Android 13 - PackageInfo.requestedPermissions returns android.permission.POST_NOTIFICATIONS if targetted SDK is lower than 33

Question

I currently work on some applications that are not yet targetting Android 13 (targetSdk between 29 and 32) and we're actually encountering a weird behavior when these applications are running on Android 13 devices (everythings works correctly on Android < 13 devices) .

Even if my app declares no permission (brand new project, merged manifest shows no uses-permission tag), I get different results based on the targetSdk when I use the PackageInfo.requestedPermissions method :

• When targetting SDK < 33, the list contains one permission : android.permission.POST_NOTIFICATIONS
• When targetting SDK >= 33, the list contains no permission

I built a really simple app to demonstrate it :

@Composable
fun PermissionList() {
    val context = LocalContext.current

    // Retrieves current application requested permissions
    val permissions = context.packageManager.getPackageInfo(
        context.packageName, PackageManager.GET_PERMISSIONS
    ).requestedPermissions.asList()

    PermissionList(permissions = permissions)
}

@Composable
fun PermissionList(permissions: List<String>) {
    Column {
        permissions.forEach {
            Permission(it)
        }
    }
}

@Composable
fun Permission(permission: String) {
    Text(text = permission)
}

The interesting part is the following : val permissions = context.packageManager.getPackageInfo(context.packageName, PackageManager.GET_PERMISSIONS).requestedPermissions

Based on the SDK I'm targetting, I get different results :

• When targetting SDK < 33, the list contains one permission : android.permission.POST_NOTIFICATIONS
• When targetting SDK >= 33, the list contains no permission

Am I missing something about this android.permission.POST_NOTIFICATIONS permission ? Why does it disappears as soon as I target SDK >= 33 ?

Answer 1

Late answer, but I think this is because the POST_NOTIFICATIONS permission was introduced in API 33. If you don’t ask for this permission, then on an API 33 or above device the permission is not granted. That’s why you see no permissions. If you target 32 then this permission doesn’t exist so it is always granted (undefined means granted). But an API 33 device knows of this permission, checks if it is granted, and since the API doesn’t know this permission, it still always is granted. That’s how it works. And that is also part of the reason Google needs your apps to target higher API levels all the time.