Behavior changes: all apps

The Android 17 platform includes behavior changes that might affect your app. The following behavior changes apply to all apps when they run on Android 17, regardless of targetSdkVersion. You should test your app and then modify it as needed to support these changes, where applicable.

Make sure to also review the list of behavior changes that only affect apps targeting Android 17.

Security

Android 17 includes the following improvements to device and app security.

usesClearTraffic deprecation plan

In a future release, we plan to deprecate the usesCleartextTraffic element. Apps that need to make unencrypted (HTTP) connections should migrate to using a network security configuration file, which lets you specify which domains your app needs to make cleartext connections to.

Be aware that network security configuration files are only supported on API levels 24 and higher. If your app has a minimum API level lower than 24, you should do both of the following:

  • Set the usesCleartextTraffic attribute to true
  • Use a network configuration file

If your app's minimum API level is 24 or higher, you can use a network configuration file and you don't need to set usesCleartextTraffic.

Restrict implicit URI grants

Currently, if an app launches an intent with a URI that has the action Send, SendMultiple, or ImageCapture, the system automatically grants the read and write URI permissions to the target app. We plan to change this behavior in Android 18. For this reason, we recommend that apps explicitly grant the relevant URI permissions instead of relying on the system to grant them.

Per-app keystore limits

Apps should avoid creating excessive numbers of keys in Android Keystore, because it is a shared resource for all apps on the device. Beginning with Android 17, the system enforces a limit on the number of keys an app can own. The limit is 50,000 keys for non-system apps targeting Android 17 (API level 37) or higher, and 200,000 keys for all other apps. System apps have a limit of 200,000 keys, regardless of which API level they target.

If an app attempts to create keys beyond the limit, the creation fails with a KeyStoreException. The exception's message string contains information about the key limit. If the app calls getNumericErrorCode() on the exception, the return value depends on what API level the app targets:

  • Apps targeting Android 17 (API level 37) or higher: getNumericErrorCode() returns the new ERROR_TOO_MANY_KEYS value.
  • All other apps: getNumericErrorCode() returns ERROR_INCORRECT_USAGE.

User experience and system UI

Android 17 includes the following changes that are intended to create a more consistent, intuitive user experience.

Restoring default IME visibility after rotation

Beginning with Android 17, when the device's configuration changes (for example, through rotation), and this is not handled by the app itself, the previous IME visibility is not restored.

If your app undergoes a configuration change that it does not handle, and the app needs the keyboard to be visible after the change, you must explicitly request this. You can make this request in one of the following ways:

  • Set the android:windowSoftInputMode attribute to stateAlwaysVisible.
  • Programmatically request the soft keyboard in your activity's onCreate() method, or add the onConfigurationChanged() method.

Human input

Android 17 includes the following changes that affect how apps interact with human input devices like keyboards and touchpads.

Touchpads deliver relative events by default during pointer capture

Beginning with Android 17, if an app requests pointer capture using View.requestPointerCapture() and the user uses a touchpad, the system recognizes pointer movement and scrolling gestures from the user's touches and reports them to the app in the same way as pointer and scroll wheel movements from a captured mouse. In most cases, this removes the need for apps that support captured mice to add special handling logic for touchpads. For more details, see the documentation for View.POINTER_CAPTURE_MODE_RELATIVE.

Previously, the system did not attempt to recognize gestures from the touchpad, and instead delivered the raw, absolute finger locations to the app in a similar format to touchscreen touches. If an app still requires this absolute data, it should call the new View.requestPointerCapture(int) method with View.POINTER_CAPTURE_MODE_ABSOLUTE instead.

Media

Android 17 includes the following changes to media behavior.

Background audio hardening

Beginning with Android 17, the audio framework enforces restrictions on background audio interactions including audio playback, audio focus requests, and volume change APIs to ensure that these changes are started intentionally by the user.

If the app tries to call audio APIs while the app is not in a valid lifecycle, the audio playback and volume change APIs fail silently without throwing an exception or providing a failure message. The audio focus API fails with the result code AUDIOFOCUS_REQUEST_FAILED.

For more information, including mitigation strategies, see Background audio hardening.

Connectivity

Android 17 includes the following changes to enhance device connectivity.

Autonomous re-pairing for Bluetooth bond losses

Android 17 introduces autonomous re-pairing, a system-level enhancement designed to automatically resolve Bluetooth bond loss.

Previously, if a bond was lost, users had to manually navigate to Settings to unpair and then re-pair the peripheral. This feature builds upon the security improvement of Android 16 by allowing the system to re-establish bonds in the background without requiring users to manually navigate to Settings to unpair and re-pair peripherals.

While most apps will not require code changes, developers should be aware of the following behavior changes in Bluetooth stack:

  • New pairing context: The ACTION_PAIRING_REQUEST now includes the EXTRA_PAIRING_CONTEXT extra which allows apps to distinguish between a standard pairing request and an autonomous system-initiated re-pairing attempt.
  • Conditional key updates: Existing security keys will only be replaced if the re-pairing is successful and new connection meets or exceeds the security level of the previous bond.
  • Modified intent timing: The ACTION_KEY_MISSING intent is now broadcast only if the autonomous re-pairing attempt fails. This reduces unnecessary error handling in the app if the system successfully recovers the bond in the background.
  • User notification: The system manages re-pairing via new UI notifications and dialogs. Users will be prompted to confirm the re-pairing attempt to ensure they are aware of the reconnection.

Peripheral device manufacturers and companion app developers should verify that hardware and app gracefully handle bond transitions. To test this behavior, simulate a remote bond loss using either of the following methods:

  • Manually remove the bond information from the peripheral device
  • Manually unpair the device in: Settings > Connected devices