Is it possible to kill a "android:persistent=true" system-level app?

Question

I have an app that is just a service that launches on boot. I am developing at the system level, so I am using android:persistent=true in order to ensure my service is not killed under memory pressure.

However, I find this prevents me from killing my service under any conditions. I still want to be able to kill it myself - is there a way to do this, or is it impossible because "persistent=true" is defined in the manifest?

If this is not possible, how else can I protect my process from dying under memory pressure? Can I define a priority by hand? Perhaps oom_score or something?

Answer 1

Figured it out. Most methods of stopping the service will not stop the persistent flag from restarting it. This includes stopService, killBackgroundService, and even System.exit(0);

There is a hidden function called forceStopPackage in ActivityManagerService that you can invoke through the ActivityManager interface by reflection. Requires system privileges, but that shouldn't be an issue if you are using persistent.

In Manifest:

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.FORCE_STOP_PACKAGES" tools:ignore="ProtectedPermissions"></uses-permission>

This will kill the process. Give it name of process/package.

try {
        Class c;
        c = Class.forName("android.app.ActivityManager");
        Method m = c.getMethod("forceStopPackage", new Class[]{String.class});
        Object o = m.invoke(null, new Object[]{"com.your.process"});
    }catch (Exception e){
            Log.e(TAG, "Failed to kill service", e);
}