Android - check for presence of another app

Question

I'm working on an app that extends the functionality of another, existing app. I want to know what the easiest way is to determine, through code, whether the first app is installed, preferably by referencing it by com.whoever.whatever but almost any criteria would be helpful.

Answer 1

android.content.pm.PackageManager mPm = getPackageManager();  // 1
PackageInfo info = mPm.getPackageInfo(pName, 0);  // 2,3
Boolean installed = info != null;

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1. Used in an activity, you need a context to get the PackageManager
2. Throws PackageManager.NameNotFoundException, I guess. check!
3. pName is something like 'com.yourcompany.appname', the same as the value of 'package' in the manifest of the app

Answer 2

The recommended way is to check whether the other application publishes an Intent. Most Intent are not owned by a particular app, so, say, if you're looking for a program that publishes "sending mail" intent, the program that gets opened may be Gmail application or Yahoo Mail application, depending on the user's choice and what was installed in the system.

You may want to look at this: http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/intents/intents-filters.html