Since 2022, with Android 11, Google removed this access from app developers. Under their new package visibility policy, apps should only see other installed apps if it’s essential to their core functionality. Developers must also explicitly declare these apps in the AndroidManifest.xml file - a required configuration file for all Android apps.

For extremely specific use cases such as file managers, browsers or antivirus apps, Google grants an exception by allowing QUERY_ALL_PACKAGES permission, which provides full visibility into installed apps.

I don’t use Android as my primary phone, but I have a spare one and I was really curious to find out which apps from Indian companies had checks to see what other apps I had installed.

So I downloaded a few dozen Indian apps I could think of on top of my head and started reading their manifest files. Surely they will be respectful of my privacy and will only query apps essential to their app's core functionality? 🙃

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[–] WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.works 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)

checked the code and it just queries the package manager as usual.

it works because the system tries to maintain compatibility with apps made for older android versions (targetsdk). this app was built for api 29 (android 10), and the query apps permission gating was introduced in api 30 (android 11)

https://web.archive.org/web/20250331021341/https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/10158779?hl=en

the play store is strict about the min targetsdk allowed for new apps and updates, and while that is also a negative thing, api 29 cannot be targeted anymore for apps: https://web.archive.org/web/20250331021653/https://developer.android.com/google/play/requirements/target-sdk

[–] f4f4f4f4f4f4f4f4@sopuli.xyz 1 points 3 days ago

Good to know! I did see the "built for an older version of Android" warning in F-Droid. Thanks for your research!