Listen to incoming Whatsapp messages/notifications

Question

I'm working on a notification based app, for which I need to listen to incoming notifications. I've been able to listen to incoming calls, SMS, mail etc. I have no clue how to listen for pings or messages from friends on Whatsapp via code. Can this actually be done? If so, how? Can Accessibility Service be used for this, using Package Name as "com.whatsapp"?

Answer 1

I was able to do this using Accessibility Service . Using this, you can listen to all notification on the notification bar. I listened to application-specification by adding the package name to the Accessibility Service service info , which in this case was com.whatsapp. I couldn't read the messages, but I get notified whenever a message arrives.

Answer 2

AUG/11/2020 Update

I have to use NotificationListenerService to get detailed info about notification.

Here's service code in Java:

public class NotificationListener extends NotificationListenerService {      private static final String TAG = "NotificationListener";     private static final String WA_PACKAGE = "com.whatsapp";      @Override     public void onListenerConnected() {         Log.i(TAG, "Notification Listener connected");     }      @Override     public void onNotificationPosted(StatusBarNotification sbn) {         if (!sbn.getPackageName().equals(WA_PACKAGE)) return;          Notification notification = sbn.getNotification();         Bundle bundle = notification.extras;          String from = bundle.getString(NotificationCompat.EXTRA_TITLE);         String message = bundle.getString(NotificationCompat.EXTRA_TEXT);          Log.i(TAG, "From: " + from);         Log.i(TAG, "Message: " + message);     } } 

And the code required to be placed in AndroidManifest.xml:

<service     android:name=".NotificationListener"     android:label="@string/notification_listener_service"     android:permission="android.permission.BIND_NOTIFICATION_LISTENER_SERVICE">     <intent-filter>         <action android:name="android.service.notification.NotificationListenerService" />     </intent-filter> </service> 

To intercept notifications, a special permission is required. Here's the code which you can use to open settings page where user have to allow the app to listen to incoming notifications. I placed this snippet in MainActivity onCreate function.

startActivity(new Intent(ACTION_NOTIFICATION_LISTENER_SETTINGS)) 

If you need to check whether or not the notification listener permission is granted using the code below:

private boolean isNotificationServiceEnabled(){     String pkgName = getPackageName();     final String flat = Settings.Secure.getString(getContentResolver(),             ENABLED_NOTIFICATION_LISTENERS);     if (!TextUtils.isEmpty(flat)) {         final String[] names = flat.split(":");         for (String name: names) {             final ComponentName cn = ComponentName.unflattenFromString(name);             if (cn != null) {                 if (TextUtils.equals(pkgName, cn.getPackageName())) {                     return true;                 }             }         }     }     return false; } 

PS: I don't know or can not explain why/how it works because I copied the codes from my 1 year old project.

Old answer

I listened to incoming WhatsApp message notifications with the help of this 2 parted article which you can read it from here.

1. Configure AndroidManifest.xml

<!-- AndroidManifest.xml --> <service     android:name=".MyAccessibilityService"     android:enabled="true"     android:exported="true"     android:label="My application"     android:permission="android.permission.BIND_ACCESSIBILITY_SERVICE">     <intent-filter>         <action android:name="android.accessibilityservice.AccessibilityService" />     </intent-filter>      <meta-data         android:name="android.accessibilityservice"         android:resource="@xml/serviceconfig" /> </service> 

2. Create a new file called serviceconfig.xml in /xml/ directory.

<!-- serviceconfig.xml --> <accessibility-service     xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"     android:accessibilityEventTypes="typeAllMask"     android:accessibilityFeedbackType="feedbackAllMask"     android:accessibilityFlags="flagDefault"     android:canRequestEnhancedWebAccessibility="true"     android:notificationTimeout="100"     android:packageNames="@null"     android:canRetrieveWindowContent="true"     android:canRequestTouchExplorationMode="true"  /> 

3. Create a new MyAccessibilityService class which extends AccessibilityService.

@Override protected void onServiceConnected() {         System.out.println("onServiceConnected");         AccessibilityServiceInfo info = new AccessibilityServiceInfo();         info.eventTypes = AccessibilityEvent.TYPE_NOTIFICATION_STATE_CHANGED;         info.feedbackType = AccessibilityServiceInfo.FEEDBACK_ALL_MASK;         info.notificationTimeout = 100;         info.packageNames = null;         setServiceInfo(info); }  @Override public void onAccessibilityEvent(AccessibilityEvent event) {     if (event.getEventType() == AccessibilityEvent.TYPE_NOTIFICATION_STATE_CHANGED) {         if (event.getPackageName().toString().equals("com.whatsapp")){             StringBuilder message = new StringBuilder();             if (!event.getText().isEmpty()) {                 for (CharSequence subText : event.getText()) {                     message.append(subText);                 }                  // Message from +12345678              }         }     } } 

4. It's ready. Now you can customize the service for your needs.

Note: Because accessibility services are able to explore and interact with on-screen content, a user has to explicitly enable services in Settings > Accessibility. More details

Edit

To send replies to received notifications check out this answer.

Answer 3

Unless Developers of that app intentionally share a service , a content provider, or intentionally send out public broadcasts of events, or expose a custom broadcast registering system, there is no legitimate way in android to listen to internal workings of a third party App. App isolation is designed in Android for a very important reason: security.