Android Question Running Third-Party Apps in Sequence via FCM on Android in Enterprise Environment

[ykucuk]

Hello,

I am developing an internal Android application for enterprise use that will not be uploaded to Google Play. The goal is to sequentially call third-party apps at specific intervals, keeping my app in the background.

Here's the scenario:

1. My app is active and in the foreground.
2. I send an FCM notification to the app containing the package name of a third-party app, and then launch that app using an intent.
3. After a certain period, I send another FCM notification with a new package name to open a different third-party app.

The issue arises after launching the first third-party app: my app moves to the background, and even though it receives the next FCM notification, it is unable to bring the new app to the foreground. I understand that many actions like this have been restricted for security reasons in recent Android versions (as of 2024), but since this is for internal use, I am hoping there might be a workaround or best practice.

Is there a way for my app to bring itself back to the foreground after receiving an FCM notification or to handle sequential app launching when it’s running in the background? How can I ensure that my app continues to launch third-party apps even when it’s not in the foreground?

Any advice or best practices for handling this use case in an enterprise environment would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Erel]

The solution is to gain the special "draw on top of apps" permission: https://www.b4x.com/android/forum/threads/draw-on-top-of-other-apps-permission.90513/#content

It will allow you to start activities while the app is in the background.

 

[ykucuk]

The solution is to gain the special "draw on top of apps" permission: https://www.b4x.com/android/forum/threads/draw-on-top-of-other-apps-permission.90513/#content

It will allow you to start activities while the app is in the background.

Erel, this solution worked perfectly. It was exactly what I needed. Is there a similar setup for B4i?

 

[Erel]

No. iOS doesn't allow you to do such thing. The best you can do is to show a notification and the app will start if the user clicks on it.

 

[ykucuk]

No. iOS doesn't allow you to do such thing. The best you can do is to show a notification and the app will start if the user clicks on it.

It might be a bit of a stretch, but is it possible to automatically click on incoming notifications (iOS) using the accessibility service? According to the document found here (Building Accessible Apps: https://developer.apple.com/accessibility/), I would like to know if there’s any method for handling notifications in this way.

 

[Erel]

No.