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Android Scoped Storage Demystified

Use scoped storage to prevent apps from having unrestricted access to the file system and to help reduce file clutter

Niharika Arora
Better Programming
8 min readAug 24, 2020

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Image source: Android Central

If I talk about the recent improvements in Android at the OS level, it is all about protecting the app and user data and providing access in a more organised form. The reason for a change is good, but it means more work for developers.

With Android 11, Some major changes and restrictions are added to enhance user privacy, including, as listed in preview to behavior changes, the following:

Scoped storage enforcement: Access into external storage directories is limited to an app-specific directory and specific types of media that the app has created.

Permissions auto-reset: If users haven’t interacted with an app for a few months, the system auto-resets the app’s sensitive permissions.

Background location access: Users must be directed to system settings in order to grant the background location permission to apps.

Package visibility: When an app queries for the list of installed apps on the device, the returned list is filtered.

Recently, I took a deep dive into the concept of scoped storage to understand the intention and to prepare my…

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Niharika Arora
Niharika Arora

Written by Niharika Arora

Googler since 2021 | Ex- Google Developer Expert, Android | Visit : https://thedroidlady.com/ to know more.

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