Two launcher activities

I have two activities marked with intent filter

<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
package="com.package"
android:versionCode="1"
android:versionName="1.0" >

<uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="7" />

<application
    android:name=".MyApp"
    android:icon="@drawable/ic_launcher"
    android:label="@string/app_name" >

    <!-- work order activity -->
    <activity
        android:name=".app.WorkOrderActivity"
        android:label="@string/work_order"
        android:taskAffinity="com.package.task_for_work_order_activity" >
        <intent-filter>
            <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />

            <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
        </intent-filter>
    </activity>

    <!-- inventory activity -->
    <activity
        android:name=".app.InventoryActivity"
        android:label="@string/inventory"
        android:taskAffinity="com.package.task_for_inventory_activity" >
        <intent-filter>
            <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />

            <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
        </intent-filter>
    </activity>
</application>

The problem is, that when I'm installing apk file, there is no activity shown, because, as I understood system can't specify what activity should be shown.

I just really need two activities shown in launcher, so please don't give advice about removing intent-filters from second activity, or if you do so provide me another way to show two icons in launcher.

You need to specify which activity is the default one by adding the following line to your intent-filter:

<category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT"/>

Insert this in the default activity and keep the rest. Then it should work.

You may also want to add a different icon to your 2nd activity with the attribute android:icon="@drawable/myothericon"

Add <action> items with android:name attributes defined to both intent filters:

<application
    android:name=".MyApp"
    android:icon="@drawable/ic_launcher"
    android:label="@string/app_name" >

    <!-- work order activity -->
    <activity
        android:name=".app.WorkOrderActivity"
        android:label="@string/work_order"
        android:taskAffinity="com.package.task_for_work_order_activity" >
        <intent-filter>
            <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
            <action android:name=".app.WorkOrderActivity"/>
            <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
        </intent-filter>
    </activity>

    <!-- inventory activity -->
    <activity
        android:name=".app.InventoryActivity"
        android:label="@string/inventory"
        android:taskAffinity="com.package.task_for_inventory_activity" >
        <intent-filter>
            <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
            <action android:name=".app.InventoryActivity"/>
            <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
        </intent-filter>
    </activity>
</application>

I think it's because of the "android.intent.action.MAIN" action, this worked for me :

<application>
    <activity android:name=".MyActivityA" android:icon="@drawable/aicon"  android:label="@string/app_name">
        <intent-filter>
            <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
        </intent-filter>
    </activity>
    <activity android:name=".MyActivityB" android:icon="@drawable/bicon" android:label="@string/app_name">
        <intent-filter>
            <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
        </intent-filter>
    </activity>
 </application>

Seems it is possible to have multiple startup activities by using the task affinity property. See the answer at https://stackoverflow.com/a/3270422/819904

I tested on an emulator running API level 29. The following is enough:

<activity
    android:name=".MyActivity"
    android:label="Activity 1"
    android:exported="true">

    <intent-filter>
        <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
        <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
    </intent-filter>

</activity>

<activity
    android:name=".MyActivity2"
    android:label="Activity 2"
    android:exported="true">

    <intent-filter>
        <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
        <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
    </intent-filter>

</activity>

The reason some say this doesn't work is because if the app is already running, it will resume running the last activity in the app no matter which of your 2 activities on the launcher you click on. But try (force) stopping the app, and then you will see the activity corresponding to the one you click on in the launcher starts.

This behavior is usually not what we want, so we can start running the activities in different tasks by using <activity android:taskAffinity="an.identifier.for.the.task">, e.g.:

<activity
    android:name=".MyActivity"
    android:label="Activity 1"
    android:exported="true"
    android:taskAffinity=".task.sellers">

    <intent-filter>
        <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
        <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
    </intent-filter>

</activity>

<activity
    android:name=".MyActivity2"
    android:label="Activity 2"
    android:exported="true"
    android:taskAffinity=".task.buyers">

    <intent-filter>
        <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
        <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
    </intent-filter>

</activity>