What are intent-filters in Android?

An intent filter is an expression in an app’s manifest file that specifies the type of intents that the component would like to receive.

When you create an implicit intent, the Android system finds the appropriate component to start by comparing the contents of the intent to the intent filters declared in the manifest file of other apps on the device. If the intent matches an intent filter, the system starts that component and delivers it the Intent object.

AndroidManifest.xml

<activity android:name=".HelloWorld"
    android:label="@string/app_name">
    <intent-filter>
        <action android:name="android.intent.action.VIEW"/>
        <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT"/>
        <category android:name="android.intent.category.BROWSABLE"/>
        <data android:scheme="http" android:host="androidium.org"/>
    </intent-filter>
</activity>

Launch HelloWorld

Intent intent = new Intent (Intent.ACTION_VIEW, Uri.parse("http://androidium.org"));
startActivity(intent);