Android 11 (R) return empty list when querying intent for ACTION_IMAGE_CAPTURE

Question

Device: Emulator pixel 3a - Android 11

Code:

    final List<Intent> cameraIntents = new ArrayList<Intent>();
    final Intent captureIntent = new Intent(MediaStore.ACTION_IMAGE_CAPTURE);
    final List<ResolveInfo> listCam = 
    context.getPackageManager().queryIntentActivities(captureIntent, 0);

When using:

targetSdkVersion 30
compileSdkVersion 30

listCam size is 0

and when changing to:

compileSdkVersion 29

listCam size is 1 - as it should be.

Using the following code:

    val captureIntent = Intent(MediaStore.ACTION_IMAGE_CAPTURE)
    baseActivity.startActivity(captureIntent)

Works fine and shows the camera app.

Any idea why queryIntentActivities is not returning the camera intent?

Thanks!

Answer 1

Android 11 changes how apps can query and interact with other apps.

From the docs:

The PackageManager methods that return results about other apps, such as queryIntentActivities(), are filtered based on the calling app's <queries> declaration.

So you need to declare <queries> in your AndroidManifest.xml:

<manifest package="com.example">
    <queries>
        <intent>
            <action android:name="android.media.action.IMAGE_CAPTURE" />
        </intent>
    </queries>
    ...
</manifest>