Storage permission issue in Android 12

[FrosT2k5]

When I select internal storage in Poweramp (Android 12 I have) , it just says "to protect your privacy, choose another folder" and I can't choose internal storage

So the auto scanner for internal storage doesn't work and I always have to add folders wenever I make one, which is annoying

 

Is there any workarounds for this? Thanks

[andrewilley]

It's Google idea of protecting people from themselves by making our personally owned devices less and less accessible, including restricting access to roots of storage areas. Exactly the opposite of the whole purpose of an operating system in fact.

I know Max has been working over the last few months on required changes to cope with Google's nonsense, but in the meantime I suspect the easiest solution would be to store all of your music in one master folder and grant access to it. You can then have as many subfolders inside that as you like.

Andre

[MotleyG]

It is probably not a good idea to access the entire root folder of the internal storage anyhow. It will take Poweramp much longer to scan through all of the non-music files for everything else if you do.

As suggested by @andrewilley I’d agree that at least having a Music main folder at a minimum would be ideal.

[flyingdutchman]

@MotleyG for android 10 and above, you cant select root folder. Poweramp just creates the illusion you select root but then just selects music and podcast. It would be better to be explicit

[MotleyG]

20 hours ago, flyingdutchman said:

@MotleyG for android 10 and above, you cant select root folder. Poweramp just creates the illusion you select root but then just selects music and podcast. It would be better to be explicit

Yes understood. I was just suggesting that trying to point PA at a root drive in any storage isn’t really a good idea, regardless. No need to have to scan through any non-music files that will add to the total scan time.

[Scott L]

I'm having this issue after getting a Pixel 6 Pro.

I mainly listen to podcasts I download, but they all go to the set download folder. I can't figure out a way to change where they're downloaded to, so the app is basically unusable for me right now.

[MotleyG]

6 minutes ago, Scott L said:

I'm having this issue after getting a Pixel 6 Pro.

I mainly listen to podcasts I download, but they all go to the set download folder. I can't figure out a way to change where they're downloaded to, so the app is basically unusable for me right now.

Can you move the file from the “Download” folder, to a separate “Podcast” folder that can be added to the Poweramp library?

[andrewilley]

Google is maddeningly placing further restrictions on app access to storage with every new release. I know Max is working on optimising this at the moment for the next release of PA, but it's an uphill battle.

For now, do what I do for podcasts and use a background app that watches for and copies the contents of download folders over to locations of your choosing. I currently use one called FolderSync, along with Podcast Addict as my podcatcher. The combination works well, so any newly downloaded podcasts get copied to individually named folders in my /MusicFolders/Podcasts/ folder on my SD Card.

Andre

[Scott L]

19 hours ago, andrewilley said:

Google is maddeningly placing further restrictions on app access to storage with every new release. I know Max is working on optimising this at the moment for the next release of PA, but it's an uphill battle.

For now, do what I do for podcasts and use a background app that watches for and copies the contents of download folders over to locations of your choosing. I currently use one called FolderSync, along with Podcast Addict as my podcatcher. The combination works well, so any newly downloaded podcasts get copied to individually named folders in my /MusicFolders/Podcasts/ folder on my SD Card.

Andre

Thanks! I knew there was some workaround.

[Scott L]

23 hours ago, MotleyG said:

Can you move the file from the “Download” folder, to a separate “Podcast” folder that can be added to the Poweramp library?

Andre suggested to have a third party app automatically do it. Works great.

[andrewilley]

Downloading podcasts and then moving the files using a second app was the only way I could find to get the files to automatically end up in the specific folders that I wanted. I've yet to find a podcast downloader that would allow me to define my own individual download folder location for each different podcast. Takes a bit of fiddling to set up, but once done it just works in the background as a scheduled task.

Andre

[T H in new Jersey]

I have been using PA for 2 years now, but with a new phone forget it. All these instructions the Admin person gives are beyond me. I have it giving me " please use another folder for privacy reasons .... . I do not understand all these instructions about putting the music on the SD card in music folders etc. I put the music on the SD card , and PA should find the music period!

I have spent several hours reading blogs , instructions etc , keep getting the privacy response ... Very difficult. 

What other APPs are out there ?

 

[flyingdutchman]

@T H in new Jersey basically, this is Google's new "security" world. Certain folders can no longer be accessed by other apps, all other folders the user gives explicit premissions. There is no way around this

For Poweramp all this needs access to your music folder(s). Other apps will need to adhere to the same rules so they are not going to be any different.

Underneath all this is that google are also quietly trying to get rid of the external sdcard so life gets even harder for programmers

[T H in new Jersey]

So I think this means I should just transfer the music files from the SD card like I said take the card out of cell ph and either put the card into a micro SD card adapter and drag them into the cell phone memory . Is that correct?

 

[flyingdutchman]

@T H in new Jersey no just transfer your sdcard to your new phone, set permissions in Poweramp 

enable

This will launch the file picker, where you now select your music folder and allow access

repeat the process for each storage

You may need to select the different storage first from the menu

end result

 

 

[andrewilley]

I wish this process was easier too, but I'm afraid we have to blame Google for its ever-increasingly Big Brother approach to Android storage access. They seem to honestly wish that there were no SD Cards at all, so they could 100% control what happens with the internal-only storage. But for now, for YOU to access YOUR files, on YOUR memory card, in YOUR phone you have to jump through ludicrous hoops rather than simply ticking one box saying "Poweramp is approved to read/write my music files on the SD Card". This applies to every app by the way, with the exception of things like file explorers and backup tools which can be granted higher permission levels by Google (but it's not a simple process for an app to be approved for that). It would be the equivalent of Windows suddenly no longer supporting access to external drives, USB sticks, etc. and insisting that everything is kept in only one user-assign folder in the C:\Users hierarchy.

What I suggest is start from square one:

• Create a new folder on your SD Card called "My Music", or "Audio", or whatever overall name you want it to be. Then move any music/audio files, within their own nested subfolders whatever way you wish to organise them, inside that one overall folder.
• Then you can revoke all previous storage permissions for PA and start from scratch (as it's a new phone, you won't have any settings or playlists to backup as yet). The easiest way would be to Clear App Data for the Poweramp app in Android Settings, or just simply the nuclear uninstall/reinstall approach. You want a clean slate anyway.
• Then run your new installation of PA and go into Settings=>Library=>Music Folders. Tap on 'Enable' next to the SD Card's name - or use the 'Add Folder or Storage' button - and use the resulting Android dialog box to navigate to the folder in question and tap 'Use This Folder' at the bottom of the screen (which will allow of all of its subfolder contents too). You can repeat this process with other folders too (such as an internal memory folder) if you want more than one storage location.
• Then you then should see the folder displayed in PA's Music Folders list, so make sure it is ticked (which will select all the contained subfolders too) and you should be good to go. Click Save and your music will be scanned into PA's music database.

Andre

[andrewilley]

As this question does seem to comes up quite often, I've just written a FAQ which might help clarify the whole process:

Any comments on the content, or anything important I've missed out, would be appreciated.

Andre

[RaiDai]

Just change the name of the folder you want to access. 

Just make sure its not the root folder, but a folder which is inside the sd card/phone root storage