Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

Dev.SN ♥ developers

Android 4.4 Disables SD Card Access for Apps

posted by Dopefish on Wednesday February 19 2014, @08:00AM   Printer-friendly
from the my-way-or-the-highway dept.
quadrox writes:

"It used to be possible for Android apps to access any kind of storage on an android device through the WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission. Writing to the SD card is useful for many different kinds of apps, e.g. file managers or cloud storage synchronization. However, the latest version of Android will no longer allow apps to write anywhere on external storage media, instead apps will only be allowed to access app-specific folders on SD cards. Android Police has an excellent writeup of the changes and the implications for users."

[ED Note: This is bound to irritate power users that rely on their SD cards for additional device storage.]

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Android 4.4 Disables SD Card Access for Apps | Log In/Create an Account | Top | 1000 moderator points   | 88 comments | Search Discussion
Display Options Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

  • (Score: 1) by animal on Wednesday February 19 2014, @10:38AM

    by animal (202) on Wednesday February 19 2014, @10:38AM (#2481)

    I think it's actually good. Good for the average joe user. Malware wont be able to erase/modify contents on the SD. As for the rest of the power users, who doesn't have his/her smartphone rooted? Not really a big deal.

  • (Score: 1) by hemocyanin on Wednesday February 19 2014, @12:51PM

    by hemocyanin (186) on Wednesday February 19 2014, @12:51PM (#2597)

    I don't have mine rooted. I live in an area where I don't get cell coverage except from a specific point in the kitchen. As a result, I make extensive use of TMobile's wi-fi calling feature which makes my phone perfectly functional as a phone even when I can't get signal from the tower. If I rooted my phone, I couldn't use that feature. I suppose there are other VOIP options, but then I'd have to pay extra for a third party VOIP provider, maybe have to deal with a second number too.