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Android 11 - Access to "Android/data" folder


Hubert Saint

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Android 11 broke the "Android/data" folder access (another great "downgrade"). I was using Foldersync to backup the Album art folders (album_art & selected_aa) which no longer works (some workarounds are in dev but nothing available now). Is there a way to specify another directory for storing album art, or would you consider it for the next release?

Thank you,

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On Android 11 Powermap data now is in /Android/data/com.maxmpz.audioplayer folder (without _ underscore). This is for clean new install on Android 11. If you upgraded from Android 10, data remains in /Android/data/_com.maxmpz.audioplayer. These folders are accessible to the limited number of apps, but most file managers already updated to support such access.

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6 hours ago, maxmp said:

On Android 11 Powermap data now is in /data/Android/com.maxmpz.audioplayer folder (without _ underscore). This is for clean new install on Android 11. If you upgraded from Android 10, data remains in /data/Android/_com.maxmpz.audioplayer. These folders are accessible to the limited number of apps, but most file managers already updated to support such access.

I assume you meant "Android/data/" (vs "Data/Android" above) right?  since the whole Android/data is locked that wouldn't help. As mentioned above, the issue I'm facing is that even though some files explorers have figured out a temporary workaround (only works for internal memory / doesn't work for external sdcard), Backup apps like Foldersync or UltimateSync haven't issued a fix yet and wondering if they are facing a bigger challenge than basic file explorers.

Let me know if you can suggest some other option to sync album art data outside of the default folder.

 

Thanks for your assistance,

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Yes, the folder is in the Android/data hierarchy. There is another /data/data/ hierarchy too, but that's at the device's lowest root level (not the user-accessible 'faux-sdcard' level) and can't be seen without rooting the device. That is where any sensitive/secure content is meant to be stored.

The problem is Google's current Apple-like 'God Complex' when it comes to other people's devices. It started when they began to restrict access to external SD Cards, and has progressed to limiting easy access to other areas too. Personally I liken it to Microsoft suddenly deciding that the only location where you were allowed to store PC files is their predefined My Documents folder, and removing access to D:\ etc drives. One of an OS's primary roles is to facilitate easy and transparent access to the device's file system and peripheral devices, but that definition seems to have slipped Google's memory.

The _com.maxmpz.audioplayer (underscore) folder is presumably no longer considered a suitable location from Android 11 onwards, although for backward-compatibility reasons it is still supported for apps which already created it under a previous Android release. Some file explorers have already provided solutions to bypassing this access issue, but it's not a general thing.

Andre

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These "closed environment"/"we will decide what you need" practices are exactly why I always avoided Apple like the plague. I hope they understand that the "open" format is the very reason why a lot of people adopted the Android platform... Hoping they won't become another Apple... Please.
 
Meanwhile, great news, Foldersync just updated the app. All good, for now...
 
Have a great weekend,
 
 
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@Hubert Saint right, /Android/data. File managers like Solid Explorer can access these folders on Android 11. Actually, builtin filemanagers can do that too, but as I can see they specifically hide the contents to avoid breaking apps and for the "extra security".

There is a movement inside Google against direct file access and closing the platform, but there is also a huge backlash from power users and devs, so they usually do 2 steps forward, then 1-2 steps backward (such as closing the file access completely, but then returning it back with extra attribute in app manifest).

Thanks!

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