Notifications in Android with Example

Last Updated : 11 Feb, 2025

Notification is a kind of message, alert, or status of an application (probably running in the background) that is visible or available in the Android's UI elements. This application could be running in the background but not in use by the user. The purpose of a notification is to notify the user about a process that was initiated in the application either by the user or the system. This article could help someone who's trying hard to create a notification for developmental purposes.

Notifications could be of various formats and designs depending upon the developer. In General, one must have witnessed these four types of notifications:

Status Bar Notification (appears in the same layout as the current time, and battery percentage)
Notification drawer Notification (appears in the drop-down menu)
Heads-Up Notification (appears on the overlay screen, ex: WhatsApp notification, OTP messages)
Lock-Screen Notification (I guess you know it)

In this article, we will be discussing how to produce notifications in both Java and Kotlin.

Step by Step Implementation

Step 1: Create a New Project

To create a new project in Android Studio please refer to How to Create/Start a New Project in Android Studio.

Note that select Java/Kotlin as the programming language.

Step 2: Working with the activity_main.xml file

Go to the activity_main.xml file and refer to the following code. In this step, we are going to design our layout page. Here, we will use the RelativeLayout to get the Scroll View from the Kotlin file. Below is the code for the activity_main.xml file.

activity_main.xml:

XML

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout      xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"     xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"     xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"     android:layout_width="match_parent"     android:layout_height="match_parent"     android:background="@color/white"     tools:context=".MainActivity">      <Button         android:id="@+id/btn"         android:layout_width="wrap_content"         android:layout_height="wrap_content"         android:layout_centerInParent="true"         android:text="Send Notification"         android:backgroundTint="@color/green"         app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"         app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"         app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"         app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent" />  </androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout>

Design UI:

Step 3: Create a new empty activity

Reference article:How to Create Constructor, Getter/Setter Methods and New Activity in Android Studio using Shortcuts?

Name the activity as afterNotification. When someone clicks on the notification, this activity will open up in our app that is the user will be redirected to this page. Below is the code for the activity_after_notification.xml file.

activity_after_notification.xml:

XML

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <LinearLayout     xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"     xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"     android:layout_width="match_parent"     android:layout_height="match_parent"     android:gravity="center"     android:background="@color/white"     tools:context=".AfterNotification">      <TextView         android:id="@+id/textView"         android:layout_width="wrap_content"         android:layout_height="wrap_content"         android:text="Welcome To GeeksforGeeks"         android:textSize="15sp"         android:textStyle="bold" />  </LinearLayout>

Note: Without configuring Notification Channels, you cannot build notification for applications with Android API >=26. For them generating a notification channel is mandatory. Apps with API<26 don't need notification channels they just need notification builder. Each channel is supposed to have a particular behavior that will be applicable to all the notifications which are a part of it. Every channel will, therefore, have a Channel ID which basically will act as a unique identifier for this Channel which will be useful if the user wants to differentiate a particular notification channel. In contrast, the Notification builder provides a convenient way to set the various fields of a Notification and generate content views using the platform's notification layout template but is not able to target a particular notification channel.

Step 4: Working with the MainActivity.kt file

Go to the MainActivity.kt file and refer to the following code. Below is the code for the MainActivity.kt file. Comments are added inside the code to understand the code in more detail.

MainActivity File:

MainActivity.java

package org.geeksforgeeks.demo;  import android.Manifest; import android.annotation.SuppressLint; import android.app.NotificationChannel; import android.app.NotificationManager; import android.app.PendingIntent; import android.content.Context; import android.content.Intent; import android.content.pm.PackageManager; import android.graphics.Color; import android.os.Build; import android.os.Bundle; import android.widget.Button; import android.widget.RemoteViews; import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity; import androidx.core.app.ActivityCompat; import androidx.core.app.NotificationCompat; import androidx.core.app.NotificationManagerCompat;  public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {      private final String channelId = "i.apps.notifications"; // Unique channel ID for notifications     private final String description = "Test notification";  // Description for the notification channel     private final int notificationId = 1234; // Unique identifier for the notification      @Override     protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {         super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);         setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);          Button btn = findViewById(R.id.btn);          // Create a notification channel (required for Android 8.0 and higher)         createNotificationChannel();          btn.setOnClickListener(v -> {             // Request runtime permission for notifications on Android 13 and higher             if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.TIRAMISU) {                 if (ActivityCompat.checkSelfPermission(this, Manifest.permission.POST_NOTIFICATIONS)                      != PackageManager.PERMISSION_GRANTED) {                      ActivityCompat.requestPermissions(                             this,                             new String[]{Manifest.permission.POST_NOTIFICATIONS},                             101                     );                     return;                 }             }             sendNotification(); // Trigger the notification         });     }      /**      * Create a notification channel for devices running Android 8.0 or higher.      * A channel groups notifications with similar behavior.      */     private void createNotificationChannel() {         if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.O) {             NotificationChannel notificationChannel = new NotificationChannel(                     channelId,                     description,                     NotificationManager.IMPORTANCE_HIGH             );             notificationChannel.enableLights(true); // Turn on notification light             notificationChannel.setLightColor(Color.GREEN);             notificationChannel.enableVibration(true); // Allow vibration for notifications              NotificationManager notificationManager = (NotificationManager) getSystemService(Context.NOTIFICATION_SERVICE);             if (notificationManager != null) {                 notificationManager.createNotificationChannel(notificationChannel);             }         }     }      /**      * Build and send a notification with a custom layout and action.      */     @SuppressLint("MissingPermission")     private void sendNotification() {         // Intent that triggers when the notification is tapped         Intent intent = new Intent(this, AfterNotification.class);         intent.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK | Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TASK);         PendingIntent pendingIntent = PendingIntent.getActivity(                 this, 0, intent, PendingIntent.FLAG_UPDATE_CURRENT | PendingIntent.FLAG_IMMUTABLE         );          // Custom layout for the notification content         RemoteViews contentView = new RemoteViews(getPackageName(), R.layout.activity_after_notification);          // Build the notification         NotificationCompat.Builder builder = new NotificationCompat.Builder(this, channelId)                 .setSmallIcon(R.drawable.gfg_logo) // Notification icon                 .setContent(contentView) // Custom notification content                 .setContentTitle("Hello") // Title displayed in the notification                 .setContentText("Welcome to GeeksforGeeks!!") // Text displayed in the notification                 .setContentIntent(pendingIntent) // Pending intent triggered when tapped                 .setAutoCancel(true) // Dismiss notification when tapped                 .setPriority(NotificationCompat.PRIORITY_HIGH); // Notification priority for better visibility          // Display the notification         NotificationManagerCompat notificationManager = NotificationManagerCompat.from(this);         notificationManager.notify(notificationId, builder.build());     } }

MainActivity.kt

package org.geeksforgeeks.demo  import android.Manifest import android.annotation.SuppressLint import android.app.NotificationChannel import android.app.NotificationManager import android.app.PendingIntent import android.content.Context import android.content.Intent import android.content.pm.PackageManager import android.graphics.Color import android.os.Build import android.os.Bundle import android.widget.Button import android.widget.RemoteViews import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity import androidx.core.app.ActivityCompat import androidx.core.app.NotificationCompat import androidx.core.app.NotificationManagerCompat  class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity() {      private val channelId = "i.apps.notifications" // Unique channel ID for notifications     private val description = "Test notification"  // Description for the notification channel     private val notificationId = 1234 // Unique identifier for the notification      override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {         super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)         setContentView(R.layout.activity_main)          val btn = findViewById<Button>(R.id.btn)          // Create a notification channel (required for Android 8.0 and higher)         createNotificationChannel()          btn.setOnClickListener {             // Request runtime permission for notifications on Android 13 and higher             if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.TIRAMISU) {                 if (ActivityCompat.checkSelfPermission(                         this,                         Manifest.permission.POST_NOTIFICATIONS                     ) != PackageManager.PERMISSION_GRANTED                 ) {                     ActivityCompat.requestPermissions(                         this,                         arrayOf(Manifest.permission.POST_NOTIFICATIONS),                         101                     )                     return@setOnClickListener                 }             }             sendNotification() // Trigger the notification         }     }      /**      * Create a notification channel for devices running Android 8.0 or higher.      * A channel groups notifications with similar behavior.      */     private fun createNotificationChannel() {         if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.O) {             val notificationChannel = NotificationChannel(                 channelId,                 description,                 NotificationManager.IMPORTANCE_HIGH             ).apply {                 enableLights(true) // Turn on notification light                 lightColor = Color.GREEN                 enableVibration(true) // Allow vibration for notifications             }              val notificationManager = getSystemService(Context.NOTIFICATION_SERVICE) as NotificationManager             notificationManager.createNotificationChannel(notificationChannel)         }     }      /**      * Build and send a notification with a custom layout and action.      */     @SuppressLint("MissingPermission")     private fun sendNotification() {         // Intent that triggers when the notification is tapped         val intent = Intent(this, AfterNotification::class.java).apply {             flags = Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK or Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TASK         }         val pendingIntent = PendingIntent.getActivity(             this, 0, intent, PendingIntent.FLAG_UPDATE_CURRENT or PendingIntent.FLAG_IMMUTABLE         )          // Custom layout for the notification content         val contentView = RemoteViews(packageName, R.layout.activity_after_notification)          // Build the notification         val builder = NotificationCompat.Builder(this, channelId)             .setSmallIcon(R.drawable.gfg_logo) // Notification icon             .setContent(contentView) // Custom notification content             .setContentTitle("Hello") // Title displayed in the notification             .setContentText("Welcome to GeeksforGeeks!!") // Text displayed in the notification             .setContentIntent(pendingIntent) // Pending intent triggered when tapped             .setAutoCancel(true) // Dismiss notification when tapped             .setPriority(NotificationCompat.PRIORITY_HIGH) // Notification priority for better visibility          // Display the notification         with(NotificationManagerCompat.from(this)) {             notify(notificationId, builder.build())         }     } }

With this, we have now successfully created a "Notification" for our application. Note that the parameters listed in the above code are required and the absence of any single parameter could result in crashing or not starting the application. The content title, content text, small icon are customizable parameters but are mandatory also. One can change their values according to the requirement.

Output:

For learning more about the topic refer to these articles:
Create an Expandable Notification Containing a Picture in Android
Android progress notifications in Kotlin
Create an Expandable Notification Containing Some Text in Android

Notifications in Android with Example

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Article Tags :

Notifications in Android with Example

Step by Step Implementation

Step 1: Create a New Project

Step 2: Working with the activity_main.xml file

Design UI:

Step 3: Create a new empty activity

Step 4: Working with the MainActivity.kt file

Output:

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