How do I get MediaProjectionManager without disturbing the current foreground process, except to ask for permission?

So I came back to this because it was dumb and it was bugging me, and I figured it out!

In another class (in mine it’s the application class) put this code:

private static Intent screenshotPermission = null;

protected static void getScreenshotPermission() {
    try {
        if (hasScreenshotPermission()) {
            if(null != mediaProjection) {
                mediaProjection.stop();
                mediaProjection = null;
            }
            mediaProjection = mediaProjectionManager.getMediaProjection(Activity.RESULT_OK, (Intent) screenshotPermission.clone()); 
        } else {
            openScreenshotPermissionRequester();
        }
    } catch (final RuntimeException ignored) {
        openScreenshotPermissionRequester();
    }
}

protected static void openScreenshotPermissionRequester(){
    final Intent intent = new Intent(context, AcquireScreenshotPermissionIntent.class);
    intent.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
    context.startActivity(intent);
}



protected static void setScreenshotPermission(final Intent permissionIntent) {
    screenshotPermission = permissionIntent;
}

In your activity class handling the initial request (in my case: AcquireScreenshotPermissionIntent) put this code in your onactivityresult:

@Override
public void onActivityResult(final int requestCode, final int resultCode, final Intent data) {
    super.onActivityResult(requestCode, resultCode, data);
    if (1 == requestCode) {
        if (Activity.RESULT_OK == resultCode) {
            setScreenshotPermission((Intent) data.clone());
        }
    } else if (Activity.RESULT_CANCELED == resultCode) {
        setScreenshotPermission(null);
        log("no access");

    }
    finish();

Simply call getScreenShotPermission() whenever you need permission, then use the resulting mediaProjection object.

Here’s how it works: The magic token is some data included in the Intent. What I tried initially was putting the result intent a global variable and using it to create the media projection from a nonactivity class. Problem is it would fail. What I eventually figured out is the token gets consumed when you create a media projection with it. Passing it as an argument or assigning to a new variable just passes a pointer to it, and it still gets consumed.

What you need to do instead is use object.clone();. This makes a new copy of the token, the new copy gets consumed, and you can create additional tokens as needed, as long as you don’t consume the original. As a bonus your app only has to ask for screenshot permission once per launch. If something else takes over the screencast, or the Android memory manager gets you, you’re covered. You can create a new virtual screen without sending onPause or onStop events to other apps.