Switched Keys

A couple weeks ago I discovered that Hoot, my word study app, was not working when accessing files in Android external storage. After some quick research I discovered that Android 10 and 11 don't allow access to external storage using the standard File API any more. That meant the card box system quit being functional. I quickly enabled the use of Internal storage for card boxes but it didn't carry over any of the card box information.

Most apps already use internal storage and don't have a problem with Android 11, but I designed Hoot so data would be uploadable and compatible.  With some modification the search database is compatible with the desktop version of Hoot, and the card box databases are compatible with the databases of Hoot desktop and Zyzzyva.

I did two other things to improve card box access. By adding a condition in Hoot 2.16 I enabled Android 10 to again access to external storage. For Android 11, the access is more limited. By adding a different condition in Hoot 2.17, when an Android 10 device is upgraded to Android 11, external storage will continue to work on Hoot if it was previously installed. If it is uninstalled, only internal storage is available.

What you can do.

1. If you want to continue using external card box databases, make sure Card box location is set to Storage, and avoid an upgrade to Android 11. You may be able to do that in your phone's settings, to not check for update automatically.
2. If you do foresee an upgrade to Android 11, consider using internal card boxes by setting Card box location to Internal in Settings.
3. If you never intend to use the card box databases elsewhere, you can also just use internal storage.

For new installs of Hoot on an Android 11 device, the search database and card box files are internal and not accessible outside of the app. The card box location then defaults to Internal. This does not allow you to use external search database, save results to file, import subject lists, import lexicons, or copy the database to external storage. You can, however, copy search results to clipboard and then open a text editor and paste there.

For card boxes this means

1. You can't upload and use Hoot desktop or Zyzzyva card boxes.
2. Card boxes are deleted when the app is uninstalled.

Rollout of Android 11 will continue throughout the year. You may be able to predict when it happens to you by looking at this website:  When will your phone get the Android 11 update?

I may add features to Hoot accommodate Google's new restrictions, but it will likely be a long time coming.