Pick from Google Photos provider with ACTION_GET_CONTENT or OPEN_DOCUMENT

Question

I have no clue at why this happens, but I am not able to pick images from the Google Photos provider. Testing on API 27.

With ACTION_GET_CONTENT

If I use:<

Answer 1

I had the same problem, I could not get image URI from Google Photos with a ACTION_GET_CONTENT intent. The problem was related to launchMode of my activity. I could not find any reference to Android documentations. but this way the problem completely solved:

I had a single activity application and my ACTION_GET_CONTENT intent was something like this:

val intent = Intent(Intent.ACTION_GET_CONTENT).apply {
      type = "image/*"
}
startActivityForResult(intent, GALLERY_RESULT)

the problem was singleInstance launch mode in activity's definition in AndroidManifest.xml.

By removing the android:launchMode line the problem was solved. If your activity needs to be singleInstance, creating a dummy activity will be a good solution. here you can start a dummy activity for result and then do your Intent stuff inside its onCreate and then setResult() for your requested activity:

class ImagePickerActivity : AppCompatActivity() {

    override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)

        val intent = Intent(Intent.ACTION_GET_CONTENT).apply {
            type = "image/*"
        }

        if (intent.resolveActivity(packageManager!!) != null) {
            startActivityForResult(intent, GALLERY_RESULT)
        } else {
            Toast.makeText(
                this,
                "No Gallery APP installed",
                Toast.LENGTH_LONG
            ).show()
            finish()
        }

    }

    override fun onActivityResult(requestCode: Int, resultCode: Int, data: Intent?) {
        super.onActivityResult(requestCode, resultCode, data)
        //here data is resulted URI from ACTION_GET_CONTENT
        //and we pass it to our MainActivy using setResult
        setResult(resultCode, data)
        finish()
    }
}

and here is your code in your MainActivity:

gallery.setOnClickListener {
    startActivityForResult(
        Intent(requireActivity(), ImagePickerActivity::class.java),
        GALLERY_RESULT
    )
}