Manage Android permissions, services, and receivers

Overview

The SDK requires your mobile app users to enable certain permissions and services. You can declare these permissions and services in the AndroidManifest.xml file.

Permissions

Permissions determine what your mobile app can access and can do. When you install the Android SDK in your mobile application, it also adds the SDK permissions. By default, permissions in the AndroidManifest.xml file are merged into your application's manifest.

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Note:

You can override the default merge into your application's manifest. For more information, see Merge multiple manifest files.

Manage permissions

You can manage the permissions merged from the SDKs AndroidManifest.xml file. You can choose what permissions to merge to your application's manifest. Defining this helps you to have only a minimum set of required permissions. Complete the following steps to define which permissions you want to merge.

1. Add xmlns:tools=http://schemas.android.com/tools attribute to the <manifest … > tag.
2. Define permissions in your AndroidManifest.xml file as shown in the following example:

<!-- Remove all inherited permissions -->
<uses-permission tools:node="removeAll">
 
<!-- Add back the specific permissions that the Acoustic SDK requires  -->
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WAKE_LOCK" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.VIBRATE" />
 
<!-- Add any additional permissions that you choose for your app (examples shown) -->
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACTIVITY_RECOGNITION" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.BATTERY_STATS" />

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Note:

When you add the <uses-permission tools:node="removeAll"> directive to remove all inherited permissions, it prevents the merge of any app library permissions. You are responsible for managing the permissions necessary for your application to work. You must declare all required permissions in your AndroidManifest.xml file.

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Warning:

For Android 6.0 and later, users are prompted to grant permission only when they start to use a feature that requires it. Therefore users can use the application for a long time without proper permissions. Users will receive the prompt only if it is declared in the manifest. When such permissions are not declared, it may cause the app to crash.

The following table lists of permissions declared in the Android manifest file:

Table 1 – Permissions in AndroidManifest.xml file

Services

Services also help support the SDK functionalities on your mobile app. The services are listed in the AndroidManifest.xml file.

Table 2 – Services in AndroidManifest.xml file

Receivers

Receivers are used when you register for system or application events.
Table 2 – Receivers in AndroidManifest.xml file