Is the app you want to use unable to "read" the internal storage of your Android 11 device/TV?

by latinriky78

Turns out I was unable to read, write and delete files and folders using X-plore on my Google TV 11 device (Realme Stick) because there is a bug in Android 11 when allowing permissions to access the internal storage (including external storage formatted as internal) by selecting the "Only when app is in use" option, therefore, the only workaround is to select the other option to allow the app to always read the internal storage, but this is something that must be done manually by going to:

settings -> apps -> look for the app -> permissions -> select the option to allow the app to always read the internal storage, it's usually the first one:

https://preview.redd.it/tubevaz11h791.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=126120c09db92846781dbe3edde1800eb7d5c25f

Not all the apps have the option, that's why I believe this is something that developers must fix in its own apps because there are others where the option works as expected, I noticed it works on VLC, Nova Video Player, FX File Explorer, RetroX among others.

jerrame1

Thanks for sharing!

pawdog

It's a security feature not a bug. You don't want everything you install automatically having access to all your files and folders. I mean you may want that, but Google is not just giving that up automatically anymore. X-Plore usually asks you to allow permission the first time you try and do anything so if it didn't that may be a bug in X-Plore.

Deadpool-fan-466

It's an Android 11 feature. But it caused a serious problem on the TV side, because the OS was reading "only when the app is in use" as "don't allow" (for some apps).

Because of this, NVIDIA Shield TV users had Plex Media Server issue after the Android TV 11 update.