How to deal with removal of a permission for a broadcast receiver in Android M?

Question

I\'ve got some legacy code which I am making permission safe for Marshmallow.

There is a broadcast using the PHONE_STATE permission as follows:

Answer 1

Tried to reproduce the issue on 6.0.1 with no success. I'm attaching a link for the test project I used.
The scenario is simple:

1. Run with the permission ON. Everything works as expected. The onReceive is called.
2. Turn OFF the permission. The expected result of the app crashing when phone state changed, does not occur.

Unless anyone has a different result I think this issue is "solved" in a way.

Answer 2

As for the permission in Android Marsmallow you may want to check for permission before your receiver is called like this:

// Here, thisActivity is the current activity
if (ContextCompat.checkSelfPermission(thisActivity,
                Manifest.permission.PHONE_STATE)
        != PackageManager.PERMISSION_GRANTED) {

    // Should we show an explanation?
    if (ActivityCompat.shouldShowRequestPermissionRationale(thisActivity,
            Manifest.permission.PHONE_STATE)) {

        // Show an expanation to the user *asynchronously* -- don't block
        // this thread waiting for the user's response! After the user
        // sees the explanation, try again to request the permission.

    } else {

        // No explanation needed, we can request the permission.

        ActivityCompat.requestPermissions(thisActivity,
                new String[]{Manifest.permission.PHONE_STATE},
                MY_PERMISSIONS_REQUEST_PHONE_STATE);

        // MY_PERMISSIONS_REQUEST_READ_CONTACTS is an
        // app-defined int constant. The callback method gets the
        // result of the request.
    }
}

It is a late answer but i hope it helps someone!!!

Answer 3

The final version of Android M is not out yet (the final api is out, but not the platform code), so hopefully the platform will handle permission checking before calling your receiver.