When I add Extras to PendinIntent from Notification, RemoveExtras has no effect

Question

My problem is quite simple to explain:

I create a notification from a push service and start my activity with some extras:

notificationIntent = new Intent(getBaseContext(), MainActivity.class);
                notificationIntent.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TOP
                        | Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_SINGLE_TOP);
notificationIntent.putExtra("typeI",data.get("type"));

Log.e("DEBUG","PUT EXTRA");

PendingIntent pi = PendingIntent.getActivity(getBaseContext(), 0, notificationIntent, PendingIntent.FLAG_UPDATE_CURRENT);

So, when I click my notification, I can read the type in my activity:

Log.e("DEBUG", "Extra -> " + getIntent().getStringExtra("typeI"));

And this is working fine.

The only annoyance is that I quit the application with the back button, Activity is destroyed, and when launching it again from the Launcher, I still get the extras!

So, I just tried to remove the extras, in my ACtivity, just after reading them just in case:

Log.e("DEBUG","REMOVE");
getIntent().removeExtra("typeI");
getIntent().putExtra("typeI","");

But that doesn't remove the extras, and next time I open the application Extras are still there.

Any idea what I am doing wrong?

Answer 1

When you remove the "extras", this only removes the "extras" in the "in-memory instance of the Intent". The original Intent is still persisted by Android and is reused when you launch the app again.

This is a bug, or a feature, depending on what you are trying to do.

I wrote a rather lengthly response to a similar question in 2013. Have a look at my answer here. You probably want to use Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_EXCLUDE_FROM_RECENTS.

You also shouldn't need to use launchMode="singleInstance". This special launch mode is not necessary unless you are writing a HOME-screen replacement.

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EDIT: You indicated in a comment that this didn't work for you. I think the problem is that you are using your root Activity (the one with ACTION=MAIN and CATEGORY=LAUNCHER) in the Notification. Try this instead:

For the Notification, don't use MainActivity, but NotificationActivity. Define NotificationActivity as an alias for MainActivity in the manifest like this:

<activity-alias
    android:name=".NotificationActivity"
    android:targetActivity=".MainActivity"
    android:label="@string/app_name"
    android:theme="@style/AppTheme.Launcher">
</activity>

This entry should not contain any <intent-filter> and must appear after the manifest entry for MainActivity.