Android 9 (Pie), Context.startForegroundService() did not then call Service.startForeground(): ServiceRecord

Question

First of all, I looked at these;

• Context.startForegroundService() did not then call Service.startForeground()
• Context.startForegroundService() did not then call Service.startForeground
• Android 9 (Pie) Only: Context.startForegroundService() did not then call Service.startForeground() - Works fine on Oreo
• RemoteServiceException Context.startForegroundService() did not then call Service.startForeground()
• https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/76112072

I have a streaming application used by almost a million people. I'm using foreground service for the player. I didn't implement MediaSession yet. I have a 99.95% crash-free sessions. So this app works on all versions but I started getting crash reports(ANR) with android 9. This crash occurs only Samsung phones, especially s9, s9+, s10, s10+, note9 models.

I tried these,

• Calling startForeground() method in onCreate()
• Calling Service.startForeground() before Context.stopService()
• Other stackoverflow answers to similar questions

I read some comments from developers of Google, they said it's just Intended Behavior. I wonder is it occurred by Samsung's system or Android OS. Does anyone have an opinion about this? How can I fix this?

Answer 1

I was waiting my crash report to share the solution. I didn't get any crash or ANR almost 20 days. I want to share my solution. It can help those who encounter this problem.

In onCreate() method

• First of all, my app is a media application. I didn't implement the mediasession yet. I'm creating a notification channel in the top of onCreate(). Official doc
• I'm calling Service.startForeground() method after Context.startForegroundService() method. In my prepareAndStartForeground() method.

  Note: I don't know why but ContextCompat.startForegroundService() doesn't work properly.

For this reason, I've added manually same function to my service class instead of calling ContextCompat.startForegroundService()

private fun startForegroundService(intent: Intent) {
    if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= 26) {
        context.startForegroundService(intent)
    } else {
        // Pre-O behavior.
        context.startService(intent)
    }
}

---

prepareAndStartForeground() method

private fun prepareAndStartForeground() {
    try {
        val intent = Intent(ctx, MusicService::class.java)
        startForegroundService(intent)

        val n = mNotificationBuilder.build()
        // do sth
        startForeground(Define.NOTIFICATION_ID, n)
    } catch (e: Exception) {
        Log.e(TAG, "startForegroundNotification: " + e.message)
    }
}

---

It's my onCreate()

override fun onCreate() {
    super.onCreate()
    createNotificationChannel()
    prepareAndStartForeground()
}

---

My onStartCommand()

override fun onStartCommand(intent: Intent?, flags: Int, startId: Int): Int {
    if (intent == null) {
        return START_STICKY_COMPATIBILITY
    } else {
        //....
        //...
    }
    return START_STICKY
}

---

onRebind, onBind, onUnbind methods like these

internal var binder: IBinder? = null

override fun onRebind(intent: Intent) {
    stopForeground(true) // <- remove notification
}

override fun onBind(intent: Intent): IBinder? {
    stopForeground(true) // <- remove notification
    return binder
}

override fun onUnbind(intent: Intent): Boolean {
    prepareAndStartForeground() // <- show notification again
    return true
}

---

We need to clear something when onDestroy() calling

   override fun onDestroy() {
    super.onDestroy()
    releaseService()
   }

---

private fun releaseService() {
    stopMedia()
    stopTimer()
    // sth like these
    player = null
    mContext = null
    afChangeListener = null
    mAudioBecomingNoisy = null
    handler = null
    mNotificationBuilder = null
    mNotificationManager = null
    mInstance = null
}

I hope this solution works properly for you.