Users have reported failures doing operations with an app on the secondary storage wit (not external storage, the one that is actually external and/or removable) after receiving an update to Android 4.4.
Based on logs so far, it appears it may be the result of an app being given limited or no file access to those storage volumes. I do not have the devices in question, so far Galaxy Note 3 and S4. I did find the following in Android 4.4 update notes. If your app reads from external storage... Your app can not read shared files on the external storage when running on Android 4.4, unless your app has theREAD_EXTERNAL_STORAGE<https://developer.android.com/reference/android/Manifest.permission.html#READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE> permission. That is, files within the directory returned by getExternalStoragePublicDirectory()<https://developer.android.com/reference/android/os/Environment.html#getExternalStoragePublicDirectory(java.lang.String)> are no longer accessible without the permission. However, if you need to access only your app-specific directories, provided by getExternalFilesDir()<https://developer.android.com/reference/android/content/Context.html#getExternalFilesDir(java.lang.String)>, then you do not need theREAD_EXTERNAL_STORAGE<https://developer.android.com/reference/android/Manifest.permission.html#READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE> permission. But I doubt this has to do with the problem because a) I've always had the WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission anyway b) This isn't really talking about additional storage volumes, since what Android calls external storage is what most. I am inclined, therefore, to believe that this isn't necessarily due to Android 4.4 specifically. Instead, it is another instance of Samsung mucking with permissions on a firmware update, deciding in their extremely finite wisdom that certain apps should not access certain media volumes, perhaps because they think that users could not possibly want to put anything besides photos or music on that external card that they paid for with their own money. Or it could be unintended behavior due to a bug in Android 4.4 or Samsung's OEM firmware. Am I correct? Anyone have more insight? Do I have options other than to tell my customers "Too bad, just use internal storage and complain to Samsung", hoping they won't blame my app, but assuming they will. Nathan -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Android Developers" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Android Developers" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
