Services in android

A service is a component that runs in the background to perform long-running operations without needing to interact with the user and it works even if application is destroyed. A service can essentially take two states −
Sr.No.State & Description
1
Started
A service is started when an application component, such as an activity, starts it by calling startService(). Once started, a service can run in the background indefinitely, even if the component that started it is destroyed.
2
Bound
A service is bound when an application component binds to it by calling bindService(). A bound service offers a client-server interface that allows components to interact with the service, send requests, get results, and even do so across processes with interprocess communication (IPC).
A service has life cycle callback methods that you can implement to monitor changes in the service's state and you can perform work at the appropriate stage. The following diagram on the left shows the life cycle when the service is created with startService() and the diagram on the right shows the life cycle when the service is created with bindService(): (image courtesy : android.com )
Android Service lifecycle
To create an service, you create a Java class that extends the Service base class or one of its existing subclasses. The Service base class defines various callback methods and the most important are given below. You don't need to implement all the callbacks methods. However, it's important that you understand each one and implement those that ensure your app behaves the way users expect.

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