What does QUERY_ALL_PACKAGES permission do?

Question

Android R Preview 1 introduced a new permission called QUERY_ALL_PACKAGES. The documentation for the permission says the following:

Allows query of any normal app on the device, regardless of manifest declarations.

Has anyone worked out what this actually does?

I've tried running the following on the emulator image, and the permission had no effect on either of them:

• packageManager.queryIntentActivities(intent, 0)
• packageManager.getInstalledPackages(0)

Answer 1

Even when permission QUERY_ALL_PACKAGES is added, you still need to add <queries> filter to your AndroidManifest.

E.g. for the launcher app it might be:

<permission android:name="android.permission.QUERY_ALL_PACKAGES" />

<queries>
    <intent>
        <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
    </intent>
</queries>

Answer 2

Android 11 introduces changes related to package visibility. These changes affect apps only if they target Android 11. For more information on these changes, view the guides about package visibility on Android.

https://developer.android.com/training/package-visibility

https://developer.android.com/about/versions/11/privacy/package-visibility

https://developer.android.com/training/package-visibility

For my case, Cordova-android 10.1.1, targetSdkVersion 30

I added

 <queries>
                <package android:name="com.google.android.gm" />
                <package android:name="com.facebook.katana" />
                <intent>
                    <action android:name="android.intent.action.VIEW" />
                    <data android:scheme="https" />
                </intent>
                <intent>
                    <action android:name="android.intent.action.DIAL" />
                    <data android:scheme="tel" />
                </intent>
                <intent>
                    <action android:name="android.intent.action.SEND" />
                    <data android:mimeType="*/*" />
                </intent>
            </queries>

in AndroidManifest.xml