Settings.System API behaviour in Android API level 23

Question

In my application with targetSdkVersion as 23, while using the API Settings.System.putString().

Following error is being thrown and app crashes
"AndroidRuntime: java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: You cannot keep your settings in the secure settings."

After trying solution at
Can't get WRITE_SETTINGS permission
and granting the app write permission in screen opened by ACTION_MANAGE_WRITE_SETTINGS. The app still gets the error "You cannot keep your settings in the secure settings".

Is requesting the WRITE_SETTINGS permission now only for apps developed by OEMs ? Is there a solution possible ?

Sharing a sample code , tested on Nexus 5 device with M OS.

Android Manifest Snippet :

    android:minSdkVersion="17"  
    android:targetSdkVersion="23"  
    uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_SETTINGS"

Code Snippet :

protected void onResume() {
    super.onResume();
    boolean canDo =  Settings.System.canWrite(this);
    if (false == canDo)
    {
        Intent grantIntent = new   Intent(Settings.ACTION_MANAGE_WRITE_SETTINGS);
        startActivity(grantIntent);
    }
    else
    {   
        Settings.System.putString(this.getContentResolver(),
            "test.hemant", "hemantval");
    }           

}

Log Stack :

E/DatabaseUtils(  779): Writing exception to parcel
E/DatabaseUtils(  779): java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: You cannot keep your settings in the secure settings.
E/DatabaseUtils(  779):     at com.android.providers.settings.SettingsProvider.warnOrThrowForUndesiredSecureSettingsMutationForTargetSdk(SettingsProvider.java:1175)
E/DatabaseUtils(  779):     at com.android.providers.settings.SettingsProvider.enforceRestrictedSystemSettingsMutationForCallingPackage(SettingsProvider.java:1030)
E/DatabaseUtils(  779):     at com.android.providers.settings.SettingsProvider.mutateSystemSetting(SettingsProvider.java:906)
E/DatabaseUtils(  779):     at com.android.providers.settings.SettingsProvider.insertSystemSetting(SettingsProvider.java:874)
E/DatabaseUtils(  779):     at com.android.providers.settings.SettingsProvider.call(SettingsProvider.java:257)
E/DatabaseUtils(  779):     at android.content.ContentProvider$Transport.call(ContentProvider.java:398)
E/DatabaseUtils(  779):     at android.content.ContentProviderNative.onTransact(ContentProviderNative.java:283)
E/DatabaseUtils(  779):     at android.os.Binder.execTransact(Binder.java:453)
D/AndroidRuntime(19935): Shutting down VM

Answer 1

Your code should fail on all versions of Android. If it worked prior to Android 6.0, that was a bug that apparently just got fixed.

Settings.System is for platform-defined settings. You cannot put arbitrary settings in there, such as test.hemant.