Feat: Improve "no internet" permission information

[AsH1605]

Purpose / Description

Some devices like Xiaomi and GrapheneOS allow users to manually disable Internet access, which breaks AnkiDroid’s localhost-based functionality. This PR adds a non-blocking permission info screen that appears once per app launch (if localhost access is not available), explaining why Internet access is critical and guiding the user to app settings.

Fixes

• Fixes Improve "no internet" permission information #18982.

Approach

1. Added a new PermissionSet.INTERNET_BLOCKED_INFO
2. Created InternetInfoFragment using the existing PermissionsFragment system
3. Shown once per app launch using an in-memory session flag
4. Includes a switch that opens app settings and enables the continue button

How Has This Been Tested?

Tested on a Xiaomi device by manually disabling Internet access and simulating a localhost failure by pinging a URL. This successfully triggered the Internet permission info screen.
📸 Screenshot of the permission screen:

My device does not support full Internet permission blocking, so original testing on GrapheneOS or similar devices is still required for final validation.

Learning (optional, can help others)

Reused the existing PermissionsActivity and PermissionsFragment infrastructure to maintain consistency with other permission flows.
As someone more familiar with Jetpack Compose, this task helped me gain hands-on experience with XML-based UI and understand AnkiDroid’s legacy layout system.

Checklist

Please, go through these checks before submitting the PR.

• You have a descriptive commit message with a short title (first line, max 50 chars).
• You have commented your code, particularly in hard-to-understand areas
• You have performed a self-review of your own code
• UI changes: include screenshots of all affected screens (in particular showing any new or changed strings)
• UI Changes: You have tested your change using the Google Accessibility Scanner

[welcome]

First PR! 🚀 We sincerely appreciate that you have taken the time to propose a change to AnkiDroid! Please have patience with us as we are all volunteers - we will get to this as soon as possible.

[github-actions]

Important

Maintainers: This PR contains Strings changes

1. Sync Translations before merging this PR and wait for the action to complete
2. Review and merge the auto-generated PR in order to sync all user-submitted translations
3. Sync Translations again and merge the PR so the huge automated string changes caused by merging this PR are by themselves and easy to review

[mikehardy]

Looks like you need to add a copyright header to get through our lint checks, you can take one from one of the other files and just alter the year and email to be current and your email (you can use your github anonymous email if you prefer)

I love the idea though - I like the ability to disable internet permissions in general, but yes AnkIDroid does require localhost permission. Wish the operating systems that allowed you to disable internet allowed you to disable everything but localhost as a fine-grained thing, it's definitely less dangerous to grant that then "internet in general"

anyway, happy to merge this once it is in shape

[BrayanDSO]

The initial project is good. Left some change requests. Also, Lint and tests are failing. Please refer to our Development guide to know how to run them locally.

[AsH1605]

@BrayanDSO @mikehardy I have already implemented the suggested changes; however, I am currently facing failing test cases and am unable to resolve them.

[AsH1605]

Hi @BrayanDSO, could you please review this PR? I have incorporated all the changes you suggested.

[david-allison]

Thanks! Could you add an instrumented test, as this is at high risk of causing regressions

[AsH1605]

@david-allison As mentioned earlier in the chat message:
https://discord.com/channels/368267295601983490/701922522836369498/1438237079728558081

I'm currently using the following test to trace the full permission flow.
Before I continue improving it, could you please confirm whether this test accurately simulates the expected startup + permission handling flow?

The test still fails, so I assume I may be missing a part of the intended lifecycle or ViewModel interaction. Any guidance on whether this setup reflects the correct behavior chain would be really helpful.

Here is the code I'm using right now:

Details

Index: AnkiDroid/src/test/java/com/ichi2/anki/ui/windows/permissions/PermissionsActivityTest.kt
IDEA additional info:
Subsystem: com.intellij.openapi.diff.impl.patch.CharsetEP
<+>UTF-8
===================================================================
diff --git a/AnkiDroid/src/test/java/com/ichi2/anki/ui/windows/permissions/PermissionsActivityTest.kt b/AnkiDroid/src/test/java/com/ichi2/anki/ui/windows/permissions/PermissionsActivityTest.kt
--- a/AnkiDroid/src/test/java/com/ichi2/anki/ui/windows/permissions/PermissionsActivityTest.kt	(revision e06af136e8c07a3338219600e71533c2badaf61d)
+++ b/AnkiDroid/src/test/java/com/ichi2/anki/ui/windows/permissions/PermissionsActivityTest.kt	(date 1763114678642)
@@ -15,22 +15,96 @@
  */
 package com.ichi2.anki.ui.windows.permissions
 
+import android.content.pm.PackageManager
 import androidx.appcompat.widget.AppCompatButton
+import androidx.core.content.ContextCompat
 import androidx.fragment.app.commitNow
 import androidx.test.core.app.ActivityScenario
 import androidx.test.core.app.ActivityScenario.ActivityAction
 import androidx.test.core.app.ApplicationProvider
 import androidx.test.ext.junit.runners.AndroidJUnit4
+import com.ichi2.anki.DeckPicker
 import com.ichi2.anki.PermissionSet
 import com.ichi2.anki.R
 import com.ichi2.anki.RobolectricTest
+import com.ichi2.anki.deckpicker.DeckPickerViewModel
 import com.ichi2.testutils.HamcrestUtils.containsInAnyOrder
+import com.ichi2.utils.Permissions
+import io.mockk.every
+import io.mockk.mockkStatic
+import io.mockk.unmockkStatic
 import org.hamcrest.MatcherAssert.assertThat
 import org.junit.Test
 import org.junit.runner.RunWith
+import org.robolectric.Shadows.shadowOf
+import org.robolectric.shadows.ShadowLooper
 
 @RunWith(AndroidJUnit4::class)
 class PermissionsActivityTest : RobolectricTest() {
+
+    @Test
+    fun When_Internet_permission_is_denied_print_next_screen() {
+        println(">>> Launching app…")
+
+        mockkStatic(ContextCompat::class)
+        every {
+            ContextCompat.checkSelfPermission(any(), android.Manifest.permission.INTERNET)
+        } returns PackageManager.PERMISSION_DENIED
+
+        val deckScenario = ActivityScenario.launch(DeckPicker::class.java)
+        ShadowLooper.runUiThreadTasksIncludingDelayedTasks()
+
+        deckScenario.onActivity { deckActivity ->
+            println(">>> FIRST ACTIVITY: ${deckActivity::class.java.simpleName}")
+
+            val vm = deckActivity.viewModel
+            println(">>> ViewModel acquired: ${vm::class.java.simpleName}")
+
+            val fakeResponse = DeckPickerViewModel.StartupResponse.RequestPermissions(PermissionSet.APP_PRIVATE)
+            println(">>> Emitting StartupResponse.RequestPermissions from ViewModel")
+            vm.flowOfStartupResponse.value = fakeResponse
+
+            ShadowLooper.runUiThreadTasksIncludingDelayedTasks()
+
+            val shadow = shadowOf(deckActivity)
+            val next = shadow.nextStartedActivity
+
+            if (next != null) {
+                println(">>> DeckPicker launched: ${next.component?.className}")
+            } else {
+                println(">>> DeckPicker did NOT launch any activity")
+            }
+        }
+
+        val permScenario = ActivityScenario.launch<PermissionsActivity>(
+            PermissionsActivity.getIntent(ApplicationProvider.getApplicationContext(), PermissionSet.APP_PRIVATE)
+        )
+        ShadowLooper.runUiThreadTasksIncludingDelayedTasks()
+
+        permScenario.onActivity { perm ->
+            println(">>> IN PermissionsActivity")
+            val btn = perm.findViewById<AppCompatButton>(R.id.continue_button)
+            println(">>> Continue button enabled (DENIED): ${btn.isEnabled}")
+
+            every {
+                ContextCompat.checkSelfPermission(any(), android.Manifest.permission.INTERNET)
+            } returns PackageManager.PERMISSION_GRANTED
+
+            val frag = perm.supportFragmentManager.findFragmentById(R.id.fragment_container)
+            frag?.onResume()
+
+            println(">>> Continue button enabled (GRANTED): ${btn.isEnabled}")
+
+            println(">>> Clicking continue button…")
+            btn.performClick()
+
+            println(">>> PermissionsActivity finishing? ${perm.isFinishing}")
+        }
+
+        unmockkStatic(ContextCompat::class)
+        println(">>> Test flow complete.")
+    }
+
     @Test
     fun testActivityCantBeClosedByBackButton() {
         testActivity(ARBITRARY_PERMISSION_SET) { activity ->

[AsH1605]

@david-allison As @thedroiddiv mentioned in comment earlier, is App private not the correct place for internet permission?

[david-allison]

This needs logging on both success and failure cases

This appears to do nothing if requestedPermission is true, what should happen?

[david-allison]

I'd log here as well

[AsH1605]

@david-allison Thanks for the quick review. Now that I have the go-ahead and know I’m on the right track, I’ll address all the review comments.

[david-allison]

Partial review

[david-allison]

Really good! Should be mergeable after my review comments are handled. Cheers!

[ericli3690]

Looking awesome! Added some comments~

[ericli3690]

Hi! I recently merged a change improving some of the permissions request infrastructure AnkiDroid has, I encourage you to take a quick skim over #19167.

In particular, take a look at requestPermissionThroughDialogOrSettings and the submethods it calls. I wrote them to avoid the need to call showToastAndOpenAppSettingsScreen all over the place in multiple files. Also take a look at NotificationsPermissionFragment for an example of how requestPermissionThroughDialogOrSettings is used.

The benefit of requestPermissionThroughDialogOrSettings is that it prevents the user from spamming calls to internetLauncher.launch by clicking the AnkiDroid UI to grant the permission and then deciding not to grant it once they see the OS's provided permission request dialog. If we try to trigger the OS permission request dialog too many times when the user has already denied us the permission (even though we handle the case where the OS permission request dialog doesn't show up here with a showToastAndOpenAppSettingsScreen) the request has already gone through to the OS and is logged by Google, potentially causing AnkiDroid to lose Play Store discoverability.

Obviously, that's an unlikely scenario, but it's the motivation behind requestPermissionThroughDialogOrSettings: that method ensures that the OS permission launcher is not triggered when we know for a fact that the OS will refuse to show it. It launches showToastAndOpenAppSettingsScreen eagerly instead of waiting for the OS dialog to fail first.

Of course, all of this is optional, as this PR should work great with the current approach too, and the scenario requestPermissionThroughDialogOrSettings protects against as I've outlined above is really rare and unlikely. It's up to you as the PR author! Thanks for your work :)

[AsH1605]

@ericli3690 Thanks for the detailed explanation.

I’ve been working only on this feature so far, some of the broader flows take me a bit longer to fully understand. I’ll take the time to go through requestPermissionThroughDialogOrSettings, the motivation behind it, and how it’s used in NotificationsPermissionFragment. Once I’m confident about my understanding of the flow end-to-end, I’ll be happy to incorporate it into this PR.

[ericli3690]

** see my other comment, this part will likely also have to be modified a bit if you switch to using requestPermissionThroughDialogOrSettings

[AsH1605]

@david-allison I’ve addressed the review comments. Kindly let me know if you have any further feedback when you get a chance. Thank you.

[david-allison]

Cheers! Needs a de-conflict and a few minor changes, then good to go

Index: AnkiDroid/src/main/java/com/ichi2/anki/deckpicker/DeckPickerViewModel.kt
IDEA additional info:
Subsystem: com.intellij.openapi.diff.impl.patch.CharsetEP
<+>UTF-8
===================================================================
diff --git a/AnkiDroid/src/main/java/com/ichi2/anki/deckpicker/DeckPickerViewModel.kt b/AnkiDroid/src/main/java/com/ichi2/anki/deckpicker/DeckPickerViewModel.kt
--- a/AnkiDroid/src/main/java/com/ichi2/anki/deckpicker/DeckPickerViewModel.kt	(revision 07210bbcfcf90c451393224c41f7ca034b664125)
+++ b/AnkiDroid/src/main/java/com/ichi2/anki/deckpicker/DeckPickerViewModel.kt	(date 1769659032158)
@@ -492,7 +492,7 @@
      */
     fun handleStartup(environment: AnkiDroidEnvironment) {
         if (!environment.hasRequiredPermissions()) {
-            Timber.i("${this.javaClass.simpleName}: postponing startup code - permission screen shown")
+            Timber.i("${this.javaClass.simpleName}: postponing startup code - permission screen shown for %s", environment.requiredPermissions.permissions)
             flowOfStartupResponse.value = StartupResponse.RequestPermissions(environment.requiredPermissions)
             return
         }
Index: AnkiDroid/src/main/java/com/ichi2/anki/introduction/CollectionPermissionScreenLauncher.kt
IDEA additional info:
Subsystem: com.intellij.openapi.diff.impl.patch.CharsetEP
<+>UTF-8
===================================================================
diff --git a/AnkiDroid/src/main/java/com/ichi2/anki/introduction/CollectionPermissionScreenLauncher.kt b/AnkiDroid/src/main/java/com/ichi2/anki/introduction/CollectionPermissionScreenLauncher.kt
--- a/AnkiDroid/src/main/java/com/ichi2/anki/introduction/CollectionPermissionScreenLauncher.kt	(revision 07210bbcfcf90c451393224c41f7ca034b664125)
+++ b/AnkiDroid/src/main/java/com/ichi2/anki/introduction/CollectionPermissionScreenLauncher.kt	(date 1769658965609)
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@
     fun AnkiActivity.collectionPermissionScreenWasOpened(): Boolean {
         val ankiDroidFolder = selectAnkiDroidFolder(this)
         if (!ankiDroidFolder.hasRequiredPermissions(this)) {
-            Timber.i("${this.javaClass.simpleName}: postponing startup code - permission screen shown")
+            Timber.i("${this.javaClass.simpleName}: postponing startup code - permission screen shown for %s", ankiDroidFolder.permissionSet.permissions)
             permissionScreenLauncher.launch(PermissionsActivity.getIntent(this, ankiDroidFolder.permissionSet))
             return true
         }

[david-allison]

@ankidroid/core We should pick an architectural pattern:

• is preferences.xml for all string keys
• or should it only be used for the settings, with other screens having their own XML?

I prefer the latter

[david-allison]

Tests are failing, very likely an approve once they're fixed

[david-allison]

BEAUTIFUL!!!!!

Thank you so much for all the work you'e put into this, looks perfect!

[AsH1605]

Thanks a lot @david-allison for guiding me throughout the process. I learnt a lot about the code base through this PR. When I started working on this, I thought it would be a small quick fix. But it stretched for exact 6 months😅. Looking forward to pushing more fixes in coming future.