CODEWITHSUNDEEP
androidandroid-permissions
Barry Fruitman
Barry Fruitman

Reputation: 12656

<uses-permission> vs android:permission

What's the difference between:

<uses-permission android:name="some_permission" />

and

<activity android:permission="some_permission" />

My application uses the former but not the latter and still works. Why would I use the latter? Specifically, why does it work without the latter?

Thanks in advance...

Upvotes: 1

Views: 981

Answers (3)

alijandro
alijandro

Reputation: 12147

In summary,

<uses-permission android:name="some_permission" /> is something your app should hold to perform some user data sensitive or dangerous operation.

<activity android:permission="some_permission" /> is something other apps or other component in your app should hold in order to start your activity.

Upvotes: 1

Vikasdeep Singh
Vikasdeep Singh

Reputation: 21766

Although it is clear from the structure and tags itself i.e. uses-permission means this permission will be used by the app and android:permission inside activity tag means permission required to start that activity. Below is difference between uses-permission and android:permission from official documentation.

android:permission (Activity permission enforcement)

Permissions applied using the android:permission attribute to the tag in the manifest restrict who can start that Activity. The permission is checked during Context.startActivity() and Activity.startActivityForResult(). If the caller doesn't have the required permission then SecurityException is thrown from the call.

Link: https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/permissions/overview.html#permission_enforcement

uses-permission

Specifies a system permission that the user must grant in order for the app to operate correctly. Permissions are granted by the user when the application is installed (on devices running Android 5.1 and lower) or while the app is running (on devices running Android 6.0 and higher).

Link : https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/manifest/uses-permission-element.html

Now come to your question:

My application uses the former but not the latter and still works. Why would I use the latter? Specifically, why does it work without the latter?

Answer: as from above explanation it is clear that latter is required if you want some other app to access your that activity i.e. that permission is not required by your app or activity But other apps to start that activity. So your app will work perfectly fine without latter one i.e. android:permission

Hope it make sense.

Upvotes: 4

Thientvse
Thientvse

Reputation: 1791

  1. <uses-permission> is when your application is seeking the user's permission to use some feature

    Ex:

<uses-permission
     android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE"
     android:maxSdkVersion="18" />

  1. <permission> is when your application is requiring other apps to seek the user's permission to use some feature of yours.

    Ex:

<permission android:description="string resource"
            android:icon="drawable resource"
            android:label="string resource"
            android:name="string"
            android:permissionGroup="string"
            android:protectionLevel=["normal" | "dangerous" |
                                     "signature" | ...] />

You can read : https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/manifest/permission-element.html

Upvotes: 1

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