Does startService () create a new instance of the service or use an existing one?

Question

Does startService () create a new instance of the service or use an existing one? For example, in the following code, are two instances of UpdateService or one instance of UpdateService created? Thank.

int[] appWidgetIds = new int[] {1, 2}; for (int appWidgetId : appWidgetIds) { Intent intent = new Intent(context, UpdateService.class); intent.putExtra(AppWidgetManager.EXTRA_APPWIDGET_ID, appWidgetId); context.startService(intent); } 

Answer 1

If the service is already running, it does not start as a second copy, but onStart() is still called on the existing instance. Services are natural singleton - there is only 0 or 1 copy of a service in action.

Answer 2

The onStart method is onStart deprecated, use onStartCommand .