Foreground service types

Beginning with Android 14 (API level 34), you must declare an appropriate service type for each foreground service. That means you must declare the service type in your app manifest, and also request the appropriate foreground service permission for that type (in addition to requesting the FOREGROUND_SERVICE permission). Furthermore, depending on the foreground service type, you might have to request runtime permissions before you launch the service.

Note: In many cases, there are purpose-built APIs you can use instead of creating a particular type of foreground service. When purpose-built APIs are available, they are usually a better choice than creating a foreground service. These APIs are listed in Alternatives sections within the appropriate foreground service types.

Camera

Foreground service type to declare in manifest under android:foregroundServiceType

camera

Permission to declare in your manifest

FOREGROUND_SERVICE_CAMERA

Constant to pass to startForeground()

FOREGROUND_SERVICE_TYPE_CAMERA

Runtime prerequisites

Request and be granted the CAMERA runtime permission

Note: The CAMERA runtime permission is subject to while-in-use restrictions. For this reason, you cannot create a camera foreground service while your app is in the background and you cannot launch a camera foreground service from a BOOT_COMPLETED receiver, with a few exceptions. For more information, see Restrictions on starting foreground services that need while-in-use permissions.

Description

Continue to access the camera from the background, such as video chat apps that allow for multitasking.

Connected device

Foreground service type to declare in manifest under

android:foregroundServiceType

connectedDevice

Permission to declare in your manifest

FOREGROUND_SERVICE_CONNECTED_DEVICE

Constant to pass to startForeground()

FOREGROUND_SERVICE_TYPE_CONNECTED_DEVICE

Runtime prerequisites

At least one of the following conditions must be true:

• Declare at least one of the following permissions in your manifest:

  • CHANGE_NETWORK_STATE
  • CHANGE_WIFI_STATE
  • CHANGE_WIFI_MULTICAST_STATE
  • NFC
  • TRANSMIT_IR

• Request and be granted at least one of the following runtime permissions:

  • BLUETOOTH_CONNECT
  • BLUETOOTH_ADVERTISE
  • BLUETOOTH_SCAN
  • UWB_RANGING

• Call UsbManager.requestPermission()

Description

Interactions with external devices that require a Bluetooth, NFC, IR, USB, or network connection.

Note: If your app performs a projection or remote messaging operation, use the corresponding media projection or remote messaging type instead.

Alternatives

If your app needs to do continuous data transfer to an external device, consider using the companion device manager instead. Use the companion device presence API to help your app stay running while the companion device is in range.

If your app needs to scan for bluetooth devices, consider using the Bluetooth scan API instead.

Data sync

Foreground service type to declare in manifest under

android:foregroundServiceType

dataSync

Permission to declare in your manifest

FOREGROUND_SERVICE_DATA_SYNC

Constant to pass to startForeground()

FOREGROUND_SERVICE_TYPE_DATA_SYNC

Runtime prerequisites

None

Description

Data transfer operations, such as the following:

• Data upload or download
• Backup-and-restore operations
• Import or export operations
• Fetch data
• Local file processing
• Transfer data between a device and the cloud over a network

Note: Apps that target Android 15 or higher are not allowed to launch a data sync foreground service from a BOOT_COMPLETED broadcast receiver. For more information, see Restrictions on BOOT_COMPLETED broadcast receivers launching foreground services.

Alternatives

See Alternatives to data sync foreground services for detailed information.

Health

Foreground service type to declare in manifest under

android:foregroundServiceType

health

Permission to declare in your manifest

FOREGROUND_SERVICE_HEALTH

Constant to pass to startForeground()

FOREGROUND_SERVICE_TYPE_HEALTH

Runtime prerequisites

At least one of the following conditions must be true:

• Declare the HIGH_SAMPLING_RATE_SENSORS permission in your manifest.

• Request and be granted at least one of the following runtime permissions:

  • BODY_SENSORS
  • ACTIVITY_RECOGNITION

Note: The BODY_SENSORS runtime permission is subject to while-in-use restrictions. For this reason, you cannot create a health foreground service that uses body sensors while your app is in the background, unless you've been granted the BODY_SENSORS_BACKGROUND permission. For more information, see Restrictions on starting foreground services that need while-in-use permissions.

Description

Any long-running use cases to support apps in the fitness category such as exercise trackers.

Location

Foreground service type to declare in manifest under

android:foregroundServiceType

location

Permission to declare in your manifest

FOREGROUND_SERVICE_LOCATION

Constant to pass to startForeground()

FOREGROUND_SERVICE_TYPE_LOCATION

Runtime prerequisites

The user must have enabled location services and the app must be granted at least one of the following runtime permissions:

• ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION
• ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION

Note: In order to check that the user has enabled location services as well as granted access to the runtime permissions, use PermissionChecker#checkSelfPermission()

Note: The location runtime permissions are subject to while-in-use restrictions. For this reason, you cannot create a location foreground service while your app is in the background, unless you've been granted the ACCESS_BACKGROUND_LOCATION runtime permission. For more information, see Restrictions on starting foreground services that need while-in-use permissions.

Description

Long-running use cases that require location access, such as navigation and location sharing.

Alternatives

If your app needs to be triggered when the user reaches specific locations, consider using the geofence API instead.

Media

Foreground service type to declare in manifest under

android:foregroundServiceType

mediaPlayback

Permission to declare in your manifest

FOREGROUND_SERVICE_MEDIA_PLAYBACK

Constant to pass to startForeground()

FOREGROUND_SERVICE_TYPE_MEDIA_PLAYBACK

Runtime prerequisites

None

Description

Continue audio or video playback from the background. Support Digital Video Recording (DVR) functionality on Android TV.

Note: Apps that target Android 15 or higher are not allowed to launch a media playback foreground service from a BOOT_COMPLETED broadcast receiver. For more information, see Restrictions on BOOT_COMPLETED broadcast receivers launching foreground services.

Alternatives

If you're showing picture-in-picture video, use Picture-in-Picture mode.

Media processing

Foreground service type to declare in manifest under

android:foregroundServiceType

mediaProcessing

Permission to declare in your manifest

FOREGROUND_SERVICE_MEDIA_PROCESSING

Constant to pass to startForeground()

FOREGROUND_SERVICE_TYPE_MEDIA_PROCESSING

Runtime prerequisites

None

Description

Service for performing time-consuming operations on media assets, like converting media to different formats. The system allows this service a limited time to run; under normal circumstances, this time limit would be 6 hours out of every 24. (This limit is shared by all of an app's mediaProcessing foreground services.)

Your app should manually stop the media processing service in the following scenario:

• When the transcoding operation finishes or reaches a failure state, have the service call Service.stopForeground() and Service.stopSelf() to stop the service completely.

If the timeout period is reached, the system calls the service's Service.onTimeout(int, int) method. At this time, the service has a few seconds to call Service.stopSelf(). If the service does not call Service.stopSelf(), an ANR will occur with this error message: "A foreground service of <fgs_type> did not stop within its timeout: <component_name>".

Note: Service.onTimeout(int, int) is not available on Android 14 or lower. On devices running those versions, if a media processing service reaches the timeout period, the system immediately caches the app. For this reason, your app shouldn't wait to get a timeout notification. Instead, it should terminate the foreground service or change it to a background service as soon as appropriate.

Media projection

Foreground service type to declare in manifest under

android:foregroundServiceType

mediaProjection

Permission to declare in your manifest

FOREGROUND_SERVICE_MEDIA_PROJECTION

Constant to pass to startForeground()

FOREGROUND_SERVICE_TYPE_MEDIA_PROJECTION

Runtime prerequisites

Call the createScreenCaptureIntent() method before starting the foreground service. Doing so shows a permission notification to the user; the user must grant the permission before you can create the service.

After you have created the foreground service, you can call MediaProjectionManager.getMediaProjection().

Description

Project content to non-primary display or external device using the MediaProjection APIs. This content doesn't have to be exclusively media content.

Note: Apps that target Android 15 or higher are not allowed to launch a media projection foreground service from a BOOT_COMPLETED broadcast receiver. For more information, see Restrictions on BOOT_COMPLETED broadcast receivers launching foreground services.

Alternatives

To stream media to another device, use the Google Cast SDK.

Microphone

Foreground service type to declare in manifest under

android:foregroundServiceType

microphone

Permission to declare in your manifest

FOREGROUND_SERVICE_MICROPHONE

Constant to pass to startForeground()

FOREGROUND_SERVICE_TYPE_MICROPHONE

Runtime prerequisites

Request and be granted the RECORD_AUDIO runtime permission.

Note: The RECORD_AUDIO runtime permission is subject to while-in-use restrictions. For this reason, you cannot create a microphone foreground service while your app is in the background and you cannot launch a microphone foreground service from a BOOT_COMPLETED receiver, with a few exceptions. For more information, see Restrictions on starting foreground services that need while-in-use permissions.

Description

Continue microphone capture from the background, such as voice recorders or communication apps.

Phone call

Foreground service type to declare in manifest under

android:foregroundServiceType

phoneCall

Permission to declare in your manifest

FOREGROUND_SERVICE_PHONE_CALL

Constant to pass to startForeground()

FOREGROUND_SERVICE_TYPE_PHONE_CALL

Runtime prerequisites

At least one of these conditions must be true:

• App has declared the MANAGE_OWN_CALLS permission in its manifest file.

• App is the default dialer app through the ROLE_DIALER role.

Note: Apps that target Android 15 or higher are not allowed to launch a phone call foreground service from a BOOT_COMPLETED broadcast receiver. For more information, see Restrictions on BOOT_COMPLETED broadcast receivers launching foreground services.

Description

Continue an ongoing call using the ConnectionService APIs.

Alternatives

If you need to make phone, video, or VoIP calls, consider using the android.telecom library.

Consider using CallScreeningService to screen calls.

Remote messaging

要在其清单中声明的前台服务类型

android:foregroundServiceType

remoteMessaging

在清单中声明的权限

FOREGROUND_SERVICE_REMOTE_MESSAGING

要传递给 startForeground() 的常量

FOREGROUND_SERVICE_TYPE_REMOTE_MESSAGING

运行时前提条件

无

说明

将短信从一台设备转移到另一台设备。在用户切换设备时，帮助确保用户消息任务的连续性。

Short service

要在其清单中声明的前台服务类型

android:foregroundServiceType

shortService

在清单中声明的权限

无

要传递给 startForeground() 的常量

FOREGROUND_SERVICE_TYPE_SHORT_SERVICE

运行时前提条件

无

说明

快速完成不可中断或推迟的关键工作。

这种类型有一些独特的特征：

• 只能持续运行一小段时间（大约 3 分钟）。
• 不支持粘性前台服务。
• 无法启动其他前台服务。
• 不需要类型专用权限，不过它仍需要 FOREGROUND_SERVICE 权限。
• 只有当应用当前有资格启动新的前台服务时，shortService 才能更改为另一种服务类型。
• 前台服务可以随时将其类型更改为 shortService，届时超时期限将开始。

shortService 的超时时间从调用 Service.startForeground() 开始算起。应用应在发生超时之前调用 Service.stopSelf() 或 Service.stopForeground()。否则，系统会调用新的 Service.onTimeout()，让应用有机会调用 stopSelf() 或 stopForeground() 来停止其服务。

调用 Service.onTimeout() 后的短时间内，应用会进入缓存状态，并且不再被视为处于前台，除非用户正在主动与应用互动。应用缓存一小段时间后，服务还未停止，该应用会收到 ANR 消息。ANR 消息提及 FOREGROUND_SERVICE_TYPE_SHORT_SERVICE。出于这些原因，实现 Service.onTimeout() 回调被视为一种最佳实践。

Android 13 及更低版本中不存在 Service.onTimeout() 回调。如果同一服务在此类设备上运行，则不会出现超时，也不会发生 ANR。确保您的服务在完成处理任务后立即停止，即使它尚未收到 Service.onTimeout() 回调也是如此。

请务必注意，如果未遵循 shortService 的超时设置，即使应用还有其他有效的前台服务或其他应用生命周期进程，应用也会遇到 ANR。

如果应用对用户可见，或满足允许从后台启动前台服务的某一豁免条件，则使用 FOREGROUND_SERVICE_TYPE_SHORT_SERVICE 参数再次调用 Service.StartForeground() 会将超时时间再延长 3 分钟。如果应用对用户不可见且不满足其中一个豁免条件，则尝试启动其他前台服务（无论其类型如何）都会导致 ForegroundServiceStartNotAllowedException。

即使用户为您的应用停用电池优化功能，仍然会受到 shortService FGS 的影响。

如果您启动包含 shortService 类型和另一个前台服务类型的前台服务，系统会忽略 shortService 类型声明。不过，该服务仍必须遵守其他声明类型的前提条件。如需了解详情，请参阅前台服务文档。

Special use

要在清单中声明的前台服务类型

android:foregroundServiceType

specialUse

在清单中声明的权限

FOREGROUND_SERVICE_SPECIAL_USE

要传递给 startForeground() 的常量

FOREGROUND_SERVICE_TYPE_SPECIAL_USE

运行时前提条件

无

说明

涵盖其他前台服务类型未涵盖的所有有效前台服务用例。

除了声明 FOREGROUND_SERVICE_TYPE_SPECIAL_USE 前台服务类型之外，开发者还应在清单中声明用例。为此，他们会在 <service> 元素内指定 <property> 元素。这些值和相应的应用场景 。用途 您提供的案例均为自由形式，因此，您应确保提供足够的 提供相关信息，让审核者了解您为何需要使用 specialUse 类型。

<service android:name="fooService" android:foregroundServiceType="specialUse">
  <property android:name="android.app.PROPERTY_SPECIAL_USE_FGS_SUBTYPE"
      android:value="explanation_for_special_use"/>
</service>

System exempted

要在其清单中声明的前台服务类型

android:foregroundServiceType

systemExempted

在清单中声明的权限

FOREGROUND_SERVICE_SYSTEM_EXEMPTED

要传递给 startForeground() 的常量

FOREGROUND_SERVICE_TYPE_SYSTEM_EXEMPTED

运行时前提条件

无

说明

为系统应用和特定系统集成预留，以便继续使用前台服务。

如需使用此类型，应用必须至少满足以下条件之一：

• 设备处于演示模式状态
• 应用是设备所有者
• 应用是性能分析器所有者
• 属于具有 ROLE_EMERGENCY 角色的安全应用
• 属于设备管理应用
• 具有 SCHEDULE_EXACT_ALARM 或 USE_EXACT_ALARM 权限的应用

• VPN 应用（通过设置 > 网络和互联网 > VPN 进行配置）

  否则，声明此类型会导致系统抛出 ForegroundServiceTypeNotAllowedException。

Google Play policy enforcement for using foreground service types

If your app targets Android 14 or higher, you'll need to declare your app's foreground service types in the Play Console's app content page (Policy > App content). For more information on how to declare your foreground service types in Play Console, see Understanding foreground service and full-screen intent requirements.