How to launch an Activity without a UI?

Android also provides a theme specifically for this:

android:theme="@android:style/Theme.NoDisplay"

In your manifest, when you declare the activity, use theme "@android:style/Theme.Translucent.NoTitleBar"

Ex:

<activity android:name="yourActivityName" android:label="@string/app_name" android:theme="@android:style/Theme.Translucent.NoTitleBar">

Related