Pop up dictionary no longer responds to clipboard in android 10

[Benhgift]

Summary

The pop up dictionary no longer refreshes when Japanese is copied to the clipboard. It's stuck on the welcome screen. I tried reinstalling both apps (pop up and main dictionary) and tried the "Always Available" option in the aedict pop up options.

I've just looked into this and it looks like this app may simply not work on android 10 for the time being due to security. :( https://developer.android.com/about/versions/10/privacy/changes#clipboard-data

Edit: It might be fixable by setting the screen overlay permission https://www.reddit.com/r/tasker/comments/czci0w/things_broken_in_android_10/eyxx74c/

Phone

Pixel 2 running Andoid 10 (updated yesterday).

[mvysny]

Thanks for the info! Yeah the clipboard watching was a gaping security issue, finally they closed it. The Reader should however be integrated into the Copy menu (just press the ... more overflow menu while copying, aedict Reader should be there).

[Pikakitten]

Would it be possible to re-allow clipboard monitoring for this app ? I use the Aedict reader function with a few apps that don't have an overflow menu and it was very handy to just copy and have the reader pop up :(

[mvysny]

@Pikakitten it's not possible - Android 10 removed the possibility to monitor clipboard. Reader is still listening for clipboard changes, but Android 10 will not simply fire any events.

The only option is to turn Reader into a keyboard app... https://www.androidpolice.com/2019/09/04/dont-upgrade-to-android-10-if-you-rely-on-clipboard-syncing/ ... not sure if that's a good idea...

Meanwhile you can have Reader always appear on screen iconified. Then:

1. Copy the text from your app
2. Touch iconified Reader 2 times, then select the "Magnifying glass" icon to enter the text search mode, then paste the text into the search box.

It's a bit unwieldy though, that Reader won't remember the previous mode. It would be great if:

1. Reader would remember to restore into text search mode when restored from the iconified mode
2. Reader would iconify when you touch outside.

Please let me know what you think. Perhaps this way we can work around Android 10's limitation.

[mvysny]

Google Translate is affected by this as well:
https://support.google.com/translate/thread/13539043?hl=en

[Pikakitten]

"1. Reader would remember to restore into text search mode when restored from the iconified mode"
This idea sounds like a brilliant workaround to the clipboard issue! It has been a bit of a hassle to do various clicks for a single search but that would take care of that much

[Benhgift]

@mvysny That's a good idea (both points), and would improve usability for us android 10 users a lot.

I sorely miss this from android 9 and I regret upgrading.

[mvysny]

Hi, I'm really sorry for the delay. In order to develop the support for Android 10 properly, it's best to actually own an Android 10 device. My Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite is part of Android One and has been promised at least two major updates (which include Android 10). Just recently Xiaomi promised to also release Android 10 for Mi A2 Lite. There are hints that the upgrade is under testing, so it might be out this month (fingers crossed). However, I'll try Android Emulator for Android 10 again - I remember that I had trouble reproducing the issue in the Emulator, but perhaps those have been fixed. Let me try again.

[mvysny]

I was able to reproduce this issue on the Android 10 Emulator (Reader not reacting to Copy-to-Clipboard). So it's definitely a thing, and the Reader needs to warn the users on Android 10 that Copy-to-Clipboard no longer works.

However, there is a workaround, please see the attached video and please let me know whether that works for you: https://youtu.be/8Uz7k02nJIw

[mvysny]

Sorry for the delay, finally implemented 👍 There are two things implemented:

1. There is a new button just for Android 10 in Reader's notification: 'Analyze Clipboard'. While the Reader still can't read the clipboard itself, it will open itself in the text search mode, with the EditText field selected, so you should be able to long-press the EditText and paste the clipboard there easily.
2. On top of that, Reader should now be able to remember its state.

Hopefully this combination will make things bearable with Android 10. I'm going to release a new version today, please upgrade to Reader 1.4.8 and let me know whether there's any improvement :)