android - One .apk file that installs two apps

Question

This is a question concerning android applications with two different .apks (or two apps contained in the one .apk file)

I have two apps which do completely different things but are related, say one is a standard user app and one is an admin app. But a user can be both a user and an admin. I am wondering is it possible for me to create one .apk file that installs two applications to the phone? And how would I got about this?

Thanks, Matt

Answer 1

You can have two activity elements in the same manifest file, which have both the intent filter with action=MAIN and category=LAUNCHER. Further, you have also to use the attribute "android:taskAffinity" for both activity elements (see also here):

<application android:allowBackup="true"        
             android:icon="@drawable/main_icon"
             android:label="@string/main_name"
             android:theme="@style/AppTheme" >
             
    <activity android:name="com.foobar.MyActivity2"            
              android:taskAffinity="com.foobar.MyActivity2"
              android:icon="@drawable/icon1"
              android:label="@string/name1" >
        <intent-filter>
            <action   android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN"       />
            <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
        </intent-filter>
    </activity>        
    
    <activity android:name="com.foobar.MyActivity2"
              android:taskAffinity="com.foobar.MyActivity2"
              android:icon="@drawable/icon1"
              android:label="@string/name2" >
        <intent-filter>
            <action   android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN"       />
            <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
        </intent-filter>
    </activity>             
    
</application>

When the APK file with this manifest is installed on a device, then it will create two icons on the homescreen. The titles of these icons will be taken from the attributes android:label, and the icons will be taken from the attributes android:icon. In the list of apps under "Settings | Apps" you will see the name & icon defined by the attributes of the application tag. When you choose "uninstall" for this entry in the list of apps, then both "apps" will be removed from the device.