Android: Read a file without external storage permission

Question

I don't want my app to require any permissions, but I want the user to be able to select a file for reading. My app doesn't need arbitrary access to the filesystem. However, all openfiledialog implementations I have researched so far seem to assume permission to access external storage.

One workaround I can think of is to configure my app to be among the list of apps to open a certain type of file. I haven't tried this, but I hope this would work without permission to access external storage. However, user guidance would be less then ideal in this case. I would prefer a solution with a dialog and have the user pick the file.

I think this requirement does not undermine security, because the user has full control over the file my app can read. Is this possible somehow?

Answer 1

However, all openfiledialog implementations I have researched so far seem to assume permission to access external storage.

Set your minSdkVersion to 19, then use ACTION_OPEN_DOCUMENT, part of the Storage Access Framework.

Or, if you need your minSdKVersion to be below 19, use ACTION_GET_CONTENT on the older devices.

You will get a Uri back via onActivityResult(). Use a ContentResolver and methods like openInputStream() to consume the content identified by that Uri.

I haven't tried this, but I hope this would work without permission to access external storage

Only if you exclude file: Uri values. For example, an <intent-filter> that supports only content: Uri values would work.