[MediaElement] on Android : do we really need all those permissions ?

[Skarzag]

Hi,

I've implemented MediaElement on our app to play local video files.
Everything work as expected by following the documentation.

But with Android 14, Google ask us why do we need FOREGROUND_SERVICE_MEDIA_PLAYBACK.
So i'm asking myself, yes... why do we need that ?

We just want to play the video when the user is watching it, nothing more.

Do we need all those lines in our manifest to handle a simple video playing ?

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.FOREGROUND_SERVICE" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.POST_NOTIFICATIONS" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.MEDIA_CONTENT_CONTROL" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.FOREGROUND_SERVICE_MEDIA_PLAYBACK" />
<application android:allowBackup="false" android:label="Me&amp;MyTBM" android:icon="@mipmap/android_appicon">
	<service android:name="communityToolkit.maui.media.services" android:exported="false" android:enabled="true" android:foregroundServiceType="mediaPlayback">
		<intent-filter>
			<action android:name="android.intent.action.MEDIA_BUTTON" />
		</intent-filter>
		<intent-filter>
			<action android:name="androidx.media3.session.MediaSessionService" />
		</intent-filter>
	</service>

I know that i can simply deactivate those permissions and test it (doing it right now)... but i want to know why this seems mandatory in the tutorial. Also, this can help some other people with the same problem so let's make it public !

Thanks and sorry if my english is clunky

[pictos]

@Skarzag Docs are meant to instruct devs to use all the features. We expect devs to be able to judge which one they need for their app proposals.

[pictos]

@ne0rrmatrix would make sense to add those required permissions on our end and let the optional ones for users?

[ne0rrmatrix]

@pictos I think we need to decide if we want to allow the option of using the service and let the user decide if he needs the service. If we let them choose we can just disable it when not being used. If we do that ppl with conflicts can just go that route. If you want rich media notifications and want to have your app run in background use service. Otherwise they can disable it if not needed. It is pretty simple to implement. We would just have to decide how we want to do it? Do we want a builder option? or ?

[ne0rrmatrix]

To answer your question @pictos that would be a good idea. I would prefer it if we can just add permissions that way. We no longer need to ask for permission for notifications from user as google handles that itself. But it is still required in manifest. If we can push manifest changes from class library that would be great. I had no idea we had that option?

[pictos]

@ne0rrmatrix, IFAIK it's possible. You can do that using C#, for example

[assembly: UsesPermission(Manifest.Permission.Camera)]

[ne0rrmatrix]

I will look into that. TY. I prefer things that are plug and play. It would solve many issues that have been raised and reduce our workload with bug reports if implemented.