Install / Uninstall App from Another App Dynamically

If you want to install a custom app dynamically from your app, then it is quite simple. For this, you need to place APK on a downloadable URL, so that it can be downloaded directly. Then you can access app url and install. Since you want to install app from your app, then you need to download the APK first and then install your custom app. It thus need to do in background. 

Here is the code.

I installed custom app on launch of my app i.e. MainActivity

//Download APK and then Install Custom App

InstallApp customApp= new InstallApp();

customApp.setContext(myContext);

customApp.execute("http://APK-URL/AppName.apk");

Following is the code to download the apk in background then install app.

import android.content.Context;

import android.content.Intent;

import android.net.Uri;

import android.os.AsyncTask;

import android.os.Environment;

import android.util.Log;

import java.io.File;

import java.io.FileOutputStream;

import java.io.InputStream;

import java.net.HttpURLConnection;

import java.net.URL;

public class InstallApp extends AsyncTask<String,Void,Void> {

    private Context context;

    private final String TAG = "InstallApp";

    public void setContext(Context context){

        this.context = context;

    }

    @Override

    protected Void doInBackground(String... apk_url) {

        try {

            //URL of the APK, to download

            URL download_url = new URL(apk_url[0]);

            HttpURLConnection c = (HttpURLConnection) download_url.openConnection();

            c.setRequestMethod("GET");

            c.setDoOutput(true);

            c.connect();

            //Download APK to download folder. Save APK file with CustomApp.apk

            File file = new File(Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory() + "/download/");

            file.mkdirs();

            File downloadFile= new File(file, "CustomApp.apk");

            if(downloadFile.exists()){

                downloadFile.delete();

            }

            FileOutputStream fos = new FileOutputStream(downloadFile);

            InputStream is = c.getInputStream();

            byte[] buffer = new byte[1024];

            int lenght = 0;

            while ((lenght = is.read(buffer)) != -1) {

                fos.write(buffer, 0, lenght);

            }

            fos.close();

            is.close();

            //Install App Intent

            Intent install_intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW);

            install_intent.setDataAndType(Uri.fromFile(new File(Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory() + "/download/" + "CustomApp.apk")), "application/vnd.android.package-archive");

            install_intent.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);

            context.startActivity(install_intent);

        } catch (Exception e) {

            Log.e(TAG, e.getMessage());

        }

        return null;

    }

}

Similarly, if you want to uninstall app from another app, then here is code:

 //Uninstall app

Uri packageUri = Uri.parse("package:"+"name of app  package");

//OS >= 14 supports ACTION_UNINSTALL_PACKAGE
//OS < 14 ACTION_DELETE
//Therefore, for all OS, use the following.

Intent appUninstall= new Intent( (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= 14)?Intent.ACTION_UNINSTALL_PACKAGE: Intent.ACTION_DELETE, packageUri);

startActivity(appUninstall);

Device Information in Android

If you are working with any app that needs android device information, then don't worry. Getting device information is quite easy. Although there are several solutions available, but may be in pieces. I am developing a Mobile Device Management (MDM) app for which I've to gather device information. So, I decided to put everything at one place which may be useful for my fellow developers. Here is implementation of explicit information about any Android Device i.e. Phone, Tablet, Phone / Tablet with or without SIM.

private String sim_serial = "", sim_carrier = "", sim_country = "", device_manufacturer = "", device_model = "";
private String device_imei = "", device_serial = "", device_manufacturer_serial = "", device_OS_version = "";


//Get Device Info
 private void getDeviceInformation(){

        try{

            TelephonyManager tm =(TelephonyManager)getSystemService(Context.TELEPHONY_SERVICE);
            boolean isSim = checkSIMCard();
            if(isSim){

                sim_serial =tm.getSimSerialNumber();
                sim_carrier=tm.getNetworkOperatorName();
                sim_country = tm.getSimCountryIso();
            }
            device_model = Build.MODEL;
            device_serial = Build.SERIAL;
            device_imei =tm.getDeviceId();
            device_manufacturer_serial = getManufacturerSerial();
            device_manufacturer = Build.MANUFACTURER;
            device_OS_version = android.os.Build.VERSION.RELEASE;
        }
        catch (Exception e){

            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }

    //To check availability of SIM Card
    private boolean checkSIMCard(){

        TelephonyManager tm= (TelephonyManager) getSystemService(Context.TELEPHONY_SERVICE);
        int simState = tm.getSimState();
        boolean isSIM = false;

        switch (simState) {

            case TelephonyManager.SIM_STATE_ABSENT:
                isSIM = false;
                break;

            case TelephonyManager.SIM_STATE_READY:
                isSIM = true;
                break;
        }
        return isSIM;
    }

    //Get manufacturer serial number, need in case of a non GSM Tablet.
    private String getManufacturerSerial() {

        String serial = null;
        try {
            Class<?> c = Class.forName("android.os.SystemProperties");
            Method get = c.getMethod("get", String.class, String.class);
            serial = (String) get.invoke(c, "ril.serialnumber", "unknown");
        } catch (Exception e) {

            e.printStackTrace();
        }
        return serial;
    }

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Cheers!