Develop Reference

How to get permission for Driver Distraction optimized?

I want to code an automotive app which should simply display a map while the user is driving. I am developing with Android Studio 4.0.1 and in Kotlin. In order to create an emulator for testing, I used Android Studio 4.2 Beta 1 to download an automotive system image because in 4.0.1 no automotive system image was available.
I am stuck to make this app "distraction optimized", so unfortunately the app still gets overlayed with a black screen and the text "You can't use this feature while driving".
When I follow the Guidelines ([https://source.android.com/devices/automotive/driver_distraction/guidelines][1]), it seems that I simply have to add the following metadata to the activity-element in the manifest.xml (I only have one activity):
<activity>
...
<meta-data android:name="distractionOptimized" android:value="true"/>
...
</activity>
Of course I also request the following needed permissions (amongst others) to the manifest-tag in the manifest.xml file:
...
<uses-permission android:name="android.car.permission.CAR_UX_RESTRICTIONS_CONFIGURATION" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.car.permission.CAR_DRIVING_STATE"/>
...
as well as to the permissions array which I pass to the requestPermissions(...)-function
val PERMISSIONS_ARRAY = arrayOf(
...
Car.PERMISSION_CAR_UX_RESTRICTIONS_CONFIGURATION,
Car.PERMISSION_CAR_DRIVING_STATE,
...
)
requestPermissions(PERMISSIONS_ARRAY, 0)
In onRequestPermissionsResult(...) I find out that these two permissions are denied. But the user was even not prompted / asked to give that permission at first app start. Also in the settings there is no possibility to give the app these permissions. In a later piece of code getActiveRestrictions() always returns 255, which means that all restrictions are active, right? Another indication that the app is not allowed to handle the Driver Distraction on it's own, and therefore the OS takes care of it by not showing the app at all...
What am I doing wrong? What do I possibly miss? Does anybody have an idea?

It is not sufficient to mark an activity as DO in the manifest, it must also be downloaded/installed from a trusted source (like Play Store) otherwise CarPackageManagerService won't allow the app to be displayed in any restricted driving-state.

Some insight (which is not fully provided by the website documentation) can be gained from reading the following comment in the source code for 'CarPackageManagerService', which performs the checks on apps and activities to see if they are Distraction Optimized (DO), among other things:
https://android.googlesource.com/platform/packages/services/Car/+/master/service/src/com/android/car/pm/CarPackageManagerService.java#740
Effectively, what this means is that your app needs to be either:
A system app,
Whitelisted in a config.xml file, which is a resource file for OEMs to create configurations for their car services, or
Tagged as DO in the app Manifest, and installed by an allowed source. The list of allowed sources is loaded from R.array.allowedAppInstallSources.
An exception to these rules is if your OS is a debug build.

Application gets restarted if the camera permission is changed

I've implemented a short Flutter App which is requesting and checking the camera permission which works as expected. But, when manually changing the camera permission from the app settings, for both Android and iOS, it will restart my app. I need to mention that I've added in AndroidManifest.xml and Info.plist the required keys for camera. One interesting thing is that for the location the behaviour is fine and the app does not get restarted.
For permissions I'm using the permission_handler flutter library.
I don't know if is a flutter issue or a general mobile known behaviour but if someone knows more please let me know. If someone need some code example I can also provide this. Thank you.

It doesn't get 'restarted', it gets killed. Meaning, it will run from app launch the next time. This is because some permission settings cannot be changed while the App is running. This is by design.

Android Call Blocker Code for Android 3.0 and above

I googled for an example source code for blocking calls and came across this EXAMPLE, But later I came to know that Google has updated their policy and
android.permission.MODIFY_PHONE_STATE
is an system level permission from android version 2.3, I have very important module placed on blocking a specific call.
How do I get a system level permission?
Please let me know if there is any way I can do this in my application. Its very important for the product and cannot be released without this functionality.
Please Help!
Thanks in advance

At least as of Android 5.0, MODIFY_PHONE_STATE has the following definition:
<permission android:name="android.permission.MODIFY_PHONE_STATE"
android:permissionGroup="android.permission-group.PHONE_CALLS"
android:protectionLevel="signature|system"
android:label="#string/permlab_modifyPhoneState"
android:description="#string/permdesc_modifyPhoneState" />
Your app can only hold this permission and use it to modify the phone state if it is signed by the firmware's signing key (the "your own custom ROM" scenario from Marcin's comment) or if your app is installed on the system partition. The latter can be accomplished by having your app pre-installed on the device (or having a rooted device user move your app to the system partition, as I understand it).

Does Eclipse automatically set "uses-permissions" in Manifest?

I know it's a simple question but I can't find any answer. Well actually it's three related questions:
If my code requires a uses-permission manifest element, does Eclipse automatically add it to the manifest?
If Eclipse doesn't automatically add it, how do I know which permissions my app needs? Of course there is this list, but it's hard to go though this list checking if what my app does falls within each of these permissions.
If Eclipse doesn't automatically add the permission and I fail to do it, how will I find out? Will the app fail to install on the emulator? Will it install on the emulator but be force-closed when trying to access something it doesn't have permissions for? Or do I have to install the apk on a real device in order to find out?

If my code requires a uses-permission manifest element, does Eclipse automatically add it to the manifest?
No.
how do I know which permissions my app needs?
Generally, by reading the JavaDocs, which do a decent job of pointing out what permissions you need. Otherwise, you will find out in testing, when your app crashes with a SecurityException.
If Eclipse doesn't automatically add the permission and I fail to do it, how will I find out?
See above.
Will it install on the emulator but be force-closed when trying to access something it doesn't have permissions for?
Correct.

Eclipse will not add permissions automatically. However, if you try to use a feature that requires permission, you will be made aware of the missing permission. Here's an excerpt from android resource page on Permissions: Link
Often times a permission failure will result in a SecurityException
being thrown back to the application. However, this is not guaranteed
to occur everywhere. For example, the sendBroadcast(Intent) method
checks permissions as data is being delivered to each receiver, after
the method call has returned, so you will not receive an exception if
there are permission failures. In almost all cases, however, a
permission failure will be printed to the system log.
Your third question is answered by:
In almost all cases, however, a permission failure will be printed to
the system log.
Just in case you're wondering about what you would see in Logcat:
11-20 08:08:47.766: E/AndroidRuntime(9380):
java.lang.SecurityException: Need BLUETOOTH permission: Neither user
10111 nor current process has android.permission.BLUETOOTH.

Eclipse does not automatically add the uses-permission to your manifest. I once had forgot to add a permission and had my app fail when it got to that part of the code. I can't remember the exact error but it did mention that a permission was required to use the method I tried using and I believe that it told me what permission.
If you don't add one in then you will soon find out.

Is there a way to add a permission to an application I'm testing? (my own app)

My application needs that GPS is active at startup as for it to proceed.
Iam testing the app, so I'm mocking the GPS by adding <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_MOCK_LOCATION" /> to my AndroidManisfest.xml file.
This works ok. But I want to keep things separate. Is it possible to add a permission at runtime when we are testing?
EDIT:
I know from the docs that:
Android has no mechanism for granting permissions dynamically (at run-time) because it complicates the user experience to the detriment of security.
But as a matter of testing the application, is there an alternative?
Thanks

There is no way to add Android permissions at run-time. They must be specified in your manifest.
If you have a separate test application, I believe you only need to put this permission on your test application.
EDIT A test application is really no different to Android than a regular one in terms of permissions. I would just put the permission in your test application's manifest and not worry about it.