file managers and backup apps are not the only apps that need legacy storage. This is ridiculous

The idea of having protected storage is good, but the way it is implemented to put it mildly is terrible. Looks like these APIs were designed by first grade students. Is it that hard to create concrete type objects/enums and get rid of primitive types like Strings and Integers it is 2019 and you still use 2009 cursor apis.

how to downgrade to android 9 or less

No No No, Google, this is not enough for good user protection and usability, need more protection. You must add more protection mechanisms. Please make access to files more complicated, you can do it, i believe in you. I have a good idea for next version of Android: Storage Api should send access request directly to the Google Central Office each time when user wants access to a file(e.g: open or save pdf file or save xls file), user should get access to a file only after Google Central Office confirmation.

And what about apps that have and introduce custom file formats with custom mime type and those files are created by user's time and efforts. I have a guitar notation app - Guitar Tabs X - and now I have to store the songs written by the user in the Downloads collection ?? Those songs can also be exported to MIDI or PDF and how you imagine those connected files to be scattered in different collections or worse - to be deleted if the user uninstalls the app??? Now the app creates one public external storage folder and stores everything inside. That folder can be easily deleted by the user but will stay if the user uninstalls/installs the app as there are the files created by the user! Why not keep that approach and let apps create and use one persistent folder?

I look forward to experiencing bugs on Spotify and Audible, as well as various other music/ audiobook players.

Thanks for this presentation, but the scoped storage it's terrible. The idea behind is good, but it's impossible for most apps use those APIs. An example is an enterprise app which writes log files (and append lines while running) in folders on ext storage using pure java libraries like log4j. This will break most of enterprise apps and most of MDM solutions. A very easier approach could have been involved a standard permission request (maybe specifying the directory) and when granted allow developers to keep using standard java IO classes to do any operation inside the folder.

I have to relearn Android technologies for every 2 years. I come and watch this video after camera stop working in 2020. Maybe another changes in 2022 and my app stop working again.

@Android Developers: how about allowing full storage access for apps if the "user" is a developer? I'm fine with selecting myself which apps get full access to shared storage. If I only wanted to use "media files" I'd be using iOS already. I want hex editor, file manager, proper text editor and other stuff that makes no sense to any casual user. And I want root access when I decide it.

This is going to be IOS copy

Our app creates and manages files that are not supposed to be deleted "automatically" when the app in uninstalled. The user invested time and effort, the files are the result and they should not just disappear. I'm sure a lot of other apps have the same concern. Hey Google, just provide a new folder that can survive an uninstall-reinstall event, or an uninstall-I-still-need-the-files event. And it's not about one single file or a one-by-one low performance copy through SAF, it's a large directory tree with fast access from native code. Maybe something the user can allow with OPEN_DOC_TREE or something, but accessible form native UNIX code and File class. We're now preparing an update: Well ask permission from the users to copy the data from the current safe-from-uninstall location, easily accessible with file managers (to copy files in and out) to the hidden private folder. And with the big warning "don't forget to export everything as zip before uninstalling". Ridiculous.

Google continually change Android, even when most of those changes are unnecessary

I seem not to suggest my friends to be android developer as it is becoming worse. Even users want to have a better management of files by different apps they want. Now it seems not to be the case. Good bye free android world! Welcome endless limitations!

Is there any reason an app SHOULD NOT request `takePersistableUriPermission`? If not, why the framework does not automatically make all request persistable?

Hi All. I was here looking for clarity on how to drop some PDB (protein data bank) files on a phone and then find them using a 3D protein viewer (under development) programmatically. I was hoping for some sort of guidance. That this presentation was confusing is an understatement. Will keep looking.

Whre is the list of these new permissions? Just tell me where to find the info!!

I have a content management application. How can i add my own metadata to all files? Either embedded in the file data or as extended attributes to the file? How can i use inode tracking to find changes made to media now automatically? What if the media is a PDF, Zip File or ASCII text and not audio,image,video?

I miss the swear words to describe how bad a change is.

What if I want to put all the short videos/images downloaded from 9gag/reddit/giphy etc to some specific folder, but not visible to the default gallery, and also want this folder to be kept when the app is uninstalled? Or copy/move to external SDCard?

I am just an android user, updated owncloud and was not able to edit my files on storage because of implementing of scope storage... so reverted back to old version of the app. Come here to understand how it function and I see words no visual representation...I think this android feature is like this presentation that look rough and messy ... I keep for now my old owncloud app version

😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱 I have tons of code written with the File API.

Deleting images created by other apps doesn't work. It only removes the entry from the content provider database, not the actual file. What's worse is that once you open the Photos app, the image gets re-registered into the database with a new ID. There are issue tracker reports. Please fix this before 11 comes out!

Android is back in development. We want windows for smartphones.

where to get this sample code?

share some resources about scope storage examples like folder read-write permission in java..... its too much complicated

The new API that's used on apps targeted to android 11 means tht you can't access the OBB files ar the Android/data to any app with a 30 API

ya how about you don't

It's that was smart permission is a question to the owner to state period limit so the user can choose how long they have permission time limit. Permission should be temporarily like 5 Seconds 10 second 30 seconds

23:07 lol, this will be a real mess for a ton of apps. 🌝

thanks

I'm using android 9.0. Please help me to get full external storage access without scoped storage.

How to play the file using it's _ID

Well always it's the User?

My applications generate and read files that are not media file, but application specific. The scoped storage does not fit such files, because they are not media file. Google says to handle such files in "download area", quite bad idea for the end user, as the download area is seen only as temporary storage. I liked previous innovations in Android releases, but the scoped storage "innovation" deceives developers and also end users, as their user experience will be awkward in case of applications that handle files not related to media.

Time to switch to ubuntu touch

Personally I think scoped storage is a terrible idea and is going to cause a lot of trouble for developers and users alike. If introduced, it should only be for new apps, not existing ones.

What exactly you mean by "Unfiltered view od MediaStore", when FileManager app will be whitelisted? It will work like on Android 9? Normally with File class? And. I agree that better protection is good, but API based on Cursors? Really? For example java.nio has the ability to create custom FileSystem very easily and it works the same as native filesystem. Please follow this way.

Bruh if apps can't access my files then how can i access my files??

Nahh broo.... I know that it protects ur files but how about the people that uses emulators? Or modders for games??... They need access to data and obb folders right?...

For those who are not able to write storage for android Q and above Add this to your manifest android:requestLegacyExternalStorage="true"

Lucky thoes who dont use storage access in their app.

"We're really responsive to developer feedback on this topic." You wouldn't know it from the issue tracker. Critical issues ignored for years, documentation of problems dismissed, and then the issue is closed.

12:35 Tutorial to that "system picker" ?

PROTECT EVERYBODY not just the corporations that hide in the root files

I mean at least let us have access to everything through the file explorer. I have an s20 and now chrome is absolutely useless, I had about 48+ GB of data on my SD card in chrome data folder which now I can't access without root which will void my warranty, he'll I can't even see the data folder through a USB cable on another device. At least give writing and reading access to all apps in my file explorer for developing sake.

It's a disaster for the android platform. The complex security model blocks so many applications, including myself, just want to give up this platform completely after wasting days' trying to find work around but nothing works. For proper security, you need to think holisticly instead of patch version by version which results in such a mass. With this kind of complexity, how can you guarantee security. You just block normal developers, hacker can also find loop wholes with such kind of complexity.

See the mentioned notes on scoped storage at 22:55

Scoped storage is dope.

Good bye Android development. Past few years i am just updating "file management" part of my software. DocumentFile api is the most worse api i have ever seen. Android has no future its gone. We need pure Linux OS for phones.

Very nice. Despite controversy, the scoped storage has been adopted successfully by the community after 3 years.

why not java code

I have started feature request : Please view it here: issuetracker.google.com/issues/150626935

Smart..... 🤦‍♂️

It's terrible in all possible ways.

This is beneficial to the users but not to the app developers.