Android BroadcastReceiver tutorial: detect outgoing phone call event

Tutorial shows how to catch outgoing phone call event in Android application (including called phone number information).

This basically consists of catching an Intent that is sent by Android OS while call was initiated. So the BroadcastReceiver is required. Steps to build it are as follows:

1. Create OutgoingCallBroadcastReceiver

This is a BroadcastReceiver that will catch and handle incoming intents. Full implementation is short:

public class OutgoingCallReceiver extends BroadcastReceiver {
	@Override
	public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
		Log.d(OutgoingCallReceiver.class.getSimpleName(), intent.toString());
		Toast.makeText(context, "Outgoing call catched!", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
		//TODO: Handle outgoing call event here
	}
}

2. Register OutgoingCallBroadcastReceiver in AndroidManifest.xml

Newly created BroadcastReceiver will wait for android.intent.action.NEW_OUTGOING_CALL intent actions. In order to direct such intents to Receiver add this code to AndroidManifest.xml:

<receiver android:name=".OutgoingCallReceiver" >
	<intent-filter>
		<action android:name="android.intent.action.NEW_OUTGOING_CALL" />
	</intent-filter>
</receiver>

3. Add permission in AndroidManifest.xml

Your application will now need to request for PROCESS_OUTGOING_CALLS permission. Add that request to AndroidManifest.xml:

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.PROCESS_OUTGOING_CALLS"/>

4. Get called phone number (optional)

Intent that I just catched has Extra with phone number, so if you need it, just get that String Extra from intent with:

String phoneNumber = intent.getStringExtra(Intent.EXTRA_PHONE_NUMBER);

Just add the foregoing line to the OnReceive method:

@Override
public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
	String phoneNumber = intent.getStringExtra(Intent.EXTRA_PHONE_NUMBER);
	Log.d(OutgoingCallReceiver.class.getSimpleName(), intent.toString() + ", call to: " + phoneNumber);
	Toast.makeText(context, "Outgoing call catched: " + phoneNumber, Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
	//TODO: Handle outgoing call event here
}

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