 <p>Generally there are several different ways to start service:</p> <ol> <li><a href="http://developer.android.com/reference/android/content/Context.html#startService(android.content.Intent)" rel="nofollow noreferrer">startService()</a> - after that you need to explicitly stop service with stopService()</li> <li>[bindService()][2] - this method allow you to manage the lifecycle of service automaticaly. So you can make service to stop after the last client said unbind();</li> </ol> <p>For details check <a href="http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/fundamentals.html#servlife" rel="nofollow noreferrer">docs</a></p> <p>[2]: <a href="http://developer.android.com/reference/android/content/Context.html#bindService(android.content.Intent" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://developer.android.com/reference/android/content/Context.html#bindService(android.content.Intent</a>, android.content.ServiceConnection, int)</p>