Android 11 Scoped storage permissions

Issue

I'm trying to better understand what I will be able to do once the Android 11 version will be released.

My App use the file paths of images provided by Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory() to create albums of photos, but with Android 11 I won't be able to access directly files.

According to the Android developers documentation they recently introduced the MANAGE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission, but I didn't understand if adding this permission I'm able to continue to access file by Environment or not.

Has anyone an idea???

Thanks

UPDATE JANUARY 2021

I tried my application on an Android 11 Virtual device and it seems to work perfectly even without requesting the MANAGE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission!

Reading the documentation on Android Developers, it seems that the applications that uses the FILE API for accessing Photos and Medias only locations can continue to work, but I'am not sure.

Is there anyone who better understood the Android Documentation???

Solution

According to the Android developers documentation they recently introduced the MANAGE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission, but I didn't understand if adding this permission I'm able to continue to access file by Environment or not.

Yes, you will. However, bear in mind that if you intend to distribute your app on the Play Store (and perhaps elsewhere), you will need to justify the reason for requesting that permission. So, unless you have a very good reason to use MANAGE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE, please use something else.

Answered By - CommonsWare