Support Android Scoped Storage

[nicoburns]

It is currently necessary to add android:requestLegacyExternalStorage="true" to make images picked by the library work correctly on Android 10 (see #219). As documented here, that option will be going away in Android API level 30 (Android 11), by which point this plugin will need to have implemented the new scoped storage APIs in order to continue functioning.

[bartolkaruza]

#242 Happy to take PR's for this

[lon9man]

@bartolkaruza or somebody

DOCS

Starting in August 2021, new apps will need to:
...

• Target API level 30 (Android 11) ...

...
Starting in November 2021, app updates will be required to target API level 30.
information from here: https://developer.android.com/distribute/best-practices/develop/target-sdk

PRE-HISTORY

1. i ran your example-app with targetSdkVersion 30 on emulator
   
2. it works as expected (BUT i also see that it uses deprecated MediaStore's DATA-column, so it uses raw paths, which AFAIU won't work in Android 11 as announced by Google):
   a) it shows thumbnails
   b) JSON-response from method getPhotos
   i tried such paths like:

    /storage/emulated/0/Pictures
    /storage/emulated/0/PicturesX
    /storage/emulated/0/DCIM/Pictures
    /storage/emulated/0/DCIM/Pictures/PicturesX
    /storage/emulated/0/Movies
    /storage/emulated/0/Downloads
    /storage/emulated/0/Downloads/ABC
    ...

can you answer on the next questions, because i have read tons of docs/forums and sadly still don't have clear understanding:

1. why your example still works in Android 11 emulator?

2. cameraRoll currently makes 2 major things:
   a) queries MediaStore to get all images/videos from WHOLE storage
   WHAT will change here on Android 11?
   will it can return the same results (like all paths above) for WHOLE storage (not only scoped storage)?

   b) returns uri file://... to React Native to render thumbnail (using raw paths as i see in sources)
   WHAT will change here on Android 11?
   how React Native will can render thumbnails if raw paths will not be available due to deprecating DATA-column in MediaStore (AFAIU we will have ONLY Uri instead it). what is the alternative possible?

[mars-lan]

Looks like the deadline is May not August

Starting May 5th, you must let us know why your app requires broad storage access

We've detected that your app contains the requestLegacyExternalStorage flag in the manifest file of 1 or more of your app bundles or APKs.

Developers with apps on devices running Android 11+ must use Scoped Storage to give users better access control over their device storage. To release your app on Android 11 or newer after May 5th, you must either:

- Update your app to use more privacy friendly best practices, such as the Storage Access Framework or Media Store API
- Update your app to declare the All files access (MANAGE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE) permission in the manifest file, and complete the All files access permission declaration in Play Console from May 5th
- Remove the All files access permission from your app entirely
For apps targeting Android 11, the requestLegacyExternalStorage flag will be ignored. You must use the All files access permission to retain broad access.

Apps requesting access to the All files access permission without a permitted use will be removed from Google Play, and you won't be able to publish updates.

[mars-lan]

Nvm, looks like there's traction in #304

[bartolkaruza]

🎉 This issue has been resolved in version 5.0.0 🎉

The release is available on:

• npm package (@latest dist-tag)
• GitHub release

Your semantic-release bot 📦🚀