[FIXED] Android APIv29 FileNotFoundException EACCES (Permission denied)

Issue

I'm not able to access storage when building for targetSdkVersion v29.

Here is my gradle configuration:

    compileSdkVersion 29
    buildToolsVersion "29.0.2"
    ...
        minSdkVersion 15
        targetSdkVersion 29

NOTE that WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission is granted and the same setup works fine when building for targetSdkVersion 28.

Here is my implementation:

        val outputFolder = File(baseFolder + File.separator + "Output Folder")
        if (!outputFolder.exists()) {
            if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.O) {
                Files.createDirectory(outputFolder.toPath()) //This allways returns false with targetSdkVersion 29
            } else {
                if (!outputFolder.mkdirs()) {
                    Log.e("SaveRaw", "Unable to create folder for audio recording")
                }
            }
        }

        outputFile = File("$baseFolder/Output Folder/$filename")
        try {
            fileOutputStream = FileOutputStream(outputFile)
        } catch (e: FileNotFoundException) {
            e.printStackTrace() // allways throwing exception here, even if Output Folder exists 
        }

and here is the exception:

W/System.err: java.io.FileNotFoundException: /storage/emulated/0/Chirp Auto Tester/2019_10_17 10:44:43.raw: open failed: EACCES (Permission denied)
W/System.err:     at libcore.io.IoBridge.open(IoBridge.java:496)
        at java.io.FileOutputStream.<init>(FileOutputStream.java:235)
        at java.io.FileOutputStream.<init>(FileOutputStream.java:186)

Hope anyone has an answer, what am I missing here?

Update:

Here is where baseFolder comes from. Note that getExternalStorageDirectory is a deprecated method.

        val baseFolder: String = if (Environment.getExternalStorageState().equals(Environment.MEDIA_MOUNTED)) {
            Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory().absolutePath
        } else {
            context.filesDir.absolutePath
        }

Thanks

Solution

Starting with Android 11 the storage permission is getting revoked and developers would need to consider alternative ways of accessing the storage they need either through SAF or Media Store. For the time being, you can carry on using what you’re using by adding the following in your manifest within the application tags:

android:requestLegacyExternalStorage="true"

You might want to consider changing your minSDK to 19 and use getExternalFilesDir() to get a path that doesn’t require any permissions.

Answered By - Nikos Hidalgo