why is pdf from internal storage not showing in webview

I have a .pdf file (which can change content daily, so must be downloaded daily) on my server which is downloaded to the device using Volley. The api uses authentication tokens.

I can successfully call the web service and write the pdf (byte[]) to my app's internal storage by using context.getExternalFilesDir.

The problem i am having is once the pdf is saved and i contruct the path, the webView will not show the pdf. The webView is working fine as i have done a test by placing a test html in the project's raw directory. The webView can display this fine.

The following does not load the pdf.

webView.loadUrl("file://" + f2.getAbsolutePath());

f2 path on my device is

f2.getAbsolutePath() = /storage/emulated/0/Android/data/com.xxxx.rrx/files/careplans/careplan.pdf

There seems to be no error but the pdf does not load.

What i have tried:

i've tried changing the webSettings for the webView to allow file access.

WebSettings webViewSettings = webView.getSettings();
                // Setting this off for security. Off by default for SDK versions >= 16.
                webViewSettings.setAllowFileAccessFromFileURLs(true);
                // Off by default, deprecated for SDK versions >= 30.
                webViewSettings.setAllowUniversalAccessFromFileURLs(true);
                // Keeping these off is less critical but still a good idea, especially if your app is not
                // using file:// or content:// URLs.
                webViewSettings.setAllowFileAccess(true);
                webViewSettings.setAllowContentAccess(true);

Does anyone have any ideas why the webview does not show the pdf when it is stored in the app's own storage?

here is my complete class.

import android.app.DownloadManager;
import android.content.Context;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.net.Uri;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.os.Environment;
import android.util.Base64;
import android.util.Log;
import android.webkit.WebSettings;
import android.webkit.WebView;
import android.webkit.WebViewClient;
import android.widget.Toast;

import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity;

import com.android.volley.VolleyError;

import org.json.JSONObject;

import java.io.File;
import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
import java.io.FileOutputStream;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.PrintWriter;
import java.io.StringWriter;
import java.io.Writer;

public class DownloadCarePlanActivity extends AppCompatActivity {

    private static final String TAG = DownloadCarePlanActivity.class.getSimpleName();
    DownloadManager manager;
    long reference;
    String url;
    Context context;
    String fileName;
    WebView webView;


    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.downloadcareplan_activity);

        Log.e(TAG, "inside onCreate" );

        context = getApplicationContext();

        webView = (WebView)findViewById(R.id.webViewCareplan);

        url = "https://xxx/api/xxx/careplan/1";




            WebServicesForWebApi webServices = new WebServicesForWebApi(DownloadCarePlanActivity.this, new WebServicesForWebApi.IResultForFile() {
                @Override
                public void notifySuccess(byte[]  response, String responseString) {

                    //responseString = responseString.replace('\\', ' ');

                    Log.e(TAG, "formatted result for pdf webservice = " + response);

                    byte[] result;


                    if(response != null){

                        try {
                            byte[] bytes = response;
                            saveToFile(bytes, "careplan.pdf");
                        }catch (Exception e){
                            Toast.makeText(DownloadCarePlanActivity.this, "Error downloading pdf and saving it", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
                        }

                    }





                }

                @Override
                public void notifyError(VolleyError error) {

                    Toast.makeText(DownloadCarePlanActivity.this, "There was a problem in sendFireBaseTokenToServerWAPI", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();

                }
            });







            JSONObject js = new JSONObject();
            /*try {


                js.put("carerId", "0");
                js.put("phoneId", fireBaseToken);


            } catch (JSONException e) {
                e.printStackTrace();
            }*/

            webServices.makeWebApiPostForFile(url, js);






    }//end of onCreate


    public void saveToFile(byte[] byteArray, String pFileName){
        //File f = new File(Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory() + "/careplans");

        File f = getAbsoluteFile("/careplans", context);
        Log.e(TAG, "f.path = " + f.getAbsolutePath());

        if(f.isDirectory()){
            f.delete();
        }

        if (!f.isDirectory()) {
            f.mkdir();
        }

        //String fileName = Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory() + "/careplans/" + pFileName;
         fileName = f.getAbsolutePath() + "/" + pFileName;
        Log.e(TAG, "String fileName = " + fileName);

        try {

            FileOutputStream fPdf = new FileOutputStream(fileName);

            fPdf.write(byteArray);
            fPdf.flush();
            fPdf.close();
            Toast.makeText(this, "File successfully saved", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();

            try {

                File f2 = new File(fileName);
                Log.e(TAG, "f2.getAbsolutePath() = " + f2.getAbsolutePath());
                Log.e(TAG, "f2.getCanonicalPath() = " + f2.getCanonicalPath());

                Log.e(TAG, "loading file in webview" );


                WebSettings webViewSettings = webView.getSettings();
                // Setting this off for security. Off by default for SDK versions >= 16.
                webViewSettings.setAllowFileAccessFromFileURLs(true);
                // Off by default, deprecated for SDK versions >= 30.
                webViewSettings.setAllowUniversalAccessFromFileURLs(true);
                // Keeping these off is less critical but still a good idea, especially if your app is not
                // using file:// or content:// URLs.
                webViewSettings.setAllowFileAccess(true);
                webViewSettings.setAllowContentAccess(true);


                webView.loadUrl("file://" + f2.getAbsolutePath());
                //webView.loadUrl("file:///android_res/raw/index.html");




                Log.e(TAG, "finished loading file in webview" );

            }catch(Exception e){

                final Writer result = new StringWriter();
                final PrintWriter printWriter = new PrintWriter(result);
                e.printStackTrace(printWriter);
                String stacktrace = result.toString();
                printWriter.close();

                Log.e(TAG, "stack = " + stacktrace);


            }

        } catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
            Toast.makeText(this, "File create error", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
        } catch (IOException e) {
            Toast.makeText(this, "File write error", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
        }




    }


    @Override
    protected void onResume() {
        super.onResume();



    }

    @Override
    protected void onPause() {
        super.onPause();



    }

    private File getAbsoluteFile(String relativePath, Context context) {
        if (Environment.MEDIA_MOUNTED.equals(Environment.getExternalStorageState())) {
            return new File(context.getExternalFilesDir(null), relativePath);
        } else {
            return new File(context.getFilesDir(), relativePath);
        }
    }



}