Detecting whether a headset is plugged into an Android device or not.

AudioManager.isWiredHeadsetOn() always return false because it requires user-permission MODIFY_AUDIO_SETTINGS.

I spent several days while found answer. There are no info about this in official documentation. And this bug already registered in BugTracker.

You can use the broadcast receiver.

So, You might write this code in "AndroidManifest.xml"

<receiver android:name="com.juno.brheadset.HeadsetStateReceiver">
    <intent-filter>
        <action android:name="android.intent.action.HEADSET_PLUG"/>
    </intent-filter>
</receiver>-->

But, This doesn't work. When OS send this "HEADSET_PLUG" intent, OS set the flag "Intent.FLAG_RECEIVER_REGISTERED_ONLY" So, You should write the code like below in Activity or Service class instead of "AndroidManifest" things.

public class BRHeadsetActivity extends Activity {
/** Called when the activity is first created. */
@Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.main);

    IntentFilter receiverFilter = new IntentFilter(Intent.ACTION_HEADSET_PLUG);
    HeadsetStateReceiver receiver = new HeadsetStateReceiver();
    registerReceiver( receiver, receiverFilter );


}

I hope this article help you. Bye!

This is the part of "HeadsetObserver.java", Android SDK Source.

private final void sendIntent(int headset, int headsetState, int prevHeadsetState, String headsetName) {
    if ((headsetState & headset) != (prevHeadsetState & headset)) {
        //  Pack up the values and broadcast them to everyone
        Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_HEADSET_PLUG);

        **intent.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_RECEIVER_REGISTERED_ONLY);**

        int state = 0;
        int microphone = 0;

        if ((headset & HEADSETS_WITH_MIC) != 0) {
            microphone = 1;
        }
        if ((headsetState & headset) != 0) {
            state = 1;
        }
        intent.putExtra("state", state);
        intent.putExtra("name", headsetName);
        intent.putExtra("microphone", microphone);

        if (LOG) Slog.v(TAG, "Intent.ACTION_HEADSET_PLUG: state: "+state+" name: "+headsetName+" mic: "+microphone);
        // TODO: Should we require a permission?
        ActivityManagerNative.broadcastStickyIntent(intent, null);
    }
}

When you say "headset", do you mean "wired headset"? If so, there's an intent to detect whether or not one is being plugged or unplugged: ACTION_HEADSET_PLUG.

To check the status, you can use AudioManager.isWiredHeadsetOn(), although that may return false if there is also a bluetooth headset, and audio is routed to that instead.