To run you can use package name

Intent launchApp = getPackageManager().getLaunchIntentForPackage(“package name”)
startActivity(launchApp);

For more detail you can read this blog http://codebucket.co.in/android-get-list-of-all-installed-apps/

context.getPackageManager().getInstalledApplications(PackageManager.GET_META_DATA); Should return the list of all the installed apps but in android 11 it'll only return the list of system apps. To get the list of all the applications(system+user) we need to provide an additional permission to the application i.e

<uses-permission android:name"android.permission.QUERY_ALL_PACKAGES">

Here's a cleaner way using the PackageManager

final PackageManager pm = getPackageManager();
//get a list of installed apps.
List<ApplicationInfo> packages = pm.getInstalledApplications(PackageManager.GET_META_DATA);

for (ApplicationInfo packageInfo : packages) {
    Log.d(TAG, "Installed package :" + packageInfo.packageName);
    Log.d(TAG, "Source dir : " + packageInfo.sourceDir);
    Log.d(TAG, "Launch Activity :" + pm.getLaunchIntentForPackage(packageInfo.packageName)); 
}
// the getLaunchIntentForPackage returns an intent that you can use with startActivity() 

More info here http://qtcstation.com/2011/02/how-to-launch-another-app-from-your-app/

You can Find the List of installed apps in Android Device by using below code, "packageInfo" Contains Installed Application Information in Device. we can retrive Intent for the application installed from the packageinfo object and by using startactivity(intent), can start application. it is up to you how you organize the UI either Listview or Gridview. so on click event based on position, you can retrive intent object and start activity intent.

final PackageManager pm = getPackageManager();

List<ApplicationInfo> packages = pm.getInstalledApplications(PackageManager.GET_META_DATA);


for (ApplicationInfo packageInfo : packages) 

{
 if(pm.getLaunchIntentForPackage(packageInfo.packageName)!= null &&   

                   !pm.getLaunchIntentForPackage(packageInfo.packageName).equals(""))


{

    System.out.println("Package Name :" + packageInfo.packageName);

    System.out.println("Launch Intent For Package :"   +  
                  pm.getLaunchIntentForPackage(packageInfo.packageName));

    System.out.println("Application Label :"   + pm.getApplicationLabel(packageInfo));

    System.out.println("Application Label :"   + 
                           pm.getApplicationIcon(packageInfo.packageName).toString());

    System.out.println("i : "+i);

    /*if(i==2)

    {
         startActivity(pm.getLaunchIntentForPackage(packageInfo.packageName));

     break;

    }*/

    i++;

}
}

If there are multiple launchers in a one package above code has a problem. Eg: on LG Optimus Facebook for LG, MySpace for LG, Twitter for LG contains in a one package name SNS and if you use above SNS will repeat. After hours of research I came with below code. Seems to work well.

private List<String> getInstalledComponentList()
            throws NameNotFoundException {
        final Intent mainIntent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_MAIN, null);
        mainIntent.addCategory(Intent.CATEGORY_LAUNCHER);
        List<ResolveInfo> ril = getPackageManager().queryIntentActivities(mainIntent, 0);
        List<String> componentList = new ArrayList<String>();
        String name = null;

        for (ResolveInfo ri : ril) {
            if (ri.activityInfo != null) {
                Resources res = getPackageManager().getResourcesForApplication(ri.activityInfo.applicationInfo);
                if (ri.activityInfo.labelRes != 0) {
                    name = res.getString(ri.activityInfo.labelRes);
                } else {
                    name = ri.activityInfo.applicationInfo.loadLabel(
                            getPackageManager()).toString();
                }
                componentList.add(name);
            }
        }
        return componentList;
    }

Another way to filter on system apps (works with the example of king9981):

/**
 * Return whether the given PackageInfo represents a system package or not.
 * User-installed packages (Market or otherwise) should not be denoted as
 * system packages.
 * 
 * @param pkgInfo
 * @return
 */
private boolean isSystemPackage(PackageInfo pkgInfo) {
    return ((pkgInfo.applicationInfo.flags & ApplicationInfo.FLAG_SYSTEM) != 0);
}

Since Android 11 (API level 30), most user-installed apps are not visible by default. You must either statically declare which apps and/or intent filters you are going to get info about in your manifest like this:

<manifest>
    <queries>
        <!-- Explicit apps you know in advance about: -->
        <package android:name="com.example.this.app"/>
        <package android:name="com.example.this.other.app"/>

        <!-- Intent filter signatures that you are going to query: -->
        <intent>
            <action android:name="android.intent.action.SEND" />
            <data android:mimeType="image/jpeg" />
        </intent>
    </queries>
    
    ...
</manifest>

Or require the QUERY_ALL_PACKAGES permission.

After doing the above, the other answers here still apply.

Learn more here:

• The migration documentation
• The dedicated documentation page (has more information)
• The official blog post

public static List<ApplicationInfo> getApplications(Context context) {
    return context.getPackageManager().getInstalledApplications(PackageManager.GET_META_DATA);
}

I had a requirement to filter out the system apps which user do not really use(eg. "com.qualcomm.service", "update services", etc). Ultimately I added another condition to filter down the app list. I just checked whether the app has 'launcher intent'.

So, the resultant code looks like...

PackageManager pm = getPackageManager();
        List<ApplicationInfo> apps = pm.getInstalledApplications(PackageManager.GET_GIDS);

        for (ApplicationInfo app : apps) {
            if(pm.getLaunchIntentForPackage(app.packageName) != null) {
                // apps with launcher intent
                if((app.flags & ApplicationInfo.FLAG_UPDATED_SYSTEM_APP) != 0) {
                    // updated system apps

                } else if ((app.flags & ApplicationInfo.FLAG_SYSTEM) != 0) {
                    // system apps

                } else {
                    // user installed apps

                }
                appsList.add(app);
            }

        }