Like previous releases, Android 14 includes behavior changes that might affect your app. The following behavior changes apply exclusively to apps that are targeting Android 14 (API level 34) or higher. If your app is targeting Android 14 or higher, you should modify your app to support these behaviors properly, where applicable.
Be sure to also review the list of behavior changes that affect all apps
running on Android 14 regardless of
the app's targetSdkVersion
.
Core functionality
Foreground service types are required
If your app targets Android 14 (API level 34) or higher, it must specify at least one foreground service type for each foreground service within your app. You should choose a foreground service type that represents your app's use case. The system expects foreground services that have a particular type to satisfy a particular use case.
If a use case in your app isn't associated with any of these types, it's strongly recommended that you migrate your logic to use WorkManager or user-initiated data transfer jobs.
Enforcement of BLUETOOTH_CONNECT permission in BluetoothAdapter
Android 14 enforces the BLUETOOTH_CONNECT
permission when calling the
BluetoothAdapter
getProfileConnectionState()
method for apps targeting
Android 14 (API level 34) or higher.
This method already required the BLUETOOTH_CONNECT
permission, but it was not
enforced. Make sure your app declares BLUETOOTH_CONNECT
in your app's
AndroidManifest.xml
file as shown in the following snippet and check that
a user has granted the permission before calling
getProfileConnectionState
.
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.BLUETOOTH_CONNECT" />
OpenJDK 17 updates
Android 14 continues the work of refreshing Android's core libraries to align with the features in the latest OpenJDK LTS releases, including both library updates and Java 17 language support for app and platform developers.
A few of these changes can affect app compatibility:
- Changes to regular expressions: Invalid group references are now
disallowed to more closely follow the semantics of OpenJDK. You might see
new cases where an
IllegalArgumentException
is thrown by thejava.util.regex.Matcher
class, so make sure to test your app for areas that use regular expressions. To enable or disable this change while testing, toggle theDISALLOW_INVALID_GROUP_REFERENCE
flag using the compatibility framework tools. - UUID handling: The
java.util.UUID.fromString()
method now does more strict checks when validating the input argument, so you might see anIllegalArgumentException
during deserialization. To enable or disable this change while testing, toggle theENABLE_STRICT_VALIDATION
flag using the compatibility framework tools. - ProGuard issues: In some cases, the addition of the
java.lang.ClassValue
class causes an issue if you try to shrink, obfuscate, and optimize your app using ProGuard. The problem originates with a Kotlin library that changes runtime behaviour based on whetherClass.forName("java.lang.ClassValue")
returns a class or not. If your app was developed against an older version of the runtime without thejava.lang.ClassValue
class available, then these optimizations might remove thecomputeValue
method from classes derived fromjava.lang.ClassValue
.
JobScheduler reinforces callback and network behavior
Since its introduction, JobScheduler expects your app to return from
onStartJob
or onStopJob
within a few seconds. Prior to Android 14,
if a job runs too long, the job is stopped and fails silently.
If your app targets Android 14 (API level 34) or higher and
exceeds the granted time on the main thread, the app triggers an ANR
with the error message "No response to onStartJob
" or
"No response to onStopJob
".
This ANR may be a result of 2 scenarios:
1. There is work blocking the main thread, preventing the callbacks onStartJob
or onStopJob
from executing and completing within the expected time limit.
2. The developer is running blocking work within the JobScheduler
callback onStartJob
or onStopJob
, preventing the callback from
completing within the expected time limit.
To address #1, you will need to further debug what is blocking the main thread
when the ANR occurs, you can do this using
ApplicationExitInfo#getTraceInputStream()
to get the tombstone
trace when the ANR occurs. If you're able to manually reproduce the ANR,
you can record a system trace and inspect the trace using either
Android Studio or Perfetto to better understand what is running on
the main thread when the ANR occurs.
Note that this can happen when using JobScheduler API directly
or using the androidx library WorkManager.
To address #2, consider migrating to WorkManager, which provides
support for wrapping any processing in onStartJob
or onStopJob
in an asynchronous thread.
JobScheduler
also introduces a requirement to declare the
ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE
permission if using setRequiredNetworkType
or
setRequiredNetwork
constraint. If your app does not declare the
ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE
permission when scheduling the job and is targeting
Android 14 or higher, it will result in a SecurityException
.
Tiles launch API
For apps targeting 14 and higher,
TileService#startActivityAndCollapse(Intent)
is deprecated and now throws
an exception when called. If your app launches activities from tiles, use
TileService#startActivityAndCollapse(PendingIntent)
instead.
Privacy
Partial access to photos and videos
Android 14 introduces Selected Photos Access, which allows users to grant apps access to specific images and videos in their library, rather than granting access to all media of a given type.
This change is only enabled if your app targets Android 14 (API level 34) or higher. If you don't use the photo picker yet, we recommend implementing it in your app to provide a consistent experience for selecting images and videos that also enhances user privacy without having to request any storage permissions.
If you maintain your own gallery picker using storage permissions and need to
maintain full control over your implementation, adapt your implementation
to use the new READ_MEDIA_VISUAL_USER_SELECTED
permission. If your app
doesn't use the new permission, the system runs your app in a compatibility
mode.
User experience
Secure full-screen Intent notifications
With Android 11 (API level 30), it was possible for any app to use
Notification.Builder.setFullScreenIntent
to send full-screen
intents while the phone is locked. You could auto-grant this on app install by
declaring USE_FULL_SCREEN_INTENT
permission in the
AndroidManifest.
Full-screen intent notifications are designed for extremely high-priority
notifications demanding the user's immediate attention, such as an incoming
phone call or alarm clock settings configured by the user. For apps targeting
Android 14 (API level 34) or higher, apps that are allowed to use this
permission are limited to those that provide calling and alarms only. The Google
Play Store revokes default USE_FULL_SCREEN_INTENT
permissions for any apps
that don't fit this profile. The deadline for these policy changes is May 31,
2024.
This permission remains enabled for apps installed on the phone before the user updates to Android 14. Users can turn this permission on and off.
You can use the new API
NotificationManager.canUseFullScreenIntent
to check if your app
has the permission; if not, your app can use the new intent
ACTION_MANAGE_APP_USE_FULL_SCREEN_INTENT
to launch the settings
page where users can grant the permission.
Security
Restrictions to implicit and pending intents
For apps targeting Android 14 (API level 34) or higher, Android restricts apps from sending implicit intents to internal app components in the following ways:
- Implicit intents are only delivered to exported components. Apps must either use an explicit intent to deliver to unexported components, or mark the component as exported.
- If an app creates a mutable pending intent with an intent that doesn't specify a component or package, the system throws an exception.
These changes prevent malicious apps from intercepting implicit intents that are intended for use by an app's internal components.
For example, here is an intent filter that could be declared in your app's manifest file:
<activity
android:name=".AppActivity"
android:exported="false">
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="com.example.action.APP_ACTION" />
<category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
</intent-filter>
</activity>
If your app tried to launch this activity using an implicit intent, an
ActivityNotFoundException
exception would be thrown:
Kotlin
// Throws an ActivityNotFoundException exception when targeting Android 14. context.startActivity(Intent("com.example.action.APP_ACTION"))
Java
// Throws an ActivityNotFoundException exception when targeting Android 14. context.startActivity(new Intent("com.example.action.APP_ACTION"));
To launch the non-exported activity, your app should use an explicit intent instead:
Kotlin
// This makes the intent explicit. val explicitIntent = Intent("com.example.action.APP_ACTION") explicitIntent.apply { package = context.packageName } context.startActivity(explicitIntent)
Java
// This makes the intent explicit. Intent explicitIntent = new Intent("com.example.action.APP_ACTION") explicitIntent.setPackage(context.getPackageName()); context.startActivity(explicitIntent);
Runtime-registered broadcasts receivers must specify export behavior
Apps and services that target Android 14 (API level 34) or higher and use
context-registered receivers are required to specify a flag
to indicate whether or not the receiver should be exported to all other apps on
the device: either RECEIVER_EXPORTED
or RECEIVER_NOT_EXPORTED
, respectively.
This requirement helps protect apps from security vulnerabilities by leveraging
the features for these receivers introduced in Android 13.
Exception for receivers that receive only system broadcasts
If your app is registering a receiver only for
system broadcasts through Context#registerReceiver
methods, such as Context#registerReceiver()
, then it
shouldn't specify a flag when registering the receiver.
Safer dynamic code loading
If your app targets Android 14 (API level 34) or higher and uses Dynamic Code Loading (DCL), all dynamically-loaded files must be marked as read-only. Otherwise, the system throws an exception. We recommend that apps avoid dynamically loading code whenever possible, as doing so greatly increases the risk that an app can be compromised by code injection or code tampering.
If you must dynamically load code, use the following approach to set the dynamically-loaded file (such as a DEX, JAR, or APK file) as read-only as soon as the file is opened and before any content is written:
Kotlin
val jar = File("DYNAMICALLY_LOADED_FILE.jar") val os = FileOutputStream(jar) os.use { // Set the file to read-only first to prevent race conditions jar.setReadOnly() // Then write the actual file content } val cl = PathClassLoader(jar, parentClassLoader)
Java
File jar = new File("DYNAMICALLY_LOADED_FILE.jar"); try (FileOutputStream os = new FileOutputStream(jar)) { // Set the file to read-only first to prevent race conditions jar.setReadOnly(); // Then write the actual file content } catch (IOException e) { ... } PathClassLoader cl = new PathClassLoader(jar, parentClassLoader);
Handle dynamically-loaded files that already exist
To prevent exceptions from being thrown for existing dynamically-loaded files, we recommend deleting and recreating the files before you try to dynamically load them again in your app. As you recreate the files, follow the preceding guidance for marking the files read-only at write time. Alternatively, you can re-label the existing files as read-only, but in this case, we strongly recommend that you verify the integrity of the files first (for example, by checking the file's signature against a trusted value), to help protect your app from malicious actions.
Additional restrictions on starting activities from the background
For apps targeting Android 14 (API level 34) or higher, the system further restricts when apps are allowed to start activities from the background:
- When an app sends a
PendingIntent
usingPendingIntent#send()
or similar methods, the app must opt in if it wants to grant its own background activity launch privileges to start the pending intent. To opt in, the app should pass anActivityOptions
bundle withsetPendingIntentBackgroundActivityStartMode(MODE_BACKGROUND_ACTIVITY_START_ALLOWED)
. - When a visible app binds a service of another app that's in the background
using the
bindService()
method, the visible app must now opt in if it wants to grant its own background activity launch privileges to the bound service. To opt in, the app should include theBIND_ALLOW_ACTIVITY_STARTS
flag when calling thebindService()
method.
These changes expand the existing set of restrictions to protect users by preventing malicious apps from abusing APIs to start disruptive activities from the background.
Zip path traversal
For apps targeting Android 14 (API level 34) or higher, Android prevents the Zip
Path Traversal Vulnerability in the following way:
ZipFile(String)
and
ZipInputStream.getNextEntry()
throws a
ZipException
if zip file entry names contain ".." or start
with "/".
Apps can opt-out from this validation by calling
dalvik.system.ZipPathValidator.clearCallback()
.
User consent required for each MediaProjection capture session
For apps targeting Android 14 (API level 34) or higher, a SecurityException
is
thrown by MediaProjection#createVirtualDisplay
in either of the following
scenarios:
- Your app caches the
Intent
that is returned fromMediaProjectionManager#createScreenCaptureIntent
, and passes it multiple times toMediaProjectionManager#getMediaProjection
. - Your app invokes
MediaProjection#createVirtualDisplay
multiple times on the sameMediaProjection
instance.
Your app must ask the user to give consent before each capture session. A single
capture session is a single invocation on
MediaProjection#createVirtualDisplay
, and each MediaProjection
instance must
be used only once.
Handle configuration changes
If your app needs to invoke MediaProjection#createVirtualDisplay
to handle
configuration changes (such as the screen orientation or screen size changing),
you can follow these steps to update the VirtualDisplay
for the existing
MediaProjection
instance:
- Invoke
VirtualDisplay#resize
with the new width and height. - Provide a new
Surface
with the new width and height toVirtualDisplay#setSurface
.
Register a callback
Your app should register a callback to handle cases where the user doesn't grant
consent to continue a capture session. To do this, implement
Callback#onStop
and have your app release any related resources (such as
the VirtualDisplay
and Surface
).
If your app doesn't register this callback,
MediaProjection#createVirtualDisplay
throws an IllegalStateException
when your app invokes it.
Updated non-SDK restrictions
Android 14 includes updated lists of restricted non-SDK interfaces based on collaboration with Android developers and the latest internal testing. Whenever possible, we make sure that public alternatives are available before we restrict non-SDK interfaces.
If your app does not target Android 14, some of these changes might not immediately affect you. However, while you can currently use some non-SDK interfaces (depending on your app's target API level), using any non-SDK method or field always carries a high risk of breaking your app.
If you are unsure if your app uses non-SDK interfaces, you can test your app to find out. If your app relies on non-SDK interfaces, you should begin planning a migration to SDK alternatives. Nevertheless, we understand that some apps have valid use cases for using non-SDK interfaces. If you cannot find an alternative to using a non-SDK interface for a feature in your app, you should request a new public API.
To learn more about the changes in this release of Android, see Updates to non-SDK interface restrictions in Android 14. To learn more about non-SDK interfaces generally, see Restrictions on non-SDK interfaces.