Hide application icon

Question

I am doing an Android application. I want to hide the application icon in the emulator and I want to start my application by pressing some numbers, for instance 456#. Is the

Answer 1

If you want to hide the app icon it's a good idea to show the icon first and let the user know how to start the app once the icon is gone. First create an activity-alias in the manifest and move your intent filter there. This way you can disable the icon without disabling the activity.

Get the component name of the launcher alias using your package name:

private static final ComponentName LAUNCHER_COMPONENT_NAME = new ComponentName(
            "your.package.name", "your.package.name.Launcher");

You can check if it's already disabled...

private boolean isLauncherIconVisible() {
    int enabledSetting = getPackageManager()
            .getComponentEnabledSetting(LAUNCHER_COMPONENT_NAME);
    return enabledSetting != PackageManager.COMPONENT_ENABLED_STATE_DISABLED;
}

...and disable it when appropriate after giving the user information:

private void hideLauncherIcon() {
    AlertDialog.Builder builder = new AlertDialog.Builder(this);
    builder.setTitle("Important!");
    builder.setMessage("To launch the app again, dial phone number 12345.");
    builder.setPositiveButton(android.R.string.ok, new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {
        public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog, int which) {
            getPackageManager().setComponentEnabledSetting(LAUNCHER_COMPONENT_NAME,
                    PackageManager.COMPONENT_ENABLED_STATE_DISABLED,
                    PackageManager.DONT_KILL_APP);
        }
    });
    builder.setIcon(android.R.drawable.ic_dialog_alert);
    builder.show();
}

To launch from the dialer create a broadcast receiver:

public class LaunchViaDialReceiver extends BroadcastReceiver {

    private static final String LAUNCHER_NUMBER = "12345";

    @Override
    public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
        String phoneNubmer = intent.getStringExtra(Intent.EXTRA_PHONE_NUMBER);
        if (LAUNCHER_NUMBER.equals(phoneNubmer)) {
            setResultData(null);
            Intent appIntent = new Intent(context, MainActivity.class);
            appIntent.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
            context.startActivity(appIntent);
        }
    }
}

Add it to the manifest:

And add the permission to the manifest: