“Protected Apps” setting on Huawei phones, and how to handle it

Question

I have a Huawei P8 with Android 5.0 that I\'m using for testing an app. The app needs to be running in the background, as it tracks BLE regions.

I\'ve discovered t

Answer 1

Solution for all devices (Xamarin.Android)

Usage:

MainActivity =>
protected override void OnCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
{
    base.OnCreate(savedInstanceState);

    MyUtils.StartPowerSaverIntent(this);
}

---

public class MyUtils
{
    private const string SKIP_INTENT_CHECK = "skipAppListMessage";

    private static List POWERMANAGER_INTENTS = new List()
    {
        new Intent().SetComponent(new ComponentName("com.miui.securitycenter", "com.miui.permcenter.autostart.AutoStartManagementActivity")),
        new Intent().SetComponent(new ComponentName("com.letv.android.letvsafe", "com.letv.android.letvsafe.AutobootManageActivity")),
        new Intent().SetComponent(new ComponentName("com.huawei.systemmanager", "com.huawei.systemmanager.appcontrol.activity.StartupAppControlActivity")),
        new Intent().SetComponent(new ComponentName("com.huawei.systemmanager", "com.huawei.systemmanager.optimize.process.ProtectActivity")),
        new Intent().SetComponent(new ComponentName("com.coloros.safecenter", "com.coloros.safecenter.permission.startup.StartupAppListActivity")),
        new Intent().SetComponent(new ComponentName("com.coloros.safecenter", "com.coloros.safecenter.startupapp.StartupAppListActivity")),
        new Intent().SetComponent(new ComponentName("com.oppo.safe", "com.oppo.safe.permission.startup.StartupAppListActivity")),
        new Intent().SetComponent(new ComponentName("com.iqoo.secure", "com.iqoo.secure.ui.phoneoptimize.AddWhiteListActivity")),
        new Intent().SetComponent(new ComponentName("com.iqoo.secure", "com.iqoo.secure.ui.phoneoptimize.BgStartUpManager")),
        new Intent().SetComponent(new ComponentName("com.vivo.permissionmanager", "com.vivo.permissionmanager.activity.BgStartUpManagerActivity")),
        new Intent().SetComponent(new ComponentName("com.samsung.android.lool", "com.samsung.android.sm.ui.battery.BatteryActivity")),
        new Intent().SetComponent(new ComponentName("com.htc.pitroad", "com.htc.pitroad.landingpage.activity.LandingPageActivity")),
        new Intent().SetComponent(new ComponentName("com.asus.mobilemanager", "com.asus.mobilemanager.autostart.AutoStartActivity")),
        new Intent().SetComponent(new ComponentName("com.asus.mobilemanager", "com.asus.mobilemanager.entry.FunctionActivity")).SetData(Android.Net.Uri.Parse("mobilemanager://function/entry/AutoStart")),
        new Intent().SetComponent(new ComponentName("com.dewav.dwappmanager", "com.dewav.dwappmanager.memory.SmartClearupWhiteList"))
    };

    public static void StartPowerSaverIntent(Context context)
    {
        ISharedPreferences settings = context.GetSharedPreferences("ProtectedApps", FileCreationMode.Private);
        bool skipMessage = settings.GetBoolean(SKIP_INTENT_CHECK, false);
        if (!skipMessage)
        {
            bool HasIntent = false;
            ISharedPreferencesEditor editor = settings.Edit();
            foreach (Intent intent in POWERMANAGER_INTENTS)
            {
                if (context.PackageManager.ResolveActivity(intent, PackageInfoFlags.MatchDefaultOnly) != null)
                {
                    var dontShowAgain = new Android.Support.V7.Widget.AppCompatCheckBox(context);
                    dontShowAgain.Text = "Do not show again";
                    dontShowAgain.CheckedChange += (object sender, CompoundButton.CheckedChangeEventArgs e) =>
                    {
                        editor.PutBoolean(SKIP_INTENT_CHECK, e.IsChecked);
                        editor.Apply();
                    };

                    new AlertDialog.Builder(context)
                    .SetIcon(Android.Resource.Drawable.IcDialogAlert)
                    .SetTitle(string.Format("Add {0} to list", context.GetString(Resource.String.app_name)))
                    .SetMessage(string.Format("{0} requires to be enabled/added in the list to function properly.\n", context.GetString(Resource.String.app_name)))
                    .SetView(dontShowAgain)
                    .SetPositiveButton("Go to settings", (o, d) => context.StartActivity(intent))
                    .SetNegativeButton(Android.Resource.String.Cancel, (o, d) => { })
                    .Show();

                    HasIntent = true;

                    break;
                }
            }

            if (!HasIntent)
            {
                editor.PutBoolean(SKIP_INTENT_CHECK, true);
                editor.Apply();
            }
        }
    }
}

Add the following permissions in your Android.Manifest

---

To help find the activity of the device not listed here, simply use the following method to help find the correct activity to open for the user

C#

public static void LogDeviceBrandActivities(Context context)
{
    var Brand = Android.OS.Build.Brand?.ToLower()?.Trim() ?? "";
    var Manufacturer = Android.OS.Build.Manufacturer?.ToLower()?.Trim() ?? "";

    var apps = context.PackageManager.GetInstalledPackages(PackageInfoFlags.Activities);

    foreach (PackageInfo pi in apps.OrderBy(n => n.PackageName))
    {
        if (pi.PackageName.ToLower().Contains(Brand) || pi.PackageName.ToLower().Contains(Manufacturer))
        {
            var print = false;
            var activityInfo = "";

            if (pi.Activities != null)
            {
                foreach (var activity in pi.Activities.OrderBy(n => n.Name))
                {
                    if (activity.Name.ToLower().Contains(Brand) || activity.Name.ToLower().Contains(Manufacturer))
                    {
                        activityInfo += "  Activity: " + activity.Name + (string.IsNullOrEmpty(activity.Permission) ? "" : " - Permission: " + activity.Permission) + "\n";
                        print = true;
                    }
                }
            }

            if (print)
            {
                Android.Util.Log.Error("brand.activities", "PackageName: " + pi.PackageName);
                Android.Util.Log.Warn("brand.activities", activityInfo);
            }
        }
    }
}

Java

public static void logDeviceBrandActivities(Context context) {
    String brand = Build.BRAND.toLowerCase();
    String manufacturer = Build.MANUFACTURER.toLowerCase();

    List apps = context.getPackageManager().getInstalledPackages(PackageManager.GET_ACTIVITIES);

    Collections.sort(apps, (a, b) -> a.packageName.compareTo(b.packageName));
    for (PackageInfo pi : apps) {
        if (pi.packageName.toLowerCase().contains(brand) || pi.packageName.toLowerCase().contains(manufacturer)) {
            boolean print = false;
            StringBuilder activityInfo = new StringBuilder();

            if (pi.activities != null && pi.activities.length > 0) {
                List activities = Arrays.asList(pi.activities);

                Collections.sort(activities, (a, b) -> a.name.compareTo(b.name));
                for (ActivityInfo ai : activities) {
                    if (ai.name.toLowerCase().contains(brand) || ai.name.toLowerCase().contains(manufacturer)) {
                        activityInfo.append("  Activity: ").append(ai.name)
                                .append(ai.permission == null || ai.permission.length() == 0 ? "" : " - Permission: " + ai.permission)
                                .append("\n");
                        print = true;
                    }
                }
            }

            if (print) {
                Log.e("brand.activities", "PackageName: " + pi.packageName);
                Log.w("brand.activities", activityInfo.toString());
            }
        }
    }
}

Execute on startup and search through the log file, add a logcat filter on TAG of brand.activities

MainActivity =>
protected override void OnCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
{
    base.OnCreate(savedInstanceState);

    MyUtils.LogDeviceBrandActivities(this);
}

Sample Output:

E/brand.activities: PackageName: com.samsung.android.lool
W/brand.activities: ...
W/brand.activities:   Activity: com.samsung.android.sm.ui.battery.AppSleepSettingActivity
W/brand.activities:   Activity: com.samsung.android.sm.ui.battery.BatteryActivity <-- This is the one...
W/brand.activities:   Activity: com.samsung.android.sm.ui.battery.BatteryActivityForCard
W/brand.activities: ...

So the component name will be:

new ComponentName("", "")
new ComponentName("com.samsung.android.lool", "com.samsung.android.sm.ui.battery.BatteryActivity")

If the activity has a permission next to it, the following entry in the Android.Manifest is required to open the activity:

Comment or edit the new component into this answer. All help will me much appreciated.