Cannot find the files in phone storage of real device in android 10

user_3018627 0
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I am using Samsung A30s phone for accessing phone storage files. My files location in device is /storage/emulated/0/MY_FILES/. I kept some files in MY_FIlES directory but my below code does not show any containing files under this directory.

So how can I get all files belong to this MY_FIlES directory in phone storage?

File Directory = new File("/storage/emulated/0/MY_FIlES/");
File[] files = Directory.listFiles();

But files return null;

Note: I have a permission(READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE) to access file.

One important thing, I updated my phone in latest API. But before update, I used this path, " /sdcard/MY_FIlES/ and it worked fine.

android
2 Answers

First, never hardcode paths for apps that you plan to distribute. For those, please use methods on Context, Environment, or StorageVolume (Android 11 only) to find the base directory to use.

For Android 10 and 11, you need to add android:requestLegacyExternalStorage="true" to your <application> element in the manifest. This opts you into the legacy storage model, and your existing external storage code will work.

Note that in Android 11+, you will not be able to write to that directory, regardless of whether you have requested WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE or not. Google would vastly prefer that you use the Storage Access Framework (e.g., ACTION_OPEN_DOCUMENT), so that users have more control over where files get placed on their devices or in their chosen cloud storage providers.

user_1151450

I would like to add something more to the @CommonsWare answer. As per the Android's storage update, they enforce scoped storage in the Android 11 version.

But to give developers additional time for testing, apps that target Android 10(API level 29) can still request the requestLegacyExternalStorage attribute. This flag allows apps to temporarily opt-out of the changes associated with scoped storage, such as granting access to different directories and different types of media files. After you update your app to target Android 11, the system ignores the requestLegacyExternalStorage flag.

If your app opts out of scoped storage when running on Android 10 devices, it's recommended that you continue to set requestLegacyExternalStorage to true in your app's manifest file. That way, your app can continue to behave as expected on devices that run Android 10.

For more info on this, please check documentation

user_32699580
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