OpenIntents

Pick Bluetooth Device

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:35:38 +0000

Let the user pick a Bluetooth Device. Returns MAC Address and Name.

Send an app crash report

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:35:38 +0000

The user pressed the “Report” button in the crash/ANR dialog. This intent is delivered to the package which installed the application, usually Google Play.

List all available applications

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:35:38 +0000

Activities implementing this intent show a list of all available applications to the user.

Delete data

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:35:38 +0000

Activity implementing this intent delete the given data from its container.

Edit data

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:35:38 +0000

Provide explicit editable access to the given data.

Activity implementing this intent provides explicit editable access to the given data.

Open Document

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:35:38 +0000

Allows the user to select and return one or more existing documents.

Open Directory

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:35:38 +0000

Allows the user to select and return a document directory.

Process text

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:35:38 +0000

Process a piece of text

Share data

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:35:38 +0000

Deliver some data to someone else.

Who the data is being delivered to is not specified; it is up to the receiver of this action to ask the user where the data should be sent.

View data

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:35:38 +0000

Display the specified data to the user.

An activity implementing this action will display to the user the given data. It is not intended for the user to edit it, though an implementation can allow that to be done as a secondary part of its UI if desired (as it can provide any other optional features in its UI for the user).

This is the most common action performed on data – it is the generic action you can use on a piece of data to get the most reasonable thing to occur. For example, when used on a contacts entry it will view the entry; when used on a mailto: URI it will bring up a compose window filled with the information supplied by the URI; when used with a tel: URI it will invoke the dialer.

Take a picture

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:35:38 +0000

An application implementing this intent protocol allows the user to capture an image.

Record Sound

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:35:38 +0000

Start SoundRecorder application to record sound.

Count Pages of PDF Document

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:35:38 +0000

counts the number of pages in a given PDF file

Input:

Uri of PDF file via Intent.putDataAndType() (should point to a file located on the SD card)

Output:

number of pages via Intent.getExtras().getInt(“PAGES”) (the number is zero if a problem occurred)
Uri of PDF file via Intent.putDataAndType() (Uri of PDF file, mirrored for convenience)

Crop an image

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:35:38 +0000

Take an image and crop it according to the user’s requirements. The output can be a URI or a (possibly) downsampled bitmap with the cropped image.

If the caller does not provide an image source as data then the activity should ask the user to pick an image using the Intent.ACTION_GET_CONTENT and mime-type image/*.

The caller may pass an extra EXTRA_OUTPUT to control where this image will be written. If the EXTRA_OUTPUT is not present, then a small sized image is returned as a Bitmap object in the extra field. This is useful for applications that only need a small image. If the EXTRA_OUTPUT is present, then the full-sized image will be written to the Uri value of EXTRA_OUTPUT.

Add icon to home screen

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:35:38 +0000

Is made private in Android O.

Environmental Measurement

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:35:38 +0000

An open ended intent to collect information from the android phone’s surroundings.

This could be physical information such as spatial measurement, acoustic decibel levels, ambient light levels, vibration sprectrum data, etc.

Show GPS status

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:35:38 +0000

Shows the status of the GPS receiver, including the signal strength and location of visible satellites.

The display grid is aligned using the built in compass. Additional info like location, speed, accuracy and acceleraion is also displayed. (only in GPS Status 1.4.2 and above)

Record a New Financial Transaction

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:35:38 +0000

This intent reports a financial transaction to be recorded in an expenses or banking application.

This is used, for example, by BistroMath to report the amount it has calculated for a persons tip to Funky Expenses for recording in the persons expenses account.

It is recommended that the intent brings up a page which allows the user to confirm the transaction before it is recorded in order to prevent malicious applications filling an expenses/banking application with junk entries and to allow the user to fill in any missing information.

Start a Web App

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:35:38 +0000

An intent to start a web app that has been installed on the device as WebApk. This intent is usually only called from within the web apk only.

Open Google Drive app

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:35:38 +0000

Open Google Drive app

Show radar

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:35:38 +0000

Display a radar like view centered around the current position and mark the given location defined by (latitude, longitude)

Encode

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:35:38 +0000

Encode to barcode and display on screen.

Extra ENCODE_TYPE can be one of the following and defines more extras:

“TEXT_TYPE”: Plain text. Use Intent.putExtra(DATA, string). This can be used for URLs too, but string must include “http://” or “https://”.

“EMAIL_TYPE”: An email type. Use Intent.putExtra(DATA, string) where string is the email address.

“PHONE_TYPE”: Use Intent.putExtra(DATA, string) where string is the phone number to call.

“SMS_TYPE”: An SMS type. Use Intent.putExtra(DATA, string) where string is the number to SMS.

“CONTACT_TYPE”: A contact. Send a request to encode it as follows:

import android.provider.Contacts;

Intent intent = new Intent(Intents.Encode.ACTION);
intent.putExtra(Intents.Encode.TYPE, CONTACT);
Bundle bundle = new Bundle();
bundle.putString(Contacts.Intents.Insert.NAME, "Jenny");
bundle.putString(Contacts.Intents.Insert.PHONE, "8675309");
bundle.putString(Contacts.Intents.Insert.EMAIL, "jenny@the80s.com");
intent.putExtra(Intents.Encode.DATA, bundle);

“LOCATION_TYPE”: A geographic location. Use as follows:

Bundle bundle = new Bundle();
bundle.putFloat("LAT", latitude);
bundle.putFloat("LONG", longitude);
intent.putExtra(Intents.Encode.DATA, bundle);

See XZing on github

Scan

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:35:38 +0000

Scan a barcode.

See also [XZing on github][https://github.com/zxing/zxing]

Search book contents

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:35:38 +0000

Use Google Book Search to search the contents of the book provided.

Intent specific extras: ISBN: The book to search, identified by ISBN number. QUERY: An optional field which is the text to search for.

Launch in a mirror link session

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:35:38 +0000

This intent action allows a mirror link server to launch your app, i.e. the app can be used in cars. It goes together with the terminate in a mirror link session.

Terminate app in a mirror link session

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:35:38 +0000

This intent action is used to terminate the application when running in a car. See Launch app in a mirror link session intent.

Book a Table

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:35:38 +0000

Reserve a table at a known location of opentable.com, partysize and refId are optional query parameters of the url.

Big Red Button Pressed

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:35:38 +0000

Broadcast intent to notify that the user pressed the big red button.

This intent can be used by the End User for any purpose.

Edit settings for app Locale

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:35:38 +0000

Edit settings for app Locale

Open Ringtone settings

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:35:38 +0000

Brings user to activity to quickly change the device’s ringmode.

Open Sound Settings

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:35:38 +0000

Brings user to a sound control screen where user can modify a number of different sound settings.

Open Vibration Settings

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:35:38 +0000

Brings user to activity to quickly change the phone’s vibration settings.

Open Volumne Settings

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:35:38 +0000

Use this intent to pop up a dialog box in your activity to allow the user to manually change one of the six volume streams as listed under input.

This intent could be useful if an app is using several volume types (Alarms and Play Media, for example) and only provides the volume buttons to change volume for one type.

How it Works: Opens dialog box of the specified volume type. User slides a progress bar to choose volume. The volume for that stream changes when the user slides the bar. When finished, the Android GUI for a volume change pops up to display the selected value. User touches OK button to close the dialog.

If the volume type is System, Ringer, or Notification, a volume change will change the Ringmode to Normal (AudioManager.RING_MODE_NORMAL). This is because a change in volume will have no affect, as a user would expect it would, if the Ringmode is still Silent or Vibrate Only.

Explanation of Streams:

AudioManager.STREAM_MUSIC: For media, such as music and video. AudioManager.STREAM_ALARM: For Alarms. AudioManager.STREAM_VOICE_CALL: For In-Call Volume, that is, the volume of the other person’s voice when in a call. AudioManager.STREAM_RING: For the ringer volume. Notifications are also on this stream unless the user deselects that option by going to (from home menu) Menu > Settings > Sound & display > Ringer Volume and deselecting the checkbox. AudioManager.STREAM_SYSTEM: For System volume, such as the sound of button presses, if that setting is turned on, or the camera shutter. AudioManager.STREAM_NOTIFICATION: Changes the volume for notification alerts.

Hover

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:35:38 +0000

Hover

Bluetooth button pressed

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:35:38 +0000

Intents that are broadcasted on button press by OpenWatch (MBW-100, MBW-150, MBW-200).

com.smartmadsoft.openwatch.command.BUTTON_FF
com.smartmadsoft.openwatch.command.BUTTON_RW
com.smartmadsoft.openwatch.command.BUTTON_PLAYPAUSE
com.smartmadsoft.openwatch.command.BUTTON_VOLUME_UP
com.smartmadsoft.openwatch.command.BUTTON_VOLUME_DOWN

Start register mode

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:35:38 +0000

Start register mode

Edit settings for app Locale

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:35:38 +0000

Edit settings for app Locale

Start recording for Whatsapp

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:35:38 +0000

Start recording for Whatsapp

Remote Intents

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:35:38 +0000

PeerDeviceNet exposes a group of intents for sending intents to remote devices:

com.xconns.peerdevicenet.START_REMOTE_ACTIVITY com.xconns.peerdevicenet.START_REMOTE_ACTIVITY_FOR_RESULT com.xconns.peerdevicenet.START_REMOTE_SERVICE com.xconns.peerdevicenet.SEND_REMOTE_BROADCAST

for more details, please refer to http://www.peerdevicenet.net/rmt_intent.html

Save WebSMS

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:35:38 +0000

Send the URI of a sent text message as broadcast to notify Call Meter 3G that the message was sent with the given WebSMS Connector.

React to panic action

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:35:38 +0000

App reacts to panic action

Scan

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:35:38 +0000

Scan a QR code with QR Droid.

Create an Intent with one of these actions:

la.droid.qr.scan
la.droid.qr.encode
la.droid.qr.decode

(Note that QR Droid package is “la.droid.qr“, so that’s why all actions have that prefix)

User Info Chooser

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:35:38 +0000

Allows the user to choose information (username, password, email address..) to be filled into another application

Edit Collection

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:35:38 +0000

Edit a collection specifically. A collection of items.

Originally for Collectionista, but every collection manager can use these.

Edit Item

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:35:38 +0000

Edit an item specifically. An item from a collection.

Originally for Collectionista, but every collection manager can use these.

Print Image

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:35:38 +0000

Any application can use HP iPrint Photo for Android for printing images on nearby printers from Android phones.

Web Intents "Discover" protocol

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:35:38 +0000

The discover intent is designed to let the invoking Android components query services from the registered Web intents The “Discover” protocol is intended to be a lightweight registry list.

Pay Money

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:35:38 +0000

Intent to pay some one a specified amount of money.

The receiver of the money could be specified by an email address (mailto://) or through content like “content://com.visa/savedreceivers/1”, or mime type “text/x-bancAccount” or by additional information of a contact.

Pick a Color

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:35:38 +0000

Pick a color using a color picker dialog.

Applications should use startActivityForResult() to launch this color picker with a default color specified in the integer Intent extra "org.openintents.extra.COLOR". The chosen color will be returned in an Intent the same way.

Pick a file

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:35:38 +0000

Pick a file through a file manager.

The picked file URI can be obtained in onActivityResult() through getData().

Details can be found in the sample application TestFileManager in the public repository.

You may want to use the OI File Manager intent definition file.

Request payment

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:35:38 +0000

Request a payment. The user would like to initate a request for payment by another user. This could be e.g. a merchant asking another user to pay for goods or services.

Applications can use startActivityForResult() to launch this request to get information about the state of the payment request.

Resolve Unresolved Intent

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:35:38 +0000

Delegates the user to a selection of possible applications that can resolve the given intent.

Run Automation

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:35:38 +0000

Intent to start execution of an automated task.

Show about dialog

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:35:38 +0000

Show an about dialog to display information about your application.

By default the information is retrieved from the Manifest of your application (both from the manifest tag as from metadata tags). Metadata keys are specified in (as constants) in org.openintents.metadata.AboutMetaData. Optionally send along extras with information to display (overriding the metadata). Intent extra keys are specified (as constants) in org.openintents.intents.AboutIntents.

From your “about” menu option you start an activity with this specific intent action:

Intent intent = new Intent("org.openintents.action.SHOW_ABOUT_DIALOG");
startActivityForResult(intent, 0);

The activity needs to be launched “forResult” with requestCode>=0 so that the package name is passed properly. Optionally, one can set the intent extra org.openintents.extra.PACKAGE_NAME.

Original use is with OI About: See OI About for usage information for this intent. An OI TestAboutApp demonstrating this is also available.

Add a Tag to the Given Data

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:35:38 +0000

Activity implementing this intent provide means to add the given tag or newly entered tag to the given data.

The data is specified by its content URI.

Translate text

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:35:38 +0000

Use some translation engine to translate a text and return the result.

Turn Text Upside Down

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:35:38 +0000

Process a given text and return it upside down.

The text is usually a selection, if the selection is empty, the whole text, i.e. before and after the caret is processed.

This action is usually launched with mime type text/plain and the following category:

org.openintents.category.TEXT_SELECTION_ALTERNATIVE

Check App version

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:35:38 +0000

Protocol to facilitate automated update mechanism for app stores.

Data describes an url to a simple text file containing information about the latest version or a VeeCheck file. If a new version is available the user is notified and can initiate the update process.

View data on remote machine

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:35:38 +0000

Simulates an android.intent.action.VIEW intent on a remote machine.

Although the remote machine may not be running Android, it may be controlled remotely by an Android application. For example, an Android application for controlling a media center may instruct the media center to open a file that is stored locally on the media center. The data URI would be interpreted relative to the remote machine. For example, a file:// URI would always refer to a file on the media center, not a file on the SD card of the device controlling the media center.

View file directory

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:35:38 +0000

This intention is used to allow 3rd party apps to direct the user to a directory of the file system or document tree.

The location of the directory is either provided in the extra or as data uri.

The content uri (if provided) of the received intent can be used by the (file manager) app to retrieve the display name of the folder via OpenableColumns.DATA. The file: scheme uri (if provided) can be used to determine the directory path if the extra was not provided.

It is the responsibility of the (file manager) app to decide whether it can display the directory or not (due to missing permissions or unknown location).

Note, file: scheme uris should not be used in apps targeted Android 24+, otherwise a FileUriExposedException is thrown.

Note, for picking a directory or file, use OPEN_DOCUMENT,
OPEN_DOCUMENT_TREE or PICK_FILE.

Start an X11 Server

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:35:38 +0000

This intention is used to allow X11 applications to be able to launch an X server as a prerrequisite for other applications. The URI is specified as, for example, x11://localhost:6000, where usually localhost is the bind address and 6000 means a port number … An uri of x11://localhost:6100 would usually mean that the environment variable DISPLAY for the application would have been set to DISPLAY=localhost:100.