👋Hello Android Folks! ,

In 2019, Google announced📢 a new feature called scope storage. Scoped Storage was introduced with Android 10 as a modern way for apps to access photos, videos, and other files on the device with privacy and user control in mind.

Scope Storage Introduced in Android 10

• Unrestricted access to your own app storage
• Unrestricted media and downloads contributions
• Runtime permission only gives read access to media
• User confirmation required for modifying media
• Location metadata gated by new permission

💎For Android 10, you get benefits to opt-out to use scope storage using the requestLegacyExternalStorage flag. You just need to add android:requestLegacyExternalStorage="true" into your manifest file and you are done to skip using scope storage for Android 10.

But From Android 11 onward you are not able to opt-out to use scope storage.

It's mandatory for all apps that targeting Android 11 to use scope storage 😮.

Scope storage improvements for app targetting Android 11🎯

• Enabled File Path APIs: It's basically an alternative to media store APIs
• Bulk Media modification APIs: It's added the ability to make changes in bulk
• All File Access: It list all permission in one place where the user can give access.
• Private App Storage: Your app’s external storage directory won’t be accessible to 3rd party apps and vice versa

In this post now we only talk about how to access Read/Write storage permission for Android 11?. From 5th of May, We are eligible to use All File Access. So, Let's implement it 😀

First, Add the permission called MANAGE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE in your manifest file

<uses-permission
            android:name="android.permission.MANAGE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE"
            tools:ignore="ScopedStorage" />

🔨 Let's create a function to check whether permission is given or not

fun checkPermission(): Boolean {
        return Environment.isExternalStorageManager()// it's available from Android 11
}

🎯 Check the device is targeting android 11 and above or not

   if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.R) {
                if (checkPermission()){
                    // Here you can write code to access storage
                } else {
                   // request for permission to access storage
                }
   } else {
           // implement your older way to access storage
   }

🔓📂Now, let's create an extension to request permission to get access of storage

fun AppCompatActivity.openSettingsAllFilesAccess(requestCode: Int) {
    try {
        val intent = Intent(Settings.ACTION_MANAGE_APP_ALL_FILES_ACCESS_PERMISSION)
        intent.addCategory("android.intent.category.DEFAULT")
        intent.data =
            Uri.parse(java.lang.String.format("package:%s", applicationContext.packageName))
        this.startActivityForResult(intent, requestCode)
    } catch (e: Exception) {
        val intent = Intent()
        intent.action = ACTION_MANAGE_ALL_FILES_ACCESS_PERMISSION
        this.startActivityForResult(intent, requestCode)
    }
}
//You can use FragmentActivity instead of AppCompatActivity if you are using in fragment

💻Our final code looks like this

 if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.R) {
                if (checkPermission()){
                    // Here you can write code to access storage
                } else openSettingsAllFilesAccess(201)
   } else {
           // implement your older way to access storage
   }

📂↩️Handle the permission callback on onActivityResult

@Override
protected void onActivityResult(int requestCode, int resultCode, @Nullable Intent data) {
    super.onActivityResult(requestCode, resultCode, data);
    if (requestCode == 201) {
        if (SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.R) {
            if (checkPermission()) {
                // perform action when allow permission success
            } else {
                Toast.makeText(this, "Allow permission for storage access!", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
            }
        }
    }
}

Yeah! 🤓we are done😊 . Now we can access storage.

📝Note:- If you are using All File Access then you have to mention it on google play policy that what permission you are using and what for.

I hope you liked this article. If you find this article helpful then share it with everyone. Maybe it’ll help someone who needs it 😀

Thank You