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

Question

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

User · Answer

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 lt PInfo gt  getPackages         ArrayList lt PInfo gt  apps   getInstalledApps false      false   no system packages        final int max   apps size        for  int i 0  i lt max  i              apps get i  prettyPrint              return apps     private ArrayList lt PInfo gt  getInstalledApps boolean getSysPackages        ArrayList lt PInfo gt  res   new ArrayList lt PInfo gt                 List lt PackageInfo gt  packs   getPackageManager   getInstalledPackages 0       for int i 0 i lt packs size   i              PackageInfo p   packs get i           if    getSysPackages   amp  amp   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

User · Answer

you can use this     PackageManager pm   getApplicationContext   getPackageManager                    List lt ResolveInfo gt  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

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Getting list of installed non-system apps  public static void installedApps         List lt PackageInfo gt  packList   getPackageManager   getInstalledPackages 0       for  int i 0  i  lt  packList size    i                  PackageInfo packInfo   packList get i           if     packInfo applicationInfo flags  amp  ApplicationInfo FLAG SYSTEM     0                        String appName   packInfo applicationInfo loadLabel getPackageManager    toString                Log e  App       Integer toString i   appName

User · Answer

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  amp  ApplicationInfo FLAG SYSTEM     0

User · Answer

public static List lt ApplicationInfo gt  getApplications Context context        return context getPackageManager   getInstalledApplications PackageManager GET META DATA

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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 lt PackageInfo gt  getInstalledApps Context ctx        final PackageManager packageManager   ctx getPackageManager         final List lt PackageInfo gt  allInstalledPackages   packageManager getInstalledPackages PackageManager GET META DATA       final Set lt PackageInfo gt  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  amp  amp   defaultActivityIcon equals applicationIcon                     filteredPackages add each                           catch  PackageManager NameNotFoundException e                Log i  MyTag    Unknown package name     each packageName                        return filteredPackages

User · Answer

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 lt String gt  getInstalledComponentList         Intent componentSearchIntent   new Intent        componentSearchIntent addCategory Constants COMPONENTS INTENT CATEGORY       componentSearchIntent setAction Constants COMPONENTS INTENT ACTION DEFAULT       List lt ResolveInfo gt  ril   getPackageManager   queryIntentActivities componentSearchIntent  PackageManager MATCH DEFAULT ONLY       List lt String gt  componentList   new ArrayList lt String gt         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

User · Answer

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 lt String gt  getInstalledComponentList               throws NameNotFoundException           final Intent mainIntent   new Intent Intent ACTION MAIN  null           mainIntent addCategory Intent CATEGORY LAUNCHER           List lt ResolveInfo gt  ril   getPackageManager   queryIntentActivities mainIntent  0           List lt String gt  componentList   new ArrayList lt String gt             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

User · Answer

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 lt ApplicationInfo gt  packages   pm getInstalledApplications PackageManager GET META DATA     for  ApplicationInfo packageInfo   packages       if pm getLaunchIntentForPackage packageInfo packageName    null  amp  amp                          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

User · Answer

Here s a cleaner way using the PackageManager  final PackageManager pm   getPackageManager      get a list of installed apps  List lt ApplicationInfo gt  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

User · Answer

I have another solution   ArrayList lt AppInfo gt  myAppsToUpdate          How to get the system and the user apps      public ArrayList lt AppInfo gt  getAppsToUpdate              PackageManager pm   App getContext   getPackageManager            List lt ApplicationInfo gt  installedApps   pm getInstalledApplications 0           myAppsToUpdate   new ArrayList lt AppInfo gt             for  ApplicationInfo aInfo   installedApps                 if   aInfo flags  amp  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

User · Answer

To filter on sytem based apps    private boolean isSystemPackage ResolveInfo ri        return  ri activityInfo applicationInfo flags  amp  ApplicationInfo FLAG SYSTEM     0

User · Answer

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  lt uses-permission android name quot android permission QUERY ALL PACKAGES quot  gt

User · Answer

Following is the code to get the list of activities applications installed on Android    Intent mainIntent   new Intent Intent ACTION MAIN  null   mainIntent addCategory Intent CATEGORY LAUNCHER   List lt ResolveInfo gt  pkgAppsList   context getPackageManager   queryIntentActivities  mainIntent  0     You will get all the necessary data in the ResolveInfo to start a application  You can check ResolveInfo javadoc here

User · Answer

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   lt manifest gt       lt queries gt           lt  -- Explicit apps you know in advance about  -- gt           lt package android name  quot com example this app quot   gt           lt package android name  quot com example this other app quot   gt            lt  -- Intent filter signatures that you are going to query  -- gt           lt intent gt               lt action android name  quot android intent action SEND quot    gt               lt data android mimeType  quot image jpeg quot    gt           lt  intent gt       lt  queries gt                lt  manifest gt   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

User · Answer

To get al installed apps you can use Package Manager        List lt PackageInfo gt  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

User · Answer

private static boolean isThisASystemPackage Context context  PackageInfo  packageInfo             try               PackageInfo sys   context getPackageManager   getPackageInfo  android   PackageManager GET SIGNATURES               return  packageInfo    null  amp  amp  packageInfo signatures    null  amp  amp                      sys signatures 0  equals packageInfo signatures 0               catch  NameNotFoundException e                return false

User · Answer

Get All the apps       PackageManager pm   getContext   getPackageManager        List lt ApplicationInfo gt  apps   pm getInstalledApplications 0     Check if installed app then open   if  app flags  amp   ApplicationInfo FLAG UPDATED SYSTEM APP   ApplicationInfo FLAG SYSTEM    gt  0                    String app package   app packageName  Intent launchIntent   context getPackageManager   getLaunchIntentForPackage app package   context startActivity launchIntent

User · Answer

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 lt ApplicationInfo gt  apps   pm getInstalledApplications PackageManager GET GIDS            for  ApplicationInfo app   apps                if pm getLaunchIntentForPackage app packageName     null                       apps with launcher intent                 if  app flags  amp  ApplicationInfo FLAG UPDATED SYSTEM APP     0                           updated system apps                    else if   app flags  amp  ApplicationInfo FLAG SYSTEM     0                           system apps                    else                          user installed apps                                    appsList add app

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

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