Telephony

public final class Telephony
extends Object

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 hasSystemFeature(PackageManager.FEATURE_TELEPHONY) or 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 SMS_DELIVER_ACTION broadcast when the user receives an SMS or the 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_DELIVER_ACTION ("android.provider.Telephony.SMS_DELIVER"). The broadcast receiver must also require the BROADCAST_SMS permission.

  This allows your app to directly receive incoming SMS messages.

• In a broadcast receiver, include an intent filter for 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 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 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 ACTION_RESPOND_VIA_MESSAGE ("android.intent.action.RESPOND_VIA_MESSAGE") with schemas, sms:, smsto:, mms:, and mmsto:. This service must also require the 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_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

Inherited methods

From class java.lang.Object Object clone() Creates and returns a copy of this object. boolean equals(Object obj) Indicates whether some other object is "equal to" this one. void finalize() Called by the garbage collector on an object when garbage collection determines that there are no more references to the object. final Class<?> getClass() Returns the runtime class of this Object. int hashCode() Returns a hash code value for the object. final void notify() Wakes up a single thread that is waiting on this object's monitor. final void notifyAll() Wakes up all threads that are waiting on this object's monitor. String toString() Returns a string representation of the object. final void wait(long millis, int nanos) Causes the current thread to wait until another thread invokes the notify() method or the notifyAll() method for this object, or some other thread interrupts the current thread, or a certain amount of real time has elapsed. final void wait(long millis) Causes the current thread to wait until either another thread invokes the notify() method or the notifyAll() method for this object, or a specified amount of time has elapsed. final void wait() Causes the current thread to wait until another thread invokes the notify() method or the notifyAll() method for this object.