CODEWITHSUNDEEP
android
Vektor88
Vektor88

Reputation: 4930

How to detect if an android app is a game?

In an app I am developing I need to iterate through the installed apps and detect which ones are games. Is there any way to do this?

I was thinking to a Play Store API that can search for package name and returns its category even if it's only limited to apps on the store. Does something similar exist? Would it be possible?

Is there any alternative way to do it?

Upvotes: 3

Views: 4373

Answers (3)

Elydasian
Elydasian

Reputation: 2066

For me the above answer didn't work, the ApplicationInfo.FLAG_IS_GAME is now deprecated, with API 28+ (in my case), you can do something like this: 

_pm = _context.PackageManager;
List<string> packageList = new List<string>();
Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ActionMain);
intent.AddCategory(Intent.CategoryLeanbackLauncher); // or add any category you want
var list = _pm.QueryIntentActivities(intent, PackageInfoFlags.MetaData);
foreach (var app in list)
{
    ApplicationInfo ai = _pm.GetApplicationInfo(app.ActivityInfo.PackageName, 0);
    var allFlags = ai.Flags;

    if (allFlags.HasFlag(ApplicationInfoFlags.IsGame))
    {
        packageList.Add(app.ActivityInfo.PackageName);
    }
}

Upvotes: 1

Vektor88
Vektor88

Reputation: 4930

This answer is deprecated!
Correct and backwards compatible way to do this is here!

Since Android API version 21, there's finally a way to check if an application is a game. 

PackageManager pm = mContext.getPackageManager();
ApplicationInfo ai = pm.getApplicationInfo(mPackageName,0);
if((ai.flags & ApplicationInfo.FLAG_IS_GAME) == ApplicationInfo.FLAG_IS_GAME)
    return true;
return false;

Upvotes: 10

rekire
rekire

Reputation: 47965

There is no automatical way to detect if an app is a game. You just could compaire the package name of the common part of the package name. My solution was to index the google store pages and hash the package names.

I could optimize my hashes by building common prefixes. I handled the package name as a domain and grep the public suffix. I use the list from http://publicsuffix.org/.

A "public suffix" is one under which Internet users can directly register names. Some examples of public suffixes are .com, .co.uk and pvt.k12.ma.us. The Public Suffix List is a list of all known public suffixes.

The Public Suffix List is an initiative of Mozilla, but is maintained as a community resource. It is available for use in any software, but was originally created to meet the needs of browser manufacturers.

With this list you can detect part of a packagename is a common prefix.

Upvotes: 4

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