Android Programming: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide, 2nd Edition

Receivers and Long-Running Tasks

So what do you do if you want a broadcast intent to kick off a longer-running task than the restrictions of the main run loop allow?

You have two options. The first is to put that work into a service instead, and start the service in your broadcast receiver’s small window of opportunity. This is the method we recommend. A service can take as long as it needs to service a request. It can queue up multiple requests and service them in order or otherwise manage requests as it sees fit.

The second is to use the BroadcastReceiver.goAsync() method. This method returns a BroadcastReceiver.PendingResult object, which can be used to provide a result at a later time. So you could give that PendingResult to ...