Xamarin.Forms: Accessing external storage on Android 11 (target sdk version is 29)

sntntn123

I have an App that has to access external storage (logs, SQLite), and it stopped working (on Android >= 10) since I updated it to Android 10. I found a workaround to set

android:requestLegacyExternalStorage="true"

and it works fine on Android 10 now, but not on Android 11. I heard that this should still work on Android 11 if my app is targeting android 10 (SDK 29), so in my case, it should work. But it doesn't, and I still get deployment failed, permission denied. Anyone already came across this issue?

jezh

I tested the official sample included in document External storage, and it works properly on emulator (android 11).

Could you please post a basic demo to github or onedriver so that we can try to reproduce this problem on our side?

Besides, you can also first check the official document: https://developer.android.com/about/versions/11/privacy/permissions

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sntntn123

I created a new Xamarin.Forms project for reproduction. You have to set target framework to Android 10.
My addings to Manifest:

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

And mainActivity:
Java.IO.File directory= new Java.IO.File(Path.Combine(Android.OS.Environment.ExternalStorageDirectory.AbsolutePath, "testest/"));
This is enough to reproduce the error. It works on Android 10, but not on 11. The funny thing is, it works if I run it in Release mode, but not in Debug.

jezh

I created a new Xamarin.Forms project for reproduction.

I used the code you provided and tested on the sample code I mentioned above (xamarin android ), but I couldn't reproduce this problem.

Could you please post a basic demo to github or onedriver so that we can try to reproduce this problem on our side?

sntntn123

Can you try on Xamarin.Forms (.Droid) instead of Android (Native?)

Tracy320

I tried to create a new xamarin form app, but I haven't reproduce this problem so far, if you upload a demo it will help us solve the problem.