IPC: A buzz word in Modern Android Development Paradigm
Inter-process communication (IPC) in Android is how different apps and system components talk to each other safely, even though each runs in its own isolated Linux process. Android achieves this with a kernel driver called Binder, wrapped in familiar APIs like Intents, Services, ContentProviders, AIDL, and Messenger. 1. Story first: apartments and the intercom Imagine every Android app as a separate apartment in a high-security building. Each apartment (process) has: Its own space (memory). Its own keys (UID/permissions). No direct access to other apartments. Yet, apps need to talk: Food-delivery app → asks Google Maps for routes. Camera app → sends photos to the gallery. Music app → asks the system if it can play over an ongoing call. Whenever this conversation crosses apartment boundaries (processes), you are doing IPC. Binder is the building’s intercom system that connects apartments and the building’s control room (system services). You already use IPC whenever you: St...