![]() ![]() I haven't looked into the mechanism how, but this seems like an oversight. Oddly, this only happens on my Pixels, not even on a OnePlus that has Files by Google preinstalled. Also on AOSP builds, Files by Google doesn't give you read OR write access to /Android/obb. ![]() On AOSP builds, Files by Google isn't predefined as the default handler, so when you install Files by Google and the Files app, launching the latter will show the disambiguation dialog. This is done through the " preferred apps" mechanism and defined in the preferred-apps.xml file. You probably never set Files by Google as the default handler on your Pixel, but you didn't need to as it's defined as such in the OS. Files by Google is marked as the default handler for this intent, which you can clear from settings. But Android won't show this dialog on Pixel until there's three or more handlers to disambiguate. Android normally handles this through a disambiguation dialog that lets the user pick which app to use. (It sends the intent using the standard API, I'm just showing it in shell for simplicity.)īoth Files by Google and AOSP Files have matching activities that can be launched. Why is Files by Google launching instead of AOSP Files? Well, all that "Files" app really does is fire an intent with this construction: am start -a -d content:///root/primary -f 33554432 -f 16777216 -f 4194304 Through Files by Google, though, they got read-write access to /Android/obb, so they assumed that was the work of AOSP Files. Besides the UI, there's nothing obvious it's Files by Google instead of AOSP Files (well, except if you enter recents and check what app is in focus). A screenshot posted by a Reddit user suggesting using this app is clearly of Files by Google - the UI shown here doesn't match AOSP Files. It turns out that on some devices, like Pixels, that "Files" app isn't launching AOSP Files but rather Files by Google. In response to Android 13's changes, some users have suggested using this app as a workaround, because the AOSP Files app it launches has read- write access wait a minute, I just said it doesn't give write access to /Android/data or /Android/obb. Based on this, in 2017 a developer released a very simple app that's just supposed to launch the AOSP Files app. But the app is still present on devices, just hidden and only ever launched by apps using SAF APIs. Most OEMs have actually been hiding this app from the launcher before Android 12, because they often ship a better file manager (like Google does with its Files by Google app). ![]() Remember, it gives read-only access to those directories - if you try to copy/move anything, it won't even show them. Starting in Android 12, this app was hidden by default from launchers, so most users can't use it to browse /Android/data or /Android/obb. It's actually called DocumentsUI and it's what handles the SAF documents picker. This app is preinstalled on ALL Android (handheld) devices. I'll get to the last one in a bit, but let me start with the AOSP Files app. Read-write access to /Android/obb only if you use Files by Google on a Pixel (?) Read-write access to both directories if you use ADB or MTP through a PC Read-only access to both directories if you use the AOSP Files app They could before using that loophole, but that's fixed. These are considered external "private" storage, so no third-party apps are supposed to be able to access them. ![]() I wanted to focus on how users can manage files in /Android/data and /Android/obb in Android 13. It also explains how Android 13 fixed that loophole. Okay, first of all, I recommend reading this article for a full explanation of the loophole file managers used to access /Android/data and /Android/obb when Android 11 was supposed to prevent that. A commonly suggested workaround is to use the AOSP Files app, but I made a weird discovery about this that I think users here may want to know about. One of the privacy changes in Android 13 that has power users a bit miffed is that file managers can no longer get access to the /Android/data or /Android/obb directories using the Storage Access Framework (SAF). ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |