Listen to incoming Whatsapp messages/notifications

Question

I\'m working on a notification based app, for which I need to listen to incoming notifications. I\'ve been able to listen to incoming calls, SMS, mail etc. I have no clue ho

Answer 1

AUG/11/2020 Update

I have to use NotificationListenerService to get detailed info about notification.

Here's service code in Java:

public class NotificationListener extends NotificationListenerService {

    private static final String TAG = "NotificationListener";
    private static final String WA_PACKAGE = "com.whatsapp";

    @Override
    public void onListenerConnected() {
        Log.i(TAG, "Notification Listener connected");
    }

    @Override
    public void onNotificationPosted(StatusBarNotification sbn) {
        if (!sbn.getPackageName().equals(WA_PACKAGE)) return;

        Notification notification = sbn.getNotification();
        Bundle bundle = notification.extras;

        String from = bundle.getString(NotificationCompat.EXTRA_TITLE);
        String message = bundle.getString(NotificationCompat.EXTRA_TEXT);

        Log.i(TAG, "From: " + from);
        Log.i(TAG, "Message: " + message);
    }
}

And the code required to be placed in AndroidManifest.xml:

To intercept notifications, a special Permission is required. You can open notification listener settings using the code bellow, I placed this code inside my MainActivity.

startActivity(new Intent(ACTION_NOTIFICATION_LISTENER_SETTINGS))

And lastly, you can check if permission was given before or not using the code bellow:

private boolean isNotificationServiceEnabled(){
    String pkgName = getPackageName();
    final String flat = Settings.Secure.getString(getContentResolver(),
            ENABLED_NOTIFICATION_LISTENERS);
    if (!TextUtils.isEmpty(flat)) {
        final String[] names = flat.split(":");
        for (String name: names) {
            final ComponentName cn = ComponentName.unflattenFromString(name);
            if (cn != null) {
                if (TextUtils.equals(pkgName, cn.getPackageName())) {
                    return true;
                }
            }
        }
    }
    return false;
}

PS: I don't know or can not explain why/how it works because I copied the codes from my 1 year old project.

Old answer

I listened to incoming WhatsApp message notifications with the help of this 2 parted article which you can read it from here.

1. Configure AndroidManifest.xml

2. Create a new file called serviceconfig.xml in /xml/ directory.

3. Create a new MyAccessibilityService class which extends AccessibilityService.

@Override
protected void onServiceConnected() {
        System.out.println("onServiceConnected");
        AccessibilityServiceInfo info = new AccessibilityServiceInfo();
        info.eventTypes = AccessibilityEvent.TYPE_NOTIFICATION_STATE_CHANGED;
        info.feedbackType = AccessibilityServiceInfo.FEEDBACK_ALL_MASK;
        info.notificationTimeout = 100;
        info.packageNames = null;
        setServiceInfo(info);
}

@Override
public void onAccessibilityEvent(AccessibilityEvent event) {
    if (event.getEventType() == AccessibilityEvent.TYPE_NOTIFICATION_STATE_CHANGED) {
        if (event.getPackageName().toString().equals("com.whatsapp")){
            StringBuilder message = new StringBuilder();
            if (!event.getText().isEmpty()) {
                for (CharSequence subText : event.getText()) {
                    message.append(subText);
                }

                // Message from +12345678

            }
        }
    }
}

4. It's ready. Now you can customize the service for your needs.

Note: Because accessibility services are able to explore and interact with on-screen content, a user has to explicitly enable services in Settings > Accessibility. More details

Edit

To send replies to received notifications check out this answer.