How to fix a direct outgoing call without human interaction in Android 10 (works in Android 9)?

Question

Up to Android 9 included, my app could call a number without human intervention.

With the update to Android 10 the call is made after the user exists the application.

This is the function making the call:

    /**
     * Call the given number if no other call is busy.
     *
     * @param number Number to call
     */
    private void callNumber(String number) {
        if(!Utils.isCallActive()) {
            // ACTION_CALL: Direct call
            this.startIntent(new Intent(Intent.ACTION_CALL,Uri.parse("tel:"+number)));
        }
    }

The related permission is requested from the user and enabled:

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

The developer documentation does not suggest to do anything else: https://developer.android.com/guide/components/intents-common#DialPhone

Prior to that, the application has been brought to the front in an activity (an incoming push wakes up the app which triggers this behavior).

I wonder if that could have an impact:

        orgFlags=window.getAttributes().flags;
        window.addFlags(
                WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_KEEP_SCREEN_ON
                        | WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_TURN_SCREEN_ON
                        | WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_DISMISS_KEYGUARD
                        | WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_SHOW_WHEN_LOCKED
        );

For applications handling the outgoing call, ACTION_NEW_OUTGOING_CALL is deprectated, but I do not see how this should impact the application requesting the call.

I'll be testing if call finish on the current activity helps.

In the end the question is: How to ensure that an application can trigger a direct outgoing call without human interaction in Android 10?

Answer 1

Calling finish() on the running activity enables the "direct call" triggered using the startIntent(...) call prior to calling finish().

Edit: Unfortunately this is not a perfect fix: it does not work in all cases.