Service vs IntentService in the Android platform

Question

I am seeking an example of something that can be done with an IntentService that cannot be done with a Service (and vice-versa)?

I also bel

Answer 1

IntentService

IntentService runs on its own thread. It will stop itself when it's done. More like fire and forget. Subsequent calls will be queued. Good for queuing calls. You can also spin multiple threads within IntentServiceif you need to- You can achieve this using ThreadPoolExecutor. I say this because many people asked me "why use IntentService since it doesn't support parallel execution". IntentService is just a thread. You can do whatever you need inside it- Even spinning multiple threads. The only caveat is that IntentService finishes as soon as you spin those multiple threads. It doesn't wait for those threads to come back. You need to take care of this. So I recommend using ThreadPoolExecutor in those scenarios.

• Good for Syncing, uploading etc …

Service

By Default Service runs on the main thread. You need to spin a worker thread to do your job. You need to stop service explicitly. I used it for a situation when you need to run stuff in the background even when you move away from your app and come back more for a Headless service.

• Again you can run multiple threads if you need to.
• Can be used for apps like music players.

You can always communicate back to your activity using BroadcastReceivers if you need to.