[Android] Opening camera/gallery does not work on Android 11

[kidroca]

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Expected Result:

Image picking should work on any native platform

Actual Result:

Launching the camera or opening the gallery does not work on Android 11 devices

Action Performed:

1. Have an Android SDK Level 30 device (Android 11)
2. Open a chat
3. Press the plus button (+)
4. Tap on "Add Attachment"
5. Select "Take Photo" or "Choose from Gallery"
6. Observe error message "An error occurred while selecting an attachment..."

Workaround:

Add the attachment through "Choose Document" or add it from web or mWeb

Platform:

Where is this issue occurring?

• Web
• iOS
• Android
• Desktop App
• Mobile Web

Version Number: 1.0.28-0
Logs: https://stackoverflow.com/c/expensify/questions/4856
Notes/Photos/Videos: Any additional supporting documentation

Android.Emulator.-.Samsung_Galaxy_S10_API_30_5554.2021-04-22.10-43-32.mp4

Expensify/Expensify Issue URL:

view job on upwork here

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[kidroca]

I've confirmed the issue only happens on devices running Android 11. Installing the app on a device running Android 10 has no issues

Why this particular issue happens is described in the details section

Proposal

The imager picker library version 2 used is no longer maintained. The author suggestion for any issues occurring on v2 is to migrate to v3

Since we've already make the shift to present our own attachment options, we can easily migrate to v3

Along the way the suggestion on error handling using codes can be applied as well: https://github.com/Expensify/Expensify.cash/pull/1036/files#r550156553

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Details

This particular issue is related to moving to Android SDK 30 1bcf23b

https://developer.android.com/training/data-storage/use-cases#opt-out-in-production-app

Caution: After you update your app to target Android 11 (API level 30), the system ignores the requestLegacyExternalStorage attribute when your app is running on Android 11 devices, so your app must be ready to support scoped storage and to migrate app data for users on those devices.

This was initially configured when the attachment picker was included to the app:
https://github.com/Expensify/Expensify.cash/blob/1bcf23b73a12d34c2cc1b09035105ee50fcabc5f/android/app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml#L16

Here: https://github.com/Expensify/Expensify.cash/pull/463/files#diff-63272c98a6330850888e633b43ba4c9decee6431a115e0d2731564838eaa1d1dR15

As noted this is not a permanent solution: react-native-image-picker/react-native-image-picker#1447 (comment)

API 30 probably introduces updates that aren't handled in v2 of the library particularly this

your app must be ready to support scoped storage

react-native-image-picker/react-native-image-picker#1492 (comment)

3.x.x is compatible with scoped storage

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Alternative

Install another image picker library like: expo's Image Picker https://docs.expo.io/versions/latest/sdk/imagepicker/

The plus side for this one is that it supports web as well. This means it will be possible to remove the custom web specific attachment picker that we use

The negative is installing this library would drag with it self the uni-modules - additional stuff we might never use.
Also there would be a lot more changes involved

Support for web might be included in react-native-image-picker at some point react-native-image-picker/react-native-image-picker#1430 (comment)

[MelvinBot]

Triggered auto assignment to @sonialiap (AutoAssignerTriage), see https://stackoverflow.com/c/expensify/questions/4749 for more details.

[kidroca]

The document picker library used in the AttachmentPicker is also one version below the latest major version

https://github.com/Expensify/Expensify.cash/blob/718cd65bc13d8b225c550af19280c23809b4f558/package.json#L74

It can be updated as well, but the minimum supported Android API Level should also be updated to 21 (Android 5.0 December 2014) as it's a requirement for v5
https://github.com/rnmods/react-native-document-picker/releases/tag/v5.0.0

breaking: support only android >=5 (API 21)

Current minimum API level is 16 (Android 4.1 October 2012)

https://github.com/Expensify/Expensify.cash/blob/718cd65bc13d8b225c550af19280c23809b4f558/android/build.gradle#L6

My suggestion is to migrate both attachment related libraries to their latest versions in this ticket.

[MelvinBot]

Triggered auto assignment to @madmax330 (Engineering), see https://stackoverflow.com/c/expensify/questions/4319 for more details.

[MelvinBot]

Triggered auto assignment to @jboniface (External), see https://stackoverflow.com/c/expensify/questions/8582 for more details.

[jboniface]

job posted cc @kidroca

[FaisalAshraf44]

it should work by adding this line
android:requestLegacyExternalStorage="true"
to <application ... > tag in AndroidManifest.xml

[kidroca]

@mallenexpensify
I was invited to submit a proposal in Upwork and I did: https://www.upwork.com/ab/proposals/1397658468846395392
But @jboniface told me that someone else will look at it as he's ooo, though no one else have responded since

[jboniface]

@kidroca yeah it looks like there was a little miscom here, matt was going to flag this for engineering while I was out but it must have slipped through the cracks (I'm back now though and will reach out)

[MelvinBot]

Triggered auto assignment to @timszot (Exported), see https://stackoverflow.com/c/expensify/questions/7972 for more details.

[timszot]

@kidroca That proposed solution looks good to me. Let's go with that over the alternative library you mention. One note, I see that our minSdkVersion is already set to 21 since this was posted, so we should be good there.

[mallenexpensify]

Sorry @kidroca and @jboniface , I wasn't paying close-enough attention to know I was supposed to check Upwork to hire @kidroca . :|

[jboniface]

no worries, I should have applied the exported label instead of pinging you but I keep forgetting that step 😅 ; @kidroca I've hired you in UW for this

[kidroca]

I've got the job on Upwork

[kidroca]

Shouldn't I also be assigned to the ticket here on github?

[jboniface]

@kidroca yep, good point

[kidroca]

The PR for this issue is ready for review

[kidroca]

@jboniface
I've receive payment for this task, but never received a 150$ bonus for discovering and creating the issue

[jboniface]

@kidroca ah, sorry, I was batching these the other day and missed that you filed it. i'll add the 150 to the other issue we owe you for.