Photo Picker API Across Android Versions
Article Summary
Yacine Rezgui from Google just solved one of Android's biggest photo picker headaches. Developers can now ship a single, permission-free implementation that works all the way back to KitKat.
Google's Developer Relations team announced major updates to Android's Photo Picker API. The feature, originally launched last year for privacy-conscious media selection, now supports devices running Android 4.4+ through a backported Google Play Services module. This eliminates the fragmentation nightmare developers faced when implementing photo selection across Android versions.
Key Takeaways
- Photo Picker now works on Android 4.4+ via Google Play Services backport
- Requires less than 10 lines of code, zero storage permissions needed
- GET_CONTENT intent automatically redirects to Photo Picker for image/video types
- Cloud storage provider support (like Google Photos) coming later this year
- Single code path replaces complex MediaStore queries and permission handling
Android's Photo Picker API now covers 99%+ of active devices with a single, permission-free implementation that takes under 10 lines of code.
About This Article
Supporting a photo picker across different Android versions was expensive for developers. Older devices didn't have native support, so teams had to write separate code paths for each version.
Google released ActivityX 1.7.0 with a backported photo picker module through Google Play Services. This lets developers use the same code on every Android version from KitKat onward.
Developers now maintain one code path instead of dealing with complex MediaStore queries and permission logic. The whole implementation takes fewer than 10 lines of code across Android.
