Actual behavior of DevicePolicyManager.setApplicationHidden

Is there anyone knows SDK well enough to tell why after making my app device-owner and executing DevicePolicyManager.setApplicationHidden for a list of apps I can't then find them unless I'd put PackageManager.getInstalledApplications(PackageManager.GET_META_DATA or PackageManager.MATCH_UNINSTALLED_PACKAGES) in the query flags? (meaning just GET_META_DATA won't work and hidden applications would not be unhidden) I try to find them to unhide them — but no success unless I am looking for uninstalled also.

My theory is that Android doesn't really hide them, but actually marking them uninstalled yet keeping all the data — but I didn't find any information regards it in the documentation. Wonder if someone can clarify this behavior (with source).

Thanks!

The naming is ambiguous but indeed setApplicationHidden effectively uninstalls the app but keeps the APK and data in storage. If you're looking for a way to prevent use of the app without uninstalling it you can try setPackagesSuspended.

You can find the source for setApplicationHidden in PackageManagerService.setApplicationHiddenSettingAsUser() (relevant abstract below). Its logic is simple:

• setApplicationHiddenSettingAsUser calls packageSetting.setHidden() to mark the package as hidden for the user,
• other methods of PackageManagerService call packageSetting.getHidden() to decide whether the package should be returned.

Code abstract for setApplicationHiddenSettingAsUser:

@Override
public boolean setApplicationHiddenSettingAsUser(String packageName, boolean hidden,
        int userId) {
    PackageSetting pkgSetting;
    ...
    try {
        ...
        synchronized (mPackages) {
            pkgSetting = mSettings.mPackages.get(packageName);
            ...
            if (pkgSetting.getHidden(userId) != hidden) {
                pkgSetting.setHidden(hidden, userId);
                mSettings.writePackageRestrictionsLPr(userId);
                ...
            }
        }
        ...
    }
}