Preferred Activities

This configuration manages which app should be used as default for a specific operation.

The Preferred Activities configuration assigns a specific app to Android operations (intents). Each entry consists of an app and, optionally, an activity, categories and actions; Android then permanently uses this app for matching operations. In the portal, the configuration is not labelled with a specific enrollment mode. It can be added only once per policy.

The configuration does not install the selected app. Installation is handled separately, e.g. via Manage apps →. A complete use case – the Relution Homescreen as default launcher – is described in the article Homescreen as default launcher →. For typical default apps such as browser or phone, the Default Applications → configuration offers a dedicated selection.

List of apps #

The configuration shows a list with the columns Name, Bundle identifier, Activity, Actions and Categories. The Actions and Categories columns only show the last part of each name (e.g. HOME for android.intent.category.HOME).

A new entry is created via Add. The context menu of an entry offers Edit and Delete; several selected entries are deleted via the context menu of the list. Each app can only appear once in the list: apps already listed are excluded from the selection in the Relution App Store, and if an app already listed is added again by another route, the new entry replaces the previous one. In a policy version that has already been published, the list is read-only.

Selecting the app #

The Activity dialog creates an entry in three steps. In the first step, the source of the app is selected:

• Relution App Store app – An app is selected from the Relution App Store. Native and public apps for Android and Android Enterprise are offered.
• Managed Google Play Store App (Android Enterprise) – A free app is searched for in the managed Google Play Store via Android Enterprise. This source is only available if Android Enterprise is set up for the organization.
• Manually add app – The name and bundle identifier of an app are entered manually. The fields Name and Internal name are mandatory; the package name is entered as internal name (example in the portal: com.mwaysolutions.relution).

In the second step, the app is selected or the details of the manual app are entered.

Activity, categories and actions #

In the third step, the details of the entry are defined. When an entry is edited later via Edit, only these fields are shown; the app itself remains unchanged.

• Activity – optional class name of the activity within the app, e.g. io.relution.homescreen.MainActivity. If the field is filled, Relution transmits package name/activity as the target; if it is empty, only the package name is transmitted.
• Categories – list of intent categories, e.g. android.intent.category.HOME. The input suggests the standard Android categories; custom values are possible.
• Actions – list of intent actions, e.g. android.intent.action.MAIN. The standard Android actions are suggested here as well.

Categories and actions are not mandatory. A hint in the dialog refers to the Google documentation → for details on the standard categories and actions.