Android Studio: How to write a ringtone / notification / alarm audio file to storage and see it in the settings

Question

So this functionality was working previously, but I guess somewhere when I upgraded versions, it does not anymore.

I want to create dynamically an audio file (this is working), and copy it to the storage (this is working, it is currently copied to my local app storage :

• Android/data/com.mypackagename/files/xxx.mp3

Then I create a new ContentValues with the data & metadata and insert it into MediaStore.Audio.Media.EXTERNAL_CONTENT_URI.

After that I set ringtone and launch ringtone picker to check:

RingtoneManager.setActualDefaultRingtoneUri(_instance, RingtoneManager.TYPE_RINGTONE, newUri);
Intent intent = new Intent(RingtoneManager.ACTION_RINGTONE_PICKER);intent.putExtra(RingtoneManager.EXTRA_RINGTONE_EXISTING_URI, newUri);                  
intent.putExtra(RingtoneManager.EXTRA_RINGTONE_DEFAULT_URI, newUri);
startActivityForResult(intent, 1);

But the ringtone set is only the ID of the media, not the name, and I can't find it in the list..

I though the Media wasn't scanned, so i tried this beforehand:

Intent scanFileIntent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_MEDIA_SCANNER_SCAN_FILE, newUri);
sendBroadcast(scanFileIntent);

I'm not really sure what this does, but it didn't helped.

Any clues what's going on with the current status of creating ringtone with Android Studio ?

Answer 1

So here was my error. I needed to correct some things in my Manifest to get the rights permissions:

//Without this folders will be inaccessible in Android-11 and above devices
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.MANAGE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" />

//Without this entry storage-permission entry will not be visible under app-info permissions list Android-10 and below
<uses-permission
android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE"
android:maxSdkVersion="29"
tools:ignore="ScopedStorage"/>

//Without this entry the folders will remain in-accessible in Android-10, even if WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE as above is present.
<application
    android:requestLegacyExternalStorage="true"/>

The Ringtones external root folder is not accessible from basic WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permissions anymore. We have access to app specific external folder, & others (link).

Even the Media store does not give you access to this folder, so from Android 11 & forward, you need the MANAGE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission, that gives you this warning:

Most apps are not allowed to use MANAGE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE. Because you need to ask for this permission to the user, and he might refuse..

But if you want to do what I wanted to do, you'll need it..

Be sure that your app ask for the permission through:

// permission: Manifest.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE
// permission_id: 1
public Boolean checkPermission(String permission, Integer permission_id) {
    if (ContextCompat.checkSelfPermission(_instance, permission) != PackageManager.PERMISSION_GRANTED) {
        ActivityCompat.requestPermissions(_instance, new String[]{permission}, permission_id);
        return false;
    } else {
        return true;
    }
}