Titanium JIRA Archive
Titanium SDK/CLI (TIMOB)

[TIMOB-28182] Android: Only add WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission when needed

GitHub Issuen/a
TypeImprovement
PriorityMedium
StatusClosed
ResolutionFixed
Resolution Date2020-11-16T21:39:44.000+0000
Affected Version/sn/a
Fix Version/sRelease 9.3.0
ComponentsAndroid
Labelsandroid, externalstorage, manifest, permission, storage
ReporterJoshua Quick
AssigneeJoshua Quick
Created2020-10-09T01:06:23.000+0000
Updated2020-11-16T21:39:44.000+0000

Description

*Synopsis:* The "AndroidManifest.xml" permission WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE is ignored when targeting Android 10+ and running on those Android OS versions. This is because of scoped-storage and Google only allows an app to write to very particular folders on external storage. The app's sandboxed folders on external storage no longer require permission as of Android 4.4. https://developer.android.com/training/data-storage/shared/media#request-permissions *To-Do:* The Titanium build system should be changed to only inject this permission when needed based on JavaScript APIs used. If the Ti.Filesystem.requestStoragePermissions() method is used, then the permission should be added as before like this. This is the only method that requires this permission on Android 10 and above. 
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE"/>
If Ti.Media.showCamera() or Ti.Media.saveToPhotoGallery() methods are used, then we should add a maxSdkVersion attribute set to Android 9 since external storage access is not required on Android 10 and higher. 
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" android:maxSdkVersion="28"/>
If none of the above JavaScript methods are detected, then we should *NOT* add this permission. *Note:* If the "tiapp.xml" adds the WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission, then it should take priority and the above should be ignored.

Attachments

FileDateSize
CameraPhotoExternalTest.js2020-11-09T22:24:20.000+0000982
ImageToGalleryTest.js2020-11-09T22:23:56.000+0000870
RequestStoragePermissionsTest.js2020-11-09T23:01:26.000+0000526

Comments

  1. Joshua Quick 2020-11-06

    I'm thinking we should *NOT* implement this because it would be a breaking-change that would cause a lot of tech-support issues. It should be the Titanium app developer's responsibility to do this instead. The reason is because a lot of customer code that looks like the below will always fail to request for external storage permission on Android 10 and above if we set maxSdkVersion to 29. Note that the requestStoragePermission() method call is no longer required anymore as of 9.3.0 and can be removed. 
       // You no longer need to request storage permission to access externalStorageDirectory anymore.
   Ti.Filesystem.requestStoragePermissions((e) => {
   	if (!e.success) {
   		alert("External storage permission not granted.")
   	} else if (!Ti.Filesystem.isExternalStoragePresent()) {
   		alert("External storage is not available on this device.");
   	} else {
   		const dataFile = Ti.Filesystem.getFile(Ti.Filesystem.externalStorageDirectory, 'MyFile.txt');
   		dataFile.write("Hello World");
   	}
   });
    *Note1 :* As of Titanium 9.3.0, our Ti.Media.showCamera() and Ti.Media.saveToPhotoGallery() method no longer require this permission on Android 10 and above. And our Ti.Filesystem.externalStorageDirectory does not require this permission on Android 4.4 and above. This means the Ti.Filesystem.requestStoragePermission() is only needed for: * Android 6 - Android 9 when using showCamera() and saveToPhotoGallery() APIs. * Sometimes by 3rd party modules or hyperloop code which writes outside of scoped storage. *Note 2:* As of 9.3.0, the Ti.Media.requestCameraPermissions() method is smart enough to only request external storage permission for Android 6 to Android 9. It won't request this permission on Android 10 and above. This method should be used before calling showCamera(). *Note 3:* As of 9.3.0, we've added Ti.Media.requestPhotoGalleryPermissions() support on Android. This method should be used before calling saveToPhotoGallery() like iOS. The Android implementation is smart enough to only request external storage permission for Android 6 to Android 9. This method will always return return true on Android 10 and above.
  2. Joshua Quick 2020-11-07

    Okay. I've changed my mind. Instead of always adding the WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission with a maxSdkVersion set to Android 9, we should instead scan the JS code for APIs that need this permission and inject it intelligently like how we handle the camera and location permissions.
  3. Joshua Quick 2020-11-07

    PR (master): https://github.com/appcelerator/titanium_mobile/pull/12253
  4. Lokesh Choudhary 2020-11-16

    FR Passed. PR Merged.

JSON Source