In this article, we will learn about Android14’s new permission that allows users to grant access to only selected media(Photos🖼️/Videos🎥), rather than the entire library.

This new permission allows users to grant partial access to media when our app is running on Android14 or higher

New permission dialog

• It has 3 options
• You will see the new option reflects what you requested. A user will be presented with the following dialog if they request photos.

The effects of declaring the new permission

By declaring READ_MEDIA_VISUAL_USER_SELECTED, we let the permission controller know that our app supports manual re-requests to select more media.

Effects on behavior

When we declare READ_MEDIA_VISUAL_USER_SELECTED this new permission and the user selects Select photos and videos(Select photos or Select videos):

• The READ_MEDIA_IMAGES and READ_MEDIA_VIDEO permissions are both denied 🛑
• The READ_MEDIA_VISUAL_USER_SELECTED permission is granted ✅, providing partial and temporary access to the user’s photos and videos(photos or videos)
• Later, if we need to access additional photos and videos, we must manually request READ_MEDIA_IMAGES or READ_MEDIA_VIDEO permissions (or both).

It’s time to see how it’s implemented

• Add the following permissions to the AndroidManifest.xml

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

// new permisison
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_MEDIA_VISUAL_USER_SELECTED" />

• Request permissions using ActivityResultContract

We need to request it with READ_MEDIA_IMAGES, READ_MEDIA_VIDEO , so that’s why we use RequestMultiplePermissions

val permissionLauncher =
    rememberLauncherForActivityResult(ActivityResultContracts.RequestMultiplePermissions()) { mapResults ->
        mapResults.forEach {
            Log.d(TAG, "Permission: ${it.key} Status: ${it.value}")
        }
        // check if any of the requested permissions is granted or not
        if (mapResults.values.any { it }) {
            // query the content resolver
            queryContentResolver(context) { listOfImages ->
                imageDataModelList = listOfImages
            }
        }
    }

• Launch permissions request flow

OutlinedButton(onClick = {
    permissionLauncher.launch(arrayOf(READ_MEDIA_IMAGES, READ_MEDIA_VISUAL_USER_SELECTED))
}) {
    Text("Allow to read all or select images")
}

Demo