Open an image using URI in Android's default gallery image viewer

Question

I have extracted image uri, now I would like to open image with Android's default image viewer. Or even better, user could choose what program to use to open the image. Something like File Explorers offer you if you try to open a file.

Answer 1

Accepted answer was not working for me,

What had worked:

Intent intent = new Intent();
intent.setAction(Intent.ACTION_VIEW);
intent.setDataAndType(Uri.parse("file://" + "/sdcard/test.jpg"), "image/*");
startActivity(intent);

Answer 2

If your app targets Android N (7.0) and above, you should not use the answers above (of the "Uri.fromFile" method), because it won't work for you.

Instead, you should use a ContentProvider.

For example, if your image file is in external folder, you can use this (similar to the code I've made here) :

File file = ...;
final Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW)//
                                    .setDataAndType(VERSION.SDK_INT >= VERSION_CODES.N ?
                                                    FileProvider.getUriForFile(this,getPackageName() + ".provider", file) : Uri.fromFile(file),
                            "image/*").addFlags(Intent.FLAG_GRANT_READ_URI_PERMISSION);

manifest:

<provider
    android:name="androidx.core.content.FileProvider"
    android:authorities="${applicationId}.provider"
    android:exported="false"
    android:grantUriPermissions="true">
    <meta-data
        android:name="android.support.FILE_PROVIDER_PATHS"
        android:resource="@xml/provider_paths"/>
</provider>

res/xml/provider_paths.xml :

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<paths>
    <!--<external-path name="external_files" path="."/>-->
    <external-path
        name="files_root"
        path="Android/data/${applicationId}"/>
    <external-path
        name="external_storage_root"
        path="."/>
</paths>

If your image is in the private path of the app, you should create your own ContentProvider, as I've created "OpenFileProvider" on the link.

Answer 3

Ask myself, answer myself also:

startActivity(new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW, Uri.parse("content://media/external/images/media/16"))); /** replace with your own uri */

It will also ask what program to use to view the file.