How can I get the dreaded WRITE_SECURE_SETTINGS permission for my android app?

Question

I need to be able to toggle the GPS receiver on and off, and WRITE_SECURE_SETTINGS is required to be able to access secure settings. I've searched around quite a bit, and every answer I saw pretty much said that no app outside of the system/firmware can get that permisssion.

However, that is simply untrue. There are several apps on the market that do exactly what I'm trying to (in regards to GPS), but there are a bunch more that have the WRITE_SECURE_SETTINGS permissions. For example:

Extended Controls

SwitchPro

Profile Flow

So, how can this be done?

score 26 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 17 '11 at 20:32

26

I need to be able to toggle the GPS receiver on and off

For privacy reasons, if nothing else, enabling or disabling any sort of location-tracking needs to be solely in the hands of the user via trusted applications, not at the request of arbitrary third parties.

So, if you wish to enable and disable GPS, create your own firmware that does what you need and load that firmware on whatever devices you wish. Or, contribute your changes to existing firmware mods (e.g., Cyanogen).

WRITE_SECURE_SETTINGS is required to be able to access secure settings

Correct.

I've searched around quite a bit, and every answer I saw pretty much said that no app outside of the system/firmware can get that permisssion.

Correct.

However, that is simply untrue.

No, it's pretty true.

There are several apps on the market that do exactly what I'm trying to (in regards to GPS)

They found a security loophole. I will take steps to help ensure this hole gets fixed.

but there are a bunch more that have the WRITE_SECURE_SETTINGS permissions

No, there are a bunch who ask for them. You can ask for whatever permission you want. What you ask for is what shows up in these listings. What you get is a different story.

answered Feb 17 '11 at 20:32

CommonsWare

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Also, FWIW, Extended Controls (which I purchased) does not directly enable or disable GPS, but rather takes you to the Location and Security Settings page to toggle it yourself. – CommonsWare Feb 17 '11 at 20:34
But in my app, the user would be selecting the option -- just trying to save a bunch of steps of taking them to settings first. Wouldn't it make more sense if there was an extra setting in "Location and Security" (with a sternly worded warning, of course) that allows extrenal apps to control GPS? That way a user can choose ease-of-use over security or vice versa. – user496854 Feb 17 '11 at 21:42
And I'm sorry about Extended Controls, I meant Power Controls plus. I've gone through a bunch of them over the last few weeks, and got the two mixed up. – user496854 Feb 17 '11 at 21:44
@user496854: I don't disagree with your proposed feature (user whitelist of apps that can enable/disable GPS), but it's not there, nor is there anything quite like that in Android today. Feel free to post an issue to http://b.android.com if you like with your proposed feature. With respect to Extended Controls, it just happened to be one I already owned and could test readily. I tried buying SwitchPro to see what that did, but the Android Market was acting flaky for me. – CommonsWare Feb 17 '11 at 21:55
@CommonsWare Can you clarify what you mean by "What you ask for is what shows up in these listings?" Are you talking about the Android App Permissions listing that shows up before installing the app? – jwir3 Mar 24 '14 at 16:20
@jwir3: Yes, or the equivalent piece in the Web-based Play Store UI. – CommonsWare Mar 24 '14 at 16:26

score 21 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 07 '15 at 10:07

21

Try this adb command, this will give permission at application run time

adb shell pm grant package android.permission.WRITE_SECURE_SETTINGS

Step to follow:

Connect your device (Make sure USB Debugging enabled)
Execute above adb command
Install apk

It worked for me...

answered Jan 07 '15 at 10:07

Pradeep

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Are you saying that this will permanently grant this permission to the APK, or dill the command have to be run every time? – user496854 Jan 08 '15 at 13:13
Its not permanently given.. Execute this command every time build & run the code.. – Pradeep Jan 13 '15 at 10:05
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replace grant with revoke – Mike dg Oct 09 '17 at 19:00
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Still it throw like **java.lang.SecurityException: grantRuntimePermission: Neither user 2000 nor current process has android.permission.GRANT_RUNTIME_PERMISSIONS.** – Ashok kumar Ganesan Jun 24 '20 at 09:19

score 1 · Answer 3 · edited Oct 11 '12 at 10:46

1

Just this. You can access the widget that every mobile have.

public void ativaGPS() {
        LocationManager locationManager = (LocationManager)getSystemService(Context.LOCATION_SERVICE); 
        if (!locationManager.isProviderEnabled(LocationManager.GPS_PROVIDER)) {
            Intent intent = new Intent();
            intent.setClassName("com.android.settings", "com.android.settings.widget.SettingsAppWidgetProvider");
            intent.addCategory(Intent.CATEGORY_ALTERNATIVE);
            intent.setData(Uri.parse("3"));
            sendBroadcast(intent);
        }

edited Oct 11 '12 at 10:46

keyser

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answered Jul 23 '12 at 17:43

Gabriel Augusto

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This in the case of GPS. In the case of Network Location, I'm still searching a method to do that. – Gabriel Augusto Jul 23 '12 at 17:50
This only works in older versions of the OS. ICS and newer blocks it. – user496854 Jul 24 '12 at 16:20
Yes, but it works only on rooted phones, so it doesn't belong in this thread – user496854 Jul 26 '12 at 06:35

How can I get the dreaded WRITE_SECURE_SETTINGS permission for my android app?

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