While it is annoying to people like you and me, this is a good thing for the average user. Your average downloads folder probably contains sensitive information that shouldn't be visible to apps. Same with Android/data. Locking it down is annoying for sure, but it's admittedly a good privacy&security measure.
If the average user was more occupied dealing with identity theft they'd have less time to spread misinformation on Facebook and Twitter.
Even if it's blocked for the average user, it'd still be awesome if we could circumvent it with adb. I've used KDE Connect to access my phone remotely for a long time, and now that feature is useless.
Exactly.
I have often found malware apps with all sorts of permission on my relatives phones which suddenly started to lag alot. These folders can be easily exploited by malware apps, so its kinda good.
I THINK THIS HAS TO DO WITH APP PERMISSIONS. IF YOUR APP NEEDS A PLACE TO READ/WRITE FILES, IT MAKES SENSE TO KEEP IT OUT OF YOUR DOWNLOADS FOLDER THAT COULD CONTAIN SENSITIVE INFORMATION LIKE BANK STATEMENTS OR OTHER THINGS. YOU DON'T WANT SOME RANDOM APP LOOKING AT EVERYTHING THAT ENDS UP IN YOUR DOWNLOADS FOLDER!!!
GET RILED ABOUT GIVING THESE GREEDY DATA SNOOPING APPS THE LEAST PERMISSION POSSIBLE!!
The mildly infuriating part of this post is OP thinking that his consumer phone OS was made just for them and not millions of tech-illiterate people.
I would be okay with an off button in the developer options, hidden from those people
Then, the scam apps will just come with instructions to turn that feature off
Well sounds like they didn't go far enough then, they should cut all internet access so that users don't accidentally download malicious apps!
A user that wants full control of their own device should have that option available. There is no good reason Android makes it difficult to access its data folder for example for users that do want to mess around with that stuff.
I think there should be space for an i-know-what-im-doing. But I think we can all agree that limiting the damage that can be done to normal people who just want a device to do normal stuff on is a good thing.
This level of hyperbole isn't a useful discussion, and I would hope, would be left at reddit rather than infesting lemmy too.
Well for me it is not really that much of a hyperbole, I consider being able to access the files on your own device pretty much a necessity. Yes it is absolutely no problem that protections like this are enabled out of the box, but it should all be optional, even if that process is kind of difficult (disabling by connecting to a computer and doing some sort of configuration for example).
Maybe I'm just upset because an update recently broke Android/data access and forced me to look for a new workaround for 30 minutes (to access my own files on the device I supposedly own!)
You need to tap 7 times on a random UI element, deep down in a settings menu. There is no way any instructions could direct a non-techy to do that, even if the non-techy wanted to.
Root it
I was done when I saw all caps.
I understand the security implications, but I think I should at least have a say about what happens on my own phone
The app in question is popular and open source. My SD card's downloads folder is also unused and empty, as you can see. There is absolutely zero risk here
But….. if you’re allowed to install into the downloads folder, then it wouldn’t be unused and empty….. ?
Is this Schrödinger’s file system?
OP isn't trying to install into the downloads folder; they're trying to grant an app access to the downloads folder to read and write data.
But..... if they write data into that folder, it wouldn't be unused and empty...... ?
Maybe I'm misunderstanding something here?
An app can't steal sensitive information from itself
Why not just state what the app is, would make a lot more sense when you make it clear why it is required
Seal - Video/Audio Downloader for Android, based on yt-dlp, designed with Material You. It's the directory where downloaded videos get saved
SOUNDS LIKE YOU NEED TO START DOWNLOADIN PICTURES OF MOTORCYCLES AND BAMS!
Sounds like you're part of the group they're protecting if you refuse to understand and value the need for permission management ;)
Unlucky!
This is so every app can only read it's own subfolder. Unless you think it's better that advertisers and app developers can have access to 100% of your personal files
I wish I could at least create a folder on my microSD card for these apps but no.
There's nothing wrong with this lol
I hate SAF with a passion
Just curious, as a rooted phone user is there any way to force this to allow you to use downloads?
would you still be insulted if it said "only folders can be created in the root directory"?
No storage restrictions.
Can remove it.
https://github.com/Xposed-Modules-Repo/com.github.dan.nostoragerestrict
Storage isolation.
More control over exactly what folders apps can see/use.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=moe.shizuku.redirectstorage
Shamiko.
One of my favorite magisk mods. It makes ot so apps in the deny list can still be messed with.
https://github.com/LSPosed/LSPosed.github.io/releases
I was expecting an important folder but the Download folder???
How is downloads folder not important? For most people this is literally the biggest folder of files containing everything they ever downloaded, and it may also include downloads from messengers, e.g. Whatsapp and Telegram.
You just answered your own question.
Many people protect themselves by limiting their own actions on purpose. For example: running programs as a normal users despite having root or administrator rights. It's good practice.
What you're complaining about is someone else limiting your actions for you. Unfortunately, that's the Android security model: the OS maker trusts itself but not the user.
If you're a knowledgeable and responsible computer user, you have to suffer this choice of security model for the good of everyone else who may not have your technical chops. That's how it is with Android.
If you don't like it, you'll have to hack into your own Android system (what most people do when they root their phone and install things to play hide and seek with applications that try to detect rooting), or come up with your own mobile OS that implements another security model and try to convince app vendors that your OS isn't a security liability.
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