Android : Catching Outgoing SMS using ContentObserver or receiver not working

Question

i trying to catch outgoing SMS event using content observer.

//TEST OBSERVER
        ContentObserver co = new SMSoutObserver(new Handler(), getApplicationContext());
        ContentResolver contentResolver = getApplicationContext().getContentResolver();
        contentResolver.registerContentObserver(Uri.parse("content://sms/out"),true, co);
        // END TEST OBSERVER

and

public class SMSoutObserver extends ContentObserver {

    private Context mCtx;

    public SMSoutObserver(Handler handler, Context ctx) {
        super(handler);
        mCtx = ctx;
    }

    @Override
    public void onChange(boolean selfChange) {
        super.onChange(selfChange);
        // save the message to the SD card here
        Logger.d("On Change");
        Toast.makeText(mCtx,"TEST", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
    }
}

But if i send outgoing message in emulator event is not triggered.

I tried use receiver too.

<receiver android:name=".receiver.SMSReceiver"
                  android:enabled="true"
                  android:exported="true"
                  android:priority="1000">
            <intent-filter>
                <action android:name="android.provider.Telephony.SMS_RECEIVED" />
                <action android:name="android.provider.Telephony.SMS_SENT"/>
            </intent-filter>
        </receiver>

with receiver

public class SMSReceiver extends BroadcastReceiver {

    @Override
    public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
        try {

            Logger.d("SMSReceiver triggered");
            if (intent.getAction().equals("android.provider.Telephony.SMS_RECEIVED")){
                //do something with the received sms
                Logger.d("Incoming SMS");
            }else  if(intent.getAction().equals("android.provider.Telephony.SMS_SENT")){
                //do something with the sended sms
                Logger.d("Outgoing SMS");
            }
            // Start reminder service
            // context.startService(new Intent(context, ReminderService.class));
        } catch (Exception e) {
            Logger.e("onReceive method cannot be processed");
            TrackingEventLogHelper.logException(e, Constants.Global.EXCEPTION,
                    Constants.ExceptionMessage.EXC_CANNOT_CANNOT_PROCESS_REBOOT_RECEIVER, true);
        }
    }

}

But this receiver is triggering only for incoming messages, not for outgoing. How should i do it in the right way working on android version > 5 too.

Many thanks for any advice

Answer 1

There is no "android.provider.Telephony.SMS_SENT" action in the SDK, nor is there any system-wide broadcast upon an SMS send, so your second method isn't going to work.

As for the ContentObserver, the Uri you register for must be the base Uri for the SMS Provider. That is, change Uri.parse("content://sms/out") to Uri.parse("content://sms"). If you want to handle only outgoing messages, you will have to query the Provider in the onChange() method, and retrieve the type column value for the message, checking for a value of 2, which indicates a sent message.

If you're supporting an API level lower than 16, then it would be something like this:

private static final Uri uri = Uri.parse("content://sms");  
private static final String COLUMN_TYPE = "type";
private static final int MESSAGE_TYPE_SENT = 2;
...

@Override
public void onChange(boolean selfChange) {
    Cursor cursor = null;

    try {
        cursor = resolver.query(uri, null, null, null, null);

        if (cursor != null && cursor.moveToFirst()) {
            int type = cursor.getInt(cursor.getColumnIndex(COLUMN_TYPE));

            if (type == MESSAGE_TYPE_SENT) {
                // Sent message
            }
        }
    }
    finally {
        if (cursor != null)
            cursor.close();
    }
}

Starting with API 16, the ContentObserver class offers an onChange() overload that will provide the specific Uri for the message as the second parameter, which you can query and inspect more efficiently than the base Uri. Also, if your minimum API level is 19, there are several classes with constants that you can substitute for those defined in the example code above.

As a side note, the Uri for the outbox is "content://sms/outbox", not "content://sms/out".