AndroidProcesses

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AndroidProcesses

The Open Source Android Processes Library — How I circumvented restricted Google APIs in 2015 and discovered the Chinese applications that took advantage of it on 1.2 billion+ devices. Android Java
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A small Android library to get the current running processes

PLEASE NOTE, THIS PROJECT IS NO LONGER BEING MAINTAINED
API Maven Central

Google has significantly restricted access to /proc in Android Nougat. This library will not work on Android 7.0. Please star this issue.

More details can be found at:

  • https://jaredrummler.com/2017/09/13/android-processes/
  • https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=205565

What is this library for?

This small library can get a list of running apps and does not require any permissions.

Why would I need this?

Android 5.0+ killed getRunningTasks(int) and getRunningAppProcesses(). Both of these methods are now deprecated and only return the caller’s application process.

Android 5.0 introduced UsageStatsManager which provides access to device usage history and statistics. This API requires the permission android.permission.PACKAGE_USAGE_STATS, which is a system-level permission and will not be granted to third-party apps. However, declaring the permission implies intention to use the API and the user of the device can grant permission through the Settings application.

Usage

Get a list of running apps:

// Get a list of running apps
List<AndroidAppProcess> processes = AndroidProcesses.getRunningAppProcesses();

for (AndroidAppProcess process : processes) {
  // Get some information about the process
  String processName = process.name;

  Stat stat = process.stat();
  int pid = stat.getPid();
  int parentProcessId = stat.ppid();
  long startTime = stat.stime();
  int policy = stat.policy();
  char state = stat.state();

  Statm statm = process.statm();
  long totalSizeOfProcess = statm.getSize();
  long residentSetSize = statm.getResidentSetSize();

  PackageInfo packageInfo = process.getPackageInfo(context, 0);
  String appName = packageInfo.applicationInfo.loadLabel(pm).toString();
}

Limitations

  • System apps will not be included on some Android versions because they have a higher SELinux context.
  • This is not a full replacement of getRunningAppProcesses(). The library does not provide a processes’ pkgList, lru, or importance.
  • This is currently not working on the N developer preview.

Download

Download the latest AAR or grab via Gradle:

compile 'com.jaredrummler:android-processes:1.1.1'

or Maven:

<dependency>
  <groupId>com.jaredrummler</groupId>
  <artifactId>android-processes</artifactId>
  <version>1.1.1</version>
  <type>aar</type>
</dependency>

Adoption

In 2017 I decompiled the top 150 free apps on Google Play and found numerous apps using this library. Companies using the library include Cheetah Mobile and Baidu. Apps using this library include ES File Explorer, Clean Master, Security Master, CM Launcher 3D, Virus Cleaner by Hi Security, and Super Cleaner. Combined, these apps have at least 1.2 billion downloads!

License

Copyright (C) 2015 Jared Rummler

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
You may obtain a copy of the License at

   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
limitations under the License.
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