[SOLVED] Cannot get foreground activity name in Android Lollipop 5.0 only

Cannot get foreground activity name in Android Lollipop 5.0 only

I use the following code to get the activity name of the foreground app in the variable foregroundTaskPackageName. It works on all OS versions between 4.1 to 4.4, but does not work in Android 5.0 Lollipop.

Can anyone help with what has changed in 5.0 Lollipop? In Lollipop - the text I get for foregroundTaskPackageName is just 'Launcher3'. I am using the Genymotion Emulator.

ActivityManager am = (ActivityManager) getSystemService(ACTIVITY_SERVICE);
RunningTaskInfo foregroundTaskInfo = am.getRunningTasks(1).get(0); // get
                                                                        // list
                                                                        // of
                                                                        // running
                                                                        // tasks
String foregroundTaskAppName = null;
String foregroundTaskPackageName = foregroundTaskInfo.topActivity
                .getPackageName();

Solution

You need to use the new UsageStatsManager and call its queryUsageStats method to get the history of activities launched. Please note that the user will be required to provide access to usage stat on the device settings at Security->Apps with usage access.

Links:

UsageStatsManager documentation

queryUsageStats method documentation