# Foreground Service

When the Sentiance SDK runs in the background, it starts a foreground service to maintain reliable detections. This is a requirement enforced by Android to ensure long-running background processing can continue even when the app is not in focus.

## Foreground Service Notifications

Starting a foreground service requires showing a persistent notification. This is mandated by the Android OS to inform users about ongoing background work.

By default, the SDK displays a minimal notification using the app’s name and icon. However, you can fully customize this notification to match your app’s branding and use case.

To customize the notification, create a notification object and [set it on the SDK initialization options](https://docs.sentiance.com/a-complete-integration/android-sdk/initialization#id-3.-customize-the-android-notification-optional). At runtime, you can update this notification by calling [updateSdkNotification](https://docs.sentiance.com/important-topics/api-reference/android/sentiance#updatesdknotification).

## Foreground Service Types

In compliance with Android 14 (API level 34) and higher, foreground services must declare a specific service type in the manifest. The Sentiance SDK declares the following service types in its Android Manifest:

* **location**: indicates that the service is accessing location data in the background.
* **shortService**: indicates that the service is expected to run short tasks.