Is it possible to add a network configuration on Android Q?

Question

Background

I've noticed that in WifiManager class there is a function called addNetwork, that might be useful if I want to restore or save networks information (network name AKA SSID, together with the password and the type), so that I could also connect to it.

The problem

I can't find much information about how to do such a thing. I've seen various examples on StackOverflow, and if I target Android API 28 (or below), I indeed succeed to make it add a network and even connect to it.

When targeting Android 29 (Android Q), however, it fails to add the network.

What I've found

Since I'm trying on Pixel 2 with Android Q beta 4, I think that maybe it's because addNetwork is deprecated, so the docs even say so, and that if I target Android Q, it won't work, and indeed it doesn't work:

Compatibility Note: For applications targeting Build.VERSION_CODES.Q or above, this API will always return -1.

The way it seems it should work up till Android Q (excluding), is by preparing WifiConfiguration and adding it. Later I can also connect to it if I wish. On Android Q, it seems it was replaced by WifiNetworkSuggestion, but it doesn't seem like it's about adding a network at all:

The Network Suggestion object is used to provide a Wi-Fi network for consideration when auto-connecting to networks. Apps cannot directly create this object, they must use WifiNetworkSuggestion.Builder#build() to obtain an instance of this object.

Apps can provide a list of such networks to the platform using WifiManager#addNetworkSuggestions(List).

Here's my current code, for pre-Android-Q

@WorkerThread
fun addNetwork(context: Context, networkName: String, networkPassword: String? = null, keyMgmt: Int = WifiConfiguration.KeyMgmt.NONE) {
    val wifiManager = context.getSystemService(Context.WIFI_SERVICE) as WifiManager
    val conf = WifiConfiguration()
    conf.SSID = "\"$networkName\""
    conf.preSharedKey = if (networkPassword.isNullOrEmpty()) "" else "\"$networkPassword\""
    conf.allowedKeyManagement.set(keyMgmt)
    when (keyMgmt) {
        WifiConfiguration.KeyMgmt.WPA_PSK -> {
            //WPA/WPA2
        }
        WifiConfiguration.KeyMgmt.IEEE8021X -> {
        }
        WifiConfiguration.KeyMgmt.WPA_EAP -> {
        }
        WifiConfiguration.KeyMgmt.NONE -> {
            if (networkPassword.isNullOrEmpty()) {
                //open network
                conf.wepKeys[0] = "\"\""
            } else {
                //wep
                conf.wepKeys[0] = "\"" + networkPassword + "\""
                conf.wepTxKeyIndex = 0
                conf.allowedGroupCiphers.set(WifiConfiguration.GroupCipher.WEP40)
            }
        }
    }
    if (networkPassword.isNullOrEmpty()) {
        //open network
        conf.allowedKeyManagement.set(WifiConfiguration.KeyMgmt.NONE)
    } else {
    }
    wifiManager.isWifiEnabled = true
    while (!wifiManager.pingSupplicant()) {
        Log.d("AppLog", "waiting to be able to add network")
    }
    val networkId = wifiManager.addNetwork(conf)
    if (networkId == -1)
        Log.d("AppLog", "failed to add network")
    else {
        wifiManager.enableNetwork(networkId, false)
        Log.d("AppLog", "success to add network")
    }
}

Seems it requires only these permissions:

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

But in any case, this works as long as you don't target Android Q (API 29) and above. When you target it, I indeed always get "-1" as a result, meaning it fails.

I've also found an issue on the issue tracker (here and I wrote about it here), telling about someone that needs the API back, but I'm not sure it's about adding a network.

Looking at WifiNetworkSuggestion, I don't see that it has as many things to set as WifiConfiguration via its builder, so this is another reason for why I suspect it's not about adding a network.

But I tried anyway. Here's the code I've tried, for example, to add a normal WPA network:

@WorkerThread
fun addNetworkAndroidQ(context: Context, networkName: String, networkPassword: String? = null) {
    val wifiManager = context.getSystemService(Context.WIFI_SERVICE) as WifiManager
    val list = ArrayList<WifiNetworkSuggestion>()
    val builder = WifiNetworkSuggestion.Builder().setSsid(networkName)
    if (!networkPassword.isNullOrEmpty())
        builder.setWpa2Passphrase(networkPassword)
    list.add(builder.build())
    val result = wifiManager.addNetworkSuggestions(list)
    if (result == WifiManager.STATUS_NETWORK_SUGGESTIONS_SUCCESS)
        Log.d("AppLog", "success")
    else Log.d("AppLog", "failed")
}

When running (I gave it my Wifi network details, after making the OS forget about it), it says it succeeded, but nothing occurred on the OS's Wifi settings. The network doesn't exist there with the password I've added. So I really don't get what it did...

After a few long seconds, I've noticed a notification asking me if it's ok to connect to the suggested networks made by the app:

But still when I chose that I accept, it didn't do anything, as before.

I tried to make another POC, thinking I might have done it incorrectly, but then it didn't even show the notification. Since I think this whole behavior is a bug, I've reported about it here.

Not only that, but I've found out that if indeed it is supposed to add a network one way or another, it still has some serious restrictions, such as max added networks (here) and being removed upon uninstall of the app (here)

The questions

1. How should Android Q be handled exactly? Is there really no API anymore to add a network?

2. If WifiNetworkSuggestion is not about adding a network, what is it really used for exactly?

3. Since I'm not familiar enough with the tidbits of adding a network, is my code correct about all possible ways to add a network? I ask this because someone wrote here that people should enable Wifi and make sure pingSupplicant returns true. Is it true? Or would it be enough to just call addNetwork ?

4. If it's now impossible to add a network using the normal API, is there maybe a solution by using a rooted device instead? Maybe some adb command?

Answer 1

I wish I had answers to all of your questions because I'm currently struggling with similar issues.

After many hours I was finally able to connect to the desired network using this approach:

val wifiNetworkSpecifier = WifiNetworkSpecifier.Builder()
    .setSsid(ssid)
    .setWpa2Passphrase(passphrase)
    .setBssid(mac)
    .build()

val networkRequest = NetworkRequest.Builder()
    .addTransportType(NetworkCapabilities.TRANSPORT_WIFI)
    .setNetworkSpecifier(wifiNetworkSpecifier)
    .build()

val connectivityManager = applicationContext.getSystemService(Context.CONNECTIVITY_SERVICE) as ConnectivityManager?

connectivityManager?.requestNetwork(networkRequest, ConnectivityManager.NetworkCallback())

You can receive a whole host of events through the ConnectivityManager.NetworkCallback().