Cannot access file in a subfolder on sdcard/ in Android 13 (samsung galaxy s22)

Question

I have a file at /sdcard/myfolder/filename.txt

I access this file in my source code as follows:

File fileMyTextFile = new File("/sdcard/myfolder/file.txt");  

At one point I check to see if the file exists before opening it to read it's data:

        try {
            if (fileMyTextFile.exists()) {
              ...
            }
        } catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
            Log.d("MyApp", "file not found");
            e.printStackTrace();
        }

I keep getting the FileNotFoundException when my code reaches this point. This same code works without any changes in my other phones which have a lower version of android so I think this has to be something to do with app permissions.

I have declared these in AndroidManifest.xml

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

I also have

<application
    android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher"
    android:label="@string/app_name"
    android:theme="@style/AppTheme"
    android:requestLegacyExternalStorage="true"
    tools:ignore="AllowBackup,GoogleAppIndexingWarning">
    ....

In MainActivity.java I have also done this:

    ActivityCompat.requestPermissions(this,
            new String[]{Manifest.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE, Manifest.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE }, MY_PERMISSIONS_REQUEST );

How do I access my custom files in android 13?

Answer 1

For Android 13 the request all files permissions has to be shown at runtime. The following code is of course not the full thing, but the main thing needed is to request the request all files permission in the onCreate

In MainActivity:

public static final int STORAGE_PERMISSION = 0,
            ALL_FILES_PERMISSION = 2;

private void checkForExternalPermission() {
  if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT > Build.VERSION_CODES.R) {
    requestAllFilesAccess(this);
  }
}

public void requestAllFilesAccess(@NonNull final OnPermissionGranted onPermissionGranted) {
  if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.R && !Environment.isExternalStorageManager()) {
    AlertDialog.Builder alertDialogBuilder = new AlertDialog.Builder(this);
    alertDialogBuilder.setTitle("Grant all files permissions!");
    alertDialogBuilder.setMessage("You need to grant all files permission");
    alertDialogBuilder.setCancelable(false);

    alertDialogBuilder.setPositiveButton("Grant", (dialog, id) -> {

        permissionCallbacks[ALL_FILES_PERMISSION] = onPermissionGranted;
        try {
          Intent intent =
            new Intent(Settings.ACTION_MANAGE_APP_ALL_FILES_ACCESS_PERMISSION)
            .setData(Uri.parse("package:" + getPackageName()));
          startActivity(intent);
        } catch (Exception e) {
          Log.e("MainActivity", "Failed to initial activity to grant all files access", e);
          Toast.makeText(this, "Failed to grant permissions", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
        }

        this.finish();
      })

      .setNegativeButton("Cancel", (dialog, id) -> dialog.cancel());

    AlertDialog alertDialog = alertDialogBuilder.create();
    alertDialog.show();
  }
}