fix(android): migrate from android-database-sqlcipher to sqlcipher-android

[dragermrb]

Pull request to migrate from net.zetetic:android-database-sqlcipher to net.zetetic:sqlcipher-android
to allow using an Android 15 (API Level 35) with 16 KB page size supports.

Related issue: #594

[DGeoWils]

@robingenz Can we get this merged?

[robingenz]

Unfortunately, I don't have the capacity to test it at the moment. So this PR will have to wait or someone else from the Capacitor community takes over.

[DGeoWils]

Thank you!

[shiv19]

I tried these change on this version of the plugin
"@capacitor-community/sqlite": "6.0.1",

And the changes seem to be working fine when deployed on a 16kb page size device.
However, I did not perform extensive testing.
I'll report back if it passes QA and we end up shipping this to prod.

Without the changes in this PR, the app does crash on launch on a 16kb page size device.
cc @robingenz

If merged, we also need to patch this on the 6.x version of the plugin for capacitor 6 users.

[Copilot]

Pull Request Overview

Migrate from net.zetetic:android-database-sqlcipher to net.zetetic:sqlcipher-android to support Android 15's 16 KB page size.

• Swapped imports, casts, and method calls to use net.zetetic.database.sqlcipher types and overloads.
• Replaced SQLiteDatabase.loadLibs(context) with System.loadLibrary("sqlcipher") and updated openDatabase and openOrCreateDatabase signatures.
• Changed conversion of passwords to bytes and updated exception handling in changePassword.

Reviewed Changes

Copilot reviewed 4 out of 5 changed files in this pull request and generated 2 comments.

File	Description
UtilsSQLite.java	Replaced net.sqlcipher.Cursor with SQLiteCursor and adjusted casts.
UtilsSQLCipher.java	Swapped native library loading, updated database open calls with new overloads, and tweaked exception.
UtilsDrop.java	Updated imports and casts to use SQLiteCursor for table/view/index/trigger queries.
Database.java	Swapped library init, adjusted password byte conversion, open/creation calls, and cursor usage.

Files not reviewed (1)

• android/build.gradle: Language not supported

Comments suppressed due to low confidence (3)

android/src/main/java/com/getcapacitor/community/database/sqlite/SQLite/UtilsSQLCipher.java:207

• [nitpick] The parameter name nwpassword is unclear; rename it to newPassword for readability and consistency.

public void changePassword(Context ctxt, File file, String password, String nwpassword) throws Exception {

android/src/main/java/com/getcapacitor/community/database/sqlite/SQLite/UtilsSQLCipher.java:214

• Throwing a generic Exception loses error specificity; consider using SQLiteException or a custom exception type to preserve context.

throw new Exception("database " + file.getAbsolutePath() + " open failed");

android/src/main/java/com/getcapacitor/community/database/sqlite/SQLite/Database.java:117

• Calling System.loadLibrary directly may miss other native dependencies; verify that all required native libraries are loaded or use the library’s recommended initialization method.

System.loadLibrary("sqlcipher");

[shiv19]

The linting error might be coming from this section of UtilsSQLCipher.java
Once the linting error is fixed, I can approve and merge this.

[dragermrb]

Hi!

This PR is for @capacitor-community/sqlite@6.0.2 and linter works.

npm run prettier -- --check

> @capacitor-community/sqlite@6.0.2 prettier
> prettier "**/*.{css,html,ts,js,java}" --check

Checking formatting...
[warn] jsxBracketSameLine is deprecated.
All matched files use Prettier code style!

Error on CI tries to use version 7.x (I don't know why)

Run npm run lint

> @capacitor-community/sqlite@[7](https://github.com/capacitor-community/sqlite/actions/runs/15118907452/job/42548687676?pr=607#step:5:8).0.0 lint
> npm run eslint && npm run prettier -- --check && npm run swiftlint -- lint


> @capacitor-community/sqlite@7.0.0 eslint
> eslint . --ext ts


> @capacitor-community/sqlite@7.0.0 prettier
> prettier "**/*.{css,html,ts,js,java}" --plugin=prettier-plugin-java --check

Checking formatting...
[warn] android/src/main/java/com/getcapacitor/community/database/sqlite/SQLite/UtilsSQLCipher.java
[warn] Code style issues found in the above file. Run Prettier with --write to fix.
Error: Process completed with exit code 1.

[shiv19]

There must be a 6.x branch in the repo, you'll need to make the 6.x PR to that branch.

[robingenz]

@shiv19 Thank you for helping out!

However, I did not perform extensive testing.

Please do that and let me know how it goes. Then we can merge it. This change is pretty central. So I want to be sure.

If merged, we also need to patch this on the 6.x version of the plugin for capacitor 6 users.

I always publish updates only for the latest Capacitor version supported to keep the maintenance effort as low as possible. Otherwise we would also have to test both versions intensively.

[dragermrb]

@robingenz

I always publish updates only for the latest Capacitor version supported to keep the maintenance effort as low as possible. Otherwise we would also have to test both versions intensively.

Should I update the PR to version 7 of the plugin?

[robingenz]

@dragermrb Isn't it already Capacitor 7? Your PR goes against the master branch. What do you need to change?

[dragermrb]

I created the PR for version 6.0.2 (master branch at the time). Therefore, the fork used to develop the PR is based on version 6.0.2 and does not include the changes introduced in version 7.x.

Linter, for example, differs between versions 6 and 7.

[robingenz]

@dragermrb So yes, please update to Capacitor 7.

[dragermrb]

@dragermrb So yes, please update to Capacitor 7.

Fixed

[robingenz]

Here is a dev release for testing:

npm i @capacitor-community/sqlite@7.0.0-dev.bf54d28.1747847115

If no bugs are reported in the next few days, I'll merge it.

[shiv19]

@robingenz, we've shipped this fix to prod (minus the last commit with the UTF-8 encoding param). Our QA didn't find any issues, and it also passed the google app review. We're monitoring crash analytics closely. If you don't hear back from me here, it means it's all good ✅️.