android: Allow sending SOS manually directly from notifications

[nizarmah]

We got our first feature request, from the app!

{
  "usage": {
    "reasons": "[Regional Conflict or Instability, Disaster Preparedness]",
    "custom": ""
  },
  "ideas": "If there would be some notification that would allow to activate the audio signal even from the lock screen, in case of someone not being able to unlock the phone and the program not detecting emergency ",
  "email": "",
  "device": "android",
  "key": "android-usage-feedback-v1.0.0"
}

Goal:

1. Add a foreground service that allows people to "Trigger SOS" directly from the notifications.
2. Make it user toggleable from the Settings.

Sadly this isn't something we can do on iOS.

[nizarmah]

I'll work on this later tonight, but here's what it looks like, in case someone is interested in contributing.

We'll have two services:

1. Permanent notification service: handles both starting and stopping SOS in the same notification.
2. Distress active service: handles stopping SOS.

Distress active service is already implemented.

We want to implement the permanent notification service. However, we don't want them to overlap.

So, we need a "manager" that knows, depending on whether permanent notification is enabled, should we use the permanent notification service or the distress active service, when starting and stopping the SOS.

By default, the permanent notification service should be disabled. Users can choose to enable it.

[nizarmah]

This is almost ready. I still need to test it and can open a PR. But it'll need to wait until tomorrow.

[nizarmah]

No progress since last comment. I have been occupied with work.
I'll get this done tomorrow before work.

[mariahacs10]

Hello! @nizarmah

I’ve been working on the SOS notification feature and wanted to share what i have done. I’ve made progress on the implementation and recorded two short demo videos to showcase how it works in action:

Video 1:https://youtube.com/shorts/d0xv7wXm2zs
Video 2:https://youtube.com/shorts/MuSMeQQ0T4I

This is just a quick first step, but if it looks good to you, I can push the code—just let me know!

[nizarmah]

Hello @mariahacs10! That's awesome, thanks for the demos.

That's pretty similar to what I had in mind 🙌🏼 Slight improvements would be needed:

1. The "toggle" in the settings doesn't match the "disaster detection" setting in styling.
2. The notification uses a custom view instead of the notification's built-in buttons.

[mariahacs10]

Hey @nizarmah,

Thank you for the feedback 😀!

I have a few quick questions so I can make the right adjustments:

-Do you still want the 10-second timer on the broadcasting notification before it ends automatically?

-Do you want me to switch to android built-in arrow-style notification system, is that what you mean?

-If using the built-in style, should the broadcast notification replace the Trigger SOS notification, like it currently does in the custom view? Or would you prefer them to show as two separate notifications?

Is there anything else you'd like changed or improved in how it works or looks?

--Mariah

[nizarmah]

Do you still want the 10-second timer on the broadcasting notification before it ends automatically?

Let's keep it simple, without a timer. The person needs to manually "stop" the SOS either through the notification or the app.

Do you want me to switch to android built-in arrow-style notification system, is that what you mean?

I'm sorry I don't understand the question. Android notifications have "action buttons", let's use those. For an example, check the "Stop SOS" notification implemented in the code.

If using the built-in style, should the broadcast notification replace the Trigger SOS notification, like it currently does in the custom view? Or would you prefer them to show as two separate notifications?

Ideally, a single notification for both states, but only when we have the "lockscreen easy-access" enabled. If no "lockscreen easy-access" enabled, we want the current behavior (notification to "stop" broadcasting sos).

My recommendation is, treat them as two different notifications. It will make the code easier to write and maintain.

You can open a separate PR to change thigns from two notifications into a single one. This will hopefully make it easier to contribute the changes, instead of them being complex and huge.

Is there anything else you'd like changed or improved in how it works or looks?

Nothing else to add. Thanks a lot for giving this a shot! Don't worry about things being exact. As long as they're close, I can tweak anything in a follow-up PR and ping you for a review.

Feel free to break this down into bite-sized PRs if it's easier for you to implement, as long as it's possible test each change.

---

I'm curious, how'd you learn about this app? Are you using it? And what made you consider contributing? The questions are optional.

[mariahacs10]

Hello!

Thank you for the feedback 😄, I am currently working on your implementation.

I'm a highschool student learning kotlin android jetcompose, and I searched GitHub issues for good first issues to work on and I came across your app.

[mariahacs10]

Hello @nizarmah !

I had a chance to look over your code. I have a question: Do you want the trigger SOS notification/broadcast notification to stay persistent on the homescreen, like it does on the lockscreen, where it's unswipable?

[nizarmah]

Hello! Yeap. I believe that's the current behavior. We don't want that to change, we just want to add a new behavior as well.