Tutorial: How to make one-tap shortcuts to HIDDEN Android activies
(which have no GUI to get to them)

The only two things you need to make a shortcut to anything on Android is
the package name and the activity name (sometimes called a class).

For example, this is that set for a hidden notification history activity.
Package name: (com.android.settings)
Activity name: (com.android.settings.TestingSettings)

There is no way in Android to tap your way to that notification log, but if
you know just the package and activity, you can make a teleport shortcut.

What you need to know is the name of the package and hidden activity,
which, sometimes, if you're lucky, you can get in a published listing.

*Here's how to Access Hidden Settings on your Phone*
<https://www.xda-developers.com/heres-how-to-access-hidden-settings-on-your-phone/>

They describe this useful testing setting listing "detailed information
about your current cellular & WiFi collection as well as app usage"

Hidden Activity listing details about every notification received.
Package name: com.android.settings
Activity name: com.android.settings.TestingSettings

Hidden Activity listing current cellular and WiFi collection data.
Package name: com.android.settings
Activity name: com.android.settings.TestingSettings

Hidden Activity listing cell towers you've connected to.
Package name: com.android.settings
Activity name: com.android.settings.RadioInfo

Hidden Activity listing time spent on apps (survives reboot).
Package name: com.android.settings
Activity name: com.android.settings.UsageStatsActivity

Hidden Activity listing gory details about your Wi-Fi connections.
Package name: com.android.settings
Activity name: com.android.settings.wifi.WifiInfo

There are plenty of other hidden activities, but those were in that article
where all you need to create a one-tap shortcut to them is this tutorial.
*Tutorial: How to make a 5-levels deep 1-tap shortcut to Google Precise Location Settings*
<https://groups.google.com/g/comp.mobile.android/c/KGDGRm7rUO4>
--
I'm on Usenet to learn from others and to teach others who want to learn.

The problem, of course, with hidden activities, is they're hidden!

So, to create a one-tap shortcut to any Android hidden activity,
you either have to already know, a priori, the two important things:
a. The package name
b. The (hidden) activity name

In some cases, you know that package name & hidden activity name,
such as with the prior case where someone published both of those.
*Tutorial: How to make a one-tap shortcut to anything on Android*
<https://groups.google.com/g/comp.mobile.android/c/KGDGRm7rUO4>

In other cases, you can find a hidden-activity app that goes directly to
those hidden activities where you can then run a shortcut inspector to
find the unique package name and unique (hidden) activity name.

For example, this old app (no longer in the app store) did just that.
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ljh.networkmodesamsung>

By running that app to show the user all their hidden bands:
<https://i.postimg.cc/FFByv7Ps/bands01.jpg> Hidden Network-Mode Activity
<https://i.postimg.cc/ZKnwPGQ0/bands02.jpg> Hidden Band-Selection Activity
<https://i.postimg.cc/L5CZHt2k/bands03.jpg> Band selection options
And then by running the Shortcut Inspector which logs every activity
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cemique.shortcutwidgets>
I could unambiguously determine the unique activity name, which was
<com.samsung.android.app.telephonyui.hiddennetworksetting.MainActivity>
Based on what a free google free ad free gsf free shortcut inspector says.

To find hidden activities which you don't have a GUI to is hard.

If you're rooted, there are tools expressly for finding hidden activities.
RootActivityLauncher
<https://github.com/DerekZiemba/RootActivityLauncher>
Which mentions use of:
RootShell
<https://github.com/Stericson/RootShell>
And which is a root-focused port of Activity Launcher
<http://sourceforge.net/projects/activitylauncher/>
Which is available for free on the Google Play Store
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.szalkowski.activitylauncher>

But what if you're not rooted?

In summary, to make a shortcut to a HIDDEN activity is no different than
making a shortcut to a PUBLIC activity in that all you need are two things
a. The unique name of the package
b. The unique name of the HIDDEN activity
But what's different is you need a tool to FIND that hidden activity.
A. If you have a tool to bring it up, an inspector will give you the name
B. And if you have documentation of the hidden activity you have the name
C. But what do you when you don't have either the tool or the listing?

How do you get the package/activity name of a HIDDEN activity on your own?
--
Some people are on Usenet for their amusement but I'm here to learn from
others and to help others learn from me - where together we add value.

Wally J <walterjones@invalid.nospam> wrote

> How do you get the package/activity name of a HIDDEN activity on your own?

*Tutorial: How to make a one-tap homescreen shortcut to an activity*
*which isn't EXPORTED as public (volume mute)*
<https://groups.google.com/g/comp.mobile.android/c/f6M__rV10YI>

Note I'm not sure of the terminology as there are various activities
a. Activities which you can click to that show up in inspectors
b. Activities which you can click to that do not show up in inspectors
c. Activities you can not click to but which show up in inspectors