Common Implicit Intents

Let's take a look at the most common implicit intents such as making a phone call, launching a web address, sending an email, etc.

Phone Call

Permissions:

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.CALL_PHONE" />

Intent:

Intent callIntent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_CALL);
callIntent.setData(Uri.parse("tel:0377778888"));
startActivity(callIntent);

Send Email

Compose an email in the phone email client:

Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_SEND);
intent.setType("plain/text");
intent.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_EMAIL, new String[] { "[email protected]" });
intent.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_SUBJECT, "subject");
intent.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_TEXT, "mail body");
startActivity(Intent.createChooser(intent, ""));

Launch Website

Launch a website in the phone browser:

Intent browserIntent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW, Uri.parse("http://www.google.com"));
startActivity(browserIntent);

Open Google Play Store

Open app page on Google Play:

Intent i = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW, 
  Uri.parse("market://details?id=" + context.getPackageName()));
startActivity(i);

Compose SMS

Uri smsUri = Uri.parse("tel:" + to);
Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW, smsUri);
intent.putExtra("address", to);
intent.putExtra("sms_body", message);
intent.setType("vnd.android-dir/mms-sms");
startActivity(intent);

Google Maps

Show location in maps application:

 Intent intent = new Intent();
intent.setAction(Intent.ACTION_VIEW);
String data = String.format("geo:%s,%s", latitude, longitude);
if (zoomLevel != null) {
    data = String.format("%s?z=%s", data, zoomLevel);
}
intent.setData(Uri.parse(data));
startActivity(intent);

Capture Photo

Uri uri = Uri.fromFile(new File(file));
Intent intent = new Intent(MediaStore.ACTION_IMAGE_CAPTURE);
intent.putExtra(MediaStore.EXTRA_OUTPUT, uri);
startActivity(intent);

Sharing Content

Images or binary data:

Intent shareIntent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_SEND);
shareIntent.setType("image/jpg");
Uri uri = Uri.fromFile(new File(getFilesDir(), "foo.jpg"));
shareIntent.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_STREAM, uri.toString());
startActivity(Intent.createChooser(sharingIntent, "Share image using"));

or HTML:

Intent sharingIntent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_SEND);
sharingIntent.setType("text/html");
sharingIntent.putExtra(android.content.Intent.EXTRA_TEXT, Html.fromHtml("<p>This is the text shared.</p>"));
startActivity(Intent.createChooser(sharingIntent,"Share using"));