Telephony

class Telephony

The Telephony provider contains data related to phone operation, specifically SMS and MMS messages, access to the APN list, including the MMSC to use, and the service state.

Note: These APIs are not available on all Android-powered devices. If your app depends on telephony features such as for managing SMS messages, include a <uses-feature> element in your manifest that declares the "android.hardware.telephony" hardware feature. Alternatively, you can check for telephony availability at runtime using either android.content.pm.PackageManager#hasSystemFeature or android.telephony.TelephonyManager#getPhoneType.

Creating an SMS app

Only the default SMS app (selected by the user in system settings) is able to write to the SMS Provider (the tables defined within the Telephony class) and only the default SMS app receives the android.provider.Telephony.Sms.Intents#SMS_DELIVER_ACTION broadcast when the user receives an SMS or the android.provider.Telephony.Sms.Intents#WAP_PUSH_DELIVER_ACTION broadcast when the user receives an MMS.

Any app that wants to behave as the user's default SMS app must handle the following intents:

• In a broadcast receiver, include an intent filter for Sms.Intents#SMS_DELIVER_ACTION ("android.provider.Telephony.SMS_DELIVER"). The broadcast receiver must also require the android.Manifest.permission#BROADCAST_SMS permission.

  This allows your app to directly receive incoming SMS messages.

• In a broadcast receiver, include an intent filter for Sms.Intents#WAP_PUSH_DELIVER_ACTION} ("android.provider.Telephony.WAP_PUSH_DELIVER") with the MIME type "application/vnd.wap.mms-message". The broadcast receiver must also require the android.Manifest.permission#BROADCAST_WAP_PUSH permission.

  This allows your app to directly receive incoming MMS messages.

• In your activity that delivers new messages, include an intent filter for android.content.Intent#ACTION_SENDTO ("android.intent.action.SENDTO" ) with schemas, sms:, smsto:, mms:, and mmsto:.

  This allows your app to receive intents from other apps that want to deliver a message.

• In a service, include an intent filter for android.telephony.TelephonyManager#ACTION_RESPOND_VIA_MESSAGE ("android.intent.action.RESPOND_VIA_MESSAGE") with schemas, sms:, smsto:, mms:, and mmsto:. This service must also require the android.Manifest.permission#SEND_RESPOND_VIA_MESSAGE permission.

  This allows users to respond to incoming phone calls with an immediate text message using your app.

Other apps that are not selected as the default SMS app can only read the SMS Provider, but may also be notified when a new SMS arrives by listening for the Sms.Intents#SMS_RECEIVED_ACTION broadcast, which is a non-abortable broadcast that may be delivered to multiple apps. This broadcast is intended for apps that—while not selected as the default SMS app—need to read special incoming messages such as to perform phone number verification.

For more information about building SMS apps, read the blog post, Getting Your SMS Apps Ready for KitKat.

Summary