Deprecated permissions required for Camera and Filesystem

[RB-Hippo]

Bug Report

Plugin(s)

• @capacitor/camera@5.0.4
• @capacitor/filesystem@5.0.4

Capacitor Version

   Capacitor Doctor

Latest Dependencies:

  @capacitor/cli: 5.0.5
  @capacitor/core: 5.0.5
  @capacitor/android: 5.0.5
  @capacitor/ios: 5.0.5

Installed Dependencies:

  @capacitor/ios: not installed
  @capacitor/cli: 5.0.5
  @capacitor/core: 5.0.5
  @capacitor/android: 5.0.5

Platform(s)

• Android 12
• Android 13

Current Behavior

The camera plugin requires the following permissions in AndroidManifest.xml:

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_MEDIA_IMAGES"/>
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE"/>
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" />

The filesystem plugin requires the following permissions in AndroidManifest.xml:

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE"/>
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" />

However, this causes problems on various Android versions:

• The READ_MEDIA_IMAGES permission is not available in Android SDK versions below 33: https://developer.android.com/reference/android/Manifest.permission#READ_MEDIA_IMAGES
• The READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission has no effect in Android SDK versions above 32: https://developer.android.com/reference/android/Manifest.permission#READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE
• The WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission has no effect in Android SDK versions above 29: https://developer.android.com/reference/android/Manifest.permission#WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE

Having permissions required in the manifest that are should not be necessary can lead to an app being rejected from Google Play.

If I implement the maximum and minimum SDK versions for the permissions into the AndroidManifest.xml as follows:

<!-- AndroidManifest.xml -->
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" android:maxSdkVersion="29" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" android:maxSdkVersion="32" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_MEDIA_IMAGES" android:minSdkVersion="33" />

Then the following error messages show up:
Android 12 filesystem and camera:

File: http://localhost/vendor.js - Line 150897 - Msg: ERROR Error: Uncaught (in promise): Error: Missing the following permissions in AndroidManifest.xml:
    android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE

    Error: Missing the following permissions in AndroidManifest.xml:
    android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE

        at returnResult (http://localhost/:776:32)
        at Object.win.androidBridge.onmessage (http://localhost/:751:21)

Android 13 filesystem:

File: http://localhost/vendor.js - Line 150897 - Msg: ERROR Error: Uncaught (in promise): Error: Missing the following permissions in AndroidManifest.xml:
    android.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE
    android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE

    Error: Missing the following permissions in AndroidManifest.xml:
    android.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE
    android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE

        at returnResult (http://localhost/:776:32)
        at win.androidBridge.onmessage (http://localhost/:751:21)

Expected Behavior

The plugins should only require the following permissions in AndroidManifest.xml:

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" android:maxSdkVersion="29" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" android:maxSdkVersion="32" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_MEDIA_IMAGES" android:minSdkVersion="33" />

Code Reproduction

<!-- AndroidManifest.xml -->
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" android:maxSdkVersion="29" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" android:maxSdkVersion="32" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_MEDIA_IMAGES" android:minSdkVersion="33" />

Other Technical Details

Additional Context

• Relevent to Filesystem permissions not working for Android 13  #1512

[jcesarmobile]

duplicate of #1512

[RB-Hippo]

@jcesarmobile

#1512 focuses on the Filesystem plugin on Android SDK 33, whereas this issue focuses on both the Filesystem plugin on Android SDKs 30-32 and the Camera plugin on Android SDKs 30-32.

If the issue with the Filesystem plugin on Android SDKs 30-33 will be fixed for #1512, should I edit this issue to only be about the Camera plugin on Android SDKs 30-32?

[ionitron-bot]

Thanks for the issue! This issue is being locked to prevent comments that are not relevant to the original issue. If this is still an issue with the latest version of the plugin, please create a new issue and ensure the template is fully filled out.