Behavior changes: Apps targeting Android 14 or higher

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Like previous releases, Android 14 includes behavior changes that might affect your app. The following behavior changes apply exclusively to apps that are targeting Android 14 (API level 34) or higher. If your app is targeting Android 14 or higher, you should modify your app to support these behaviors properly, where applicable.

Be sure to also review the list of behavior changes that affect all apps running on Android 14 regardless of the app's targetSdkVersion.

Core functionality

Foreground service types are required

If your app targets Android 14 (API level 34) or higher, it must specify at least one foreground service type for each foreground service within your app. You should choose a foreground service type that represents your app's use case. The system expects foreground services that have a particular type to satisfy a particular use case.

If a use case in your app isn't associated with any of these types, it's strongly recommended that you migrate your logic to use WorkManager or user-initiated data transfer jobs.

Enforcement of BLUETOOTH_CONNECT permission in BluetoothAdapter

Android 14 enforces the BLUETOOTH_CONNECT permission when calling the BluetoothAdapter getProfileConnectionState() method for apps targeting Android 14 (API level 34) or higher.

This method already required the BLUETOOTH_CONNECT permission, but it was not enforced. Make sure your app declares BLUETOOTH_CONNECT in your app's AndroidManifest.xml file as shown in the following snippet and check that a user has granted the permission before calling getProfileConnectionState.

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.BLUETOOTH_CONNECT" />

OpenJDK 17 updates

Android 14 continues the work of refreshing Android's core libraries to align with the features in the latest OpenJDK LTS releases, including both library updates and Java 17 language support for app and platform developers.

A few of these changes can affect app compatibility:

• Changes to regular expressions: Invalid group references are now disallowed to more closely follow the semantics of OpenJDK. You might see new cases where an IllegalArgumentException is thrown by the java.util.regex.Matcher class, so make sure to test your app for areas that use regular expressions. To enable or disable this change while testing, toggle the DISALLOW_INVALID_GROUP_REFERENCE flag using the compatibility framework tools.
• UUID handling: The java.util.UUID.fromString() method now does more strict checks when validating the input argument, so you might see an IllegalArgumentException during deserialization. To enable or disable this change while testing, toggle the ENABLE_STRICT_VALIDATION flag using the compatibility framework tools.
• ProGuard issues: In some cases, the addition of the java.lang.ClassValue class causes an issue if you try to shrink, obfuscate, and optimize your app using ProGuard. The problem originates with a Kotlin library that changes runtime behaviour based on whether Class.forName("java.lang.ClassValue") returns a class or not. If your app was developed against an older version of the runtime without the java.lang.ClassValue class available, then these optimizations might remove the computeValue method from classes derived from java.lang.ClassValue.

JobScheduler reinforces callback and network behavior

Since its introduction, JobScheduler expects your app to return from onStartJob or onStopJob within a few seconds. Prior to Android 14, if a job runs too long, the job is stopped and fails silently. If your app targets Android 14 (API level 34) or higher and exceeds the granted time on the main thread, the app triggers an ANR with the error message "No response to onStartJob" or "No response to onStopJob".

This ANR may be a result of 2 scenarios: 1. There is work blocking the main thread, preventing the callbacks onStartJob or onStopJob from executing and completing within the expected time limit. 2. The developer is running blocking work within the JobScheduler callback onStartJob or onStopJob, preventing the callback from completing within the expected time limit.

To address #1, you will need to further debug what is blocking the main thread when the ANR occurs, you can do this using ApplicationExitInfo#getTraceInputStream() to get the tombstone trace when the ANR occurs. If you're able to manually reproduce the ANR, you can record a system trace and inspect the trace using either Android Studio or Perfetto to better understand what is running on the main thread when the ANR occurs. Note that this can happen when using JobScheduler API directly or using the androidx library WorkManager.

To address #2, consider migrating to WorkManager, which provides support for wrapping any processing in onStartJob or onStopJob in an asynchronous thread.

JobScheduler also introduces a requirement to declare the ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE permission if using setRequiredNetworkType or setRequiredNetwork constraint. If your app does not declare the ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE permission when scheduling the job and is targeting Android 14 or higher, it will result in a SecurityException.

Tiles launch API

For apps targeting 14 and higher, TileService#startActivityAndCollapse(Intent) is deprecated and now throws an exception when called. If your app launches activities from tiles, use TileService#startActivityAndCollapse(PendingIntent) instead.

Privacy

Partial access to photos and videos

Android 14 introduces Selected Photos Access, which allows users to grant apps access to specific images and videos in their library, rather than granting access to all media of a given type.

This change is only enabled if your app targets Android 14 (API level 34) or higher. If you don't use the photo picker yet, we recommend implementing it in your app to provide a consistent experience for selecting images and videos that also enhances user privacy without having to request any storage permissions.

If you maintain your own gallery picker using storage permissions and need to maintain full control over your implementation, adapt your implementation to use the new READ_MEDIA_VISUAL_USER_SELECTED permission. If your app doesn't use the new permission, the system runs your app in a compatibility mode.

User experience

Secure full-screen Intent notifications

With Android 11 (API level 30), it was possible for any app to use Notification.Builder.setFullScreenIntent to send full-screen intents while the phone is locked. You could auto-grant this on app install by declaring USE_FULL_SCREEN_INTENT permission in the AndroidManifest.

Full-screen intent notifications are designed for extremely high-priority notifications demanding the user's immediate attention, such as an incoming phone call or alarm clock settings configured by the user. For apps targeting Android 14 (API level 34) or higher, apps that are allowed to use this permission are limited to those that provide calling and alarms only. The Google Play Store revokes default USE_FULL_SCREEN_INTENT permissions for any apps that don't fit this profile. The deadline for these policy changes is May 31, 2024.

This permission remains enabled for apps installed on the phone before the user updates to Android 14. Users can turn this permission on and off.

You can use the new API NotificationManager.canUseFullScreenIntent to check if your app has the permission; if not, your app can use the new intent ACTION_MANAGE_APP_USE_FULL_SCREEN_INTENT to launch the settings page where users can grant the permission.

Security

Restrictions to implicit and pending intents

For apps targeting Android 14 (API level 34) or higher, Android restricts apps from sending implicit intents to internal app components in the following ways:

• Implicit intents are only delivered to exported components. Apps must either use an explicit intent to deliver to unexported components, or mark the component as exported.
• If an app creates a mutable pending intent with an intent that doesn't specify a component or package, the system throws an exception.

These changes prevent malicious apps from intercepting implicit intents that are intended for use by an app's internal components.

For example, here is an intent filter that could be declared in your app's manifest file:

<activity
    android:name=".AppActivity"
    android:exported="false">
    <intent-filter>
        <action android:name="com.example.action.APP_ACTION" />
        <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
    </intent-filter>
</activity>

If your app tried to launch this activity using an implicit intent, an ActivityNotFoundException exception would be thrown:

// Throws an ActivityNotFoundException exception when targeting Android 14.
context.startActivity(Intent("com.example.action.APP_ACTION"))

// Throws an ActivityNotFoundException exception when targeting Android 14.
context.startActivity(new Intent("com.example.action.APP_ACTION"));

To launch the non-exported activity, your app should use an explicit intent instead:

// This makes the intent explicit.
val explicitIntent =
        Intent("com.example.action.APP_ACTION")
explicitIntent.apply {
    package = context.packageName
}
context.startActivity(explicitIntent)

// This makes the intent explicit.
Intent explicitIntent =
        new Intent("com.example.action.APP_ACTION")
explicitIntent.setPackage(context.getPackageName());
context.startActivity(explicitIntent);

Runtime-registered broadcasts receivers must specify export behavior

Apps and services that target Android 14 (API level 34) or higher and use context-registered receivers are required to specify a flag to indicate whether or not the receiver should be exported to all other apps on the device: either RECEIVER_EXPORTED or RECEIVER_NOT_EXPORTED, respectively. This requirement helps protect apps from security vulnerabilities by leveraging the features for these receivers introduced in Android 13.

Exception for receivers that receive only system broadcasts

If your app is registering a receiver only for system broadcasts through Context#registerReceiver methods, such as Context#registerReceiver(), then it shouldn't specify a flag when registering the receiver.

Safer dynamic code loading

If your app targets Android 14 (API level 34) or higher and uses Dynamic Code Loading (DCL), all dynamically-loaded files must be marked as read-only. Otherwise, the system throws an exception. We recommend that apps avoid dynamically loading code whenever possible, as doing so greatly increases the risk that an app can be compromised by code injection or code tampering.

If you must dynamically load code, use the following approach to set the dynamically-loaded file (such as a DEX, JAR, or APK file) as read-only as soon as the file is opened and before any content is written:

val jar = File("DYNAMICALLY_LOADED_FILE.jar")
val os = FileOutputStream(jar)
os.use {
    // Set the file to read-only first to prevent race conditions
    jar.setReadOnly()
    // Then write the actual file content
}
val cl = PathClassLoader(jar, parentClassLoader)

File jar = new File("DYNAMICALLY_LOADED_FILE.jar");
try (FileOutputStream os = new FileOutputStream(jar)) {
    // Set the file to read-only first to prevent race conditions
    jar.setReadOnly();
    // Then write the actual file content
} catch (IOException e) { ... }
PathClassLoader cl = new PathClassLoader(jar, parentClassLoader);

Handle dynamically-loaded files that already exist

To prevent exceptions from being thrown for existing dynamically-loaded files, we recommend deleting and recreating the files before you try to dynamically load them again in your app. As you recreate the files, follow the preceding guidance for marking the files read-only at write time. Alternatively, you can re-label the existing files as read-only, but in this case, we strongly recommend that you verify the integrity of the files first (for example, by checking the file's signature against a trusted value), to help protect your app from malicious actions.

Additional restrictions on starting activities from the background

For apps targeting Android 14 (API level 34) or higher, the system further restricts when apps are allowed to start activities from the background:

• When an app sends a PendingIntent using PendingIntent#send() or similar methods, the app must opt in if it wants to grant its own background activity launch privileges to start the pending intent. To opt in, the app should pass an ActivityOptions bundle with setPendingIntentBackgroundActivityStartMode(MODE_BACKGROUND_ACTIVITY_START_ALLOWED).
• When a visible app binds a service of another app that's in the background using the bindService() method, the visible app must now opt in if it wants to grant its own background activity launch privileges to the bound service. To opt in, the app should include the BIND_ALLOW_ACTIVITY_STARTS flag when calling the bindService() method.

These changes expand the existing set of restrictions to protect users by preventing malicious apps from abusing APIs to start disruptive activities from the background.

Zip path traversal

For apps targeting Android 14 (API level 34) or higher, Android prevents the Zip Path Traversal Vulnerability in the following way: ZipFile(String) and ZipInputStream.getNextEntry() throws a ZipException if zip file entry names contain ".." or start with "/".

Apps can opt-out from this validation by calling dalvik.system.ZipPathValidator.clearCallback().

User consent required for each MediaProjection capture session

For apps targeting Android 14 (API level 34) or higher, a SecurityException is thrown by MediaProjection#createVirtualDisplay in either of the following scenarios:

• Your app caches the Intent that is returned from MediaProjectionManager#createScreenCaptureIntent, and passes it multiple times to MediaProjectionManager#getMediaProjection.
• Your app invokes MediaProjection#createVirtualDisplay multiple times on the same MediaProjection instance.

Your app must ask the user to give consent before each capture session. A single capture session is a single invocation on MediaProjection#createVirtualDisplay, and each MediaProjection instance must be used only once.

Handle configuration changes

If your app needs to invoke MediaProjection#createVirtualDisplay to handle configuration changes (such as the screen orientation or screen size changing), you can follow these steps to update the VirtualDisplay for the existing MediaProjection instance:

1. Invoke VirtualDisplay#resize with the new width and height.
2. Provide a new Surface with the new width and height to VirtualDisplay#setSurface.

Register a callback

Your app should register a callback to handle cases where the user doesn't grant consent to continue a capture session. To do this, implement Callback#onStop and have your app release any related resources (such as the VirtualDisplay and Surface).

If your app doesn't register this callback, MediaProjection#createVirtualDisplay throws an IllegalStateException when your app invokes it.

Updated non-SDK restrictions

Android 14 includes updated lists of restricted non-SDK interfaces based on collaboration with Android developers and the latest internal testing. Whenever possible, we make sure that public alternatives are available before we restrict non-SDK interfaces.

If your app does not target Android 14, some of these changes might not immediately affect you. However, while you can currently use some non-SDK interfaces (depending on your app's target API level), using any non-SDK method or field always carries a high risk of breaking your app.

If you are unsure if your app uses non-SDK interfaces, you can test your app to find out. If your app relies on non-SDK interfaces, you should begin planning a migration to SDK alternatives. Nevertheless, we understand that some apps have valid use cases for using non-SDK interfaces. If you cannot find an alternative to using a non-SDK interface for a feature in your app, you should request a new public API.

To learn more about the changes in this release of Android, see Updates to non-SDK interface restrictions in Android 14. To learn more about non-SDK interfaces generally, see Restrictions on non-SDK interfaces.