Release Google Places Autocomplete Response - now declared as internal

Question

Recently upgrading Google API versions from 11.8.0 to 12.0.1 resulted in task.result.release() in my completion listener from Task<AutocompletePredictionBufferResponse> being marked as internal.

Should I handle the possibility of an internal data leak differently? Does the Google Places API now handle releasing the result itself? I cannot find information about this in the release notes for 12.0.0 or 12.0.1. The current documentation still says you must release the result.

Here is where I use it:

.addOnCompleteListener { task: Task<AutocompletePredictionBufferResponse> ->
    if (task.isSuccessful) {

        {...}

        //Release to avoid internal data leak
        task.result.release()
    } else {
        Log.e("AutoCompletePredictions", task.exception?.message)

        //Release to avoid internal data leak
        task.result.release()
    }
}
.addOnFailureListener(this@NewLocationActivity) {
    Log.e("AutoCompletePredictions", it.message)
}

This is the error message I am receiving:

zzb.release is marked as internal and should not be accessed from apps less... (⌘F1) This API has been flagged with a restriction that has not been met. Examples of API restrictions: * Method can only be invoked by a subclass * Method can only be accessed from within the same library (defined by the Gradle library group id) .* Method can only be accessed from tests. . You can add your own API restrictions with the @RestrictTo annotation.

The full getSuggestions() method in which I use the completion listener

private fun getSuggestions() {
    val filter = AutocompleteFilter.Builder()
        .setTypeFilter(AutocompleteFilter.TYPE_FILTER_ADDRESS)
        .setCountry(CountryManager.getCountryISO())
        .build()

    Places.getGeoDataClient(this@NewLocationActivity/*, null*/) // uncomment for v11.8.0
        .getAutocompletePredictions(
            activity_new_location_edit_text.text.toString(),
            null,
            filter
        )
        .addOnCompleteListener { task: Task<AutocompletePredictionBufferResponse> ->
            if (task.isSuccessful) {
                val addressList: ArrayList<String> = arrayListOf()

                var index = 0
                for(item in task.result) {
                    if(index >= MAX_SUGGESTION_RESULTS)
                        break

                    addressList.add(item.getFullText(null).toString())
                    index++
                }

                if(!(addressList.size == 1 && addressList[0] == activity_new_location_edit_text.text.toString()))
                    loadGoogleAddressesIntoSuggestionList(addressList)

                //Release to avoid internal data leak
                task.result.release()
            } else {
                Log.e("AutoCompletePredictions", task.exception?.message)

                //Release to avoid internal data leak
                task.result.release()
            }
        }
        .addOnFailureListener(this@NewLocationActivity) {
            Log.e("AutoCompletePredictions", it.message)
        }
}

Answer 1

Seems like an unintended change.

It started in 12.0.0, that has the following "known issue" in its release notes:

An annotation causes spurious lint errors claiming GoogleSignIn and CredentialsClient are internal-only. These can safely be ignored.

Guess they weren't only for GoogleSignIn and CredentialsClient, but they fixed only those in 12.0.1:

Fixes issue that caused spurious Android lint errors claiming GoogleSignIn and CredentialsClient were internal-only.

The corresponding source code of release() appears to be the same across versions 11.8.0-12.0.1, so i believe you can safely ignore these warnings.