1 page.title=<uses-feature> 2 page.tags="filtering","features","google play filters","permissions" 3 @jd:body 4 5 <div id="qv-wrapper"> 6 <div id="qv"> 7 8 9 <h2>In this document</h2> 10 <ol> 11 <li><a href="#market-feature-filtering">Google Play and Feature-Based Filtering</a> 12 <ol> 13 <li><a href="#declared">Filtering based on explicitly declared features</a></li> 14 <li><a href="#implicit">Filtering based on implicit features</a></li> 15 <li><a href="#bt-permission-handling">Special handling for Bluetooth feature</a></li> 16 <li><a href="#testing">Testing the features required by your application</a></li> 17 </ol> 18 </li> 19 <li><a href="#features-reference">Features Reference</a> 20 <ol> 21 <li><a href="#hw-features">Hardware features</a></li> 22 <li><a href="#sw-features">Software features</a></li> 23 <li><a href="#permissions">Permissions that Imply Feature Requirements</a></li> 24 </ol> 25 </li> 26 </ol> 27 </div> 28 </div> 29 30 <div class="sidebox-wrapper"> 31 <div class="sidebox"> 32 <img src="{@docRoot}assets/images/icon_play.png" style="float:left;margin:0;padding:0;"> 33 <p style="color:#669999;padding-top:1em;">Google Play Filtering</p> 34 <p style="padding-top:1em;">Google Play uses the <code><uses-feature></code> 35 elements declared in your app manifest to filter your app from devices 36 that do not meet it's hardware and software feature requirements. </p> 37 38 <p style="margin-top:1em;">By specifying the features that your application requires, 39 you enable Google Play to present your application only to users whose 40 devices meet the application's feature requirements, rather than presenting it 41 to all users. </p> 42 43 <p>For important information about how 44 Google Play uses features as the basis for filtering, please read <a 45 href="#market-feature-filtering">Google Play and Feature-Based Filtering</a>, 46 below.</p> 47 </div> 48 </div> 49 50 <dl class="xml"> 51 52 <dt>syntax:</dt> 53 <dd> 54 <pre class="stx"><uses-feature 55 android:<a href="#name">name</a>="<em>string</em>" 56 android:<a href="#required">required</a>=["true" | "false"] 57 android:<a href="#glEsVersion">glEsVersion</a>="<em>integer</em>" /></pre> 58 </dd> 59 60 <dt>contained in:</dt> 61 <dd><code><a 62 href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/manifest/manifest-element.html"><manifest></a></code></dd> 63 64 <dt>description:</dt> 65 <dd>Declares a single hardware or software feature that is used by the 66 application. 67 68 <p>The purpose of a <code><uses-feature></code> declaration is to inform 69 any external entity of the set of hardware and software features on which your 70 application depends. The element offers a <code>required</code> attribute that 71 lets you specify whether your application requires and cannot function without 72 the declared feature, or whether it prefers to have the feature but can function 73 without it. Because feature support can vary across Android devices, the 74 <code><uses-feature></code> element serves an important role in letting an 75 application describe the device-variable features that it uses.</p> 76 77 <p>The set of available features that your application declares corresponds to 78 the set of feature constants made available by the Android {@link 79 android.content.pm.PackageManager}, which are listed for 80 convenience in the <a href="#features-reference">Features Reference</a> tables 81 at the bottom of this document. 82 83 <p>You must specify each feature in a separate <code><uses-feature></code> 84 element, so if your application requires multiple features, it would declare 85 multiple <code><uses-feature></code> elements. For example, an application 86 that requires both Bluetooth and camera features in the device would declare 87 these two elements:</p> 88 89 <pre> 90 <uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.bluetooth" /> 91 <uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.camera" /> 92 </pre> 93 94 <p>In general, you should always make sure to declare 95 <code><uses-feature></code> elements for all of the features that your 96 application requires.</p> 97 98 <p>Declared <code><uses-feature></code> elements are informational only, meaning 99 that the Android system itself does not check for matching feature support on 100 the device before installing an application. However, other services 101 (such as Google Play) or applications may check your application's 102 <code><uses-feature></code> declarations as part of handling or interacting 103 with your application. For this reason, it's very important that you declare all of 104 the features (from the list below) that your application uses. </p> 105 106 <p>For some features, there may exist a specific attribute that allows you to define 107 a version of the feature, such as the version of Open GL used (declared with 108 <a href="#glEsVersion"><code>glEsVersion</code></a>). Other features that either do or do not 109 exist for a device, such as a camera, are declared using the 110 <a href="#name"><code>name</code></a> attribute.</p> 111 112 113 <p>Although the <code><uses-feature></code> element is only activated for 114 devices running API Level 4 or higher, it is recommended to include these 115 elements for all applications, even if the <a href="uses-sdk-element.html#min"><code>minSdkVersion</code></a> 116 is "3" or lower. Devices running older versions of the platform will simply 117 ignore the element.</p> 118 119 <p class="note"><strong>Note:</strong> When declaring a feature, remember 120 that you must also request permissions as appropriate. For example, you must 121 still request the {@link android.Manifest.permission#CAMERA} 122 permission before your application can access the camera API. Requesting the 123 permission grants your application access to the appropriate hardware and 124 software, while declaring the features used by your application ensures proper 125 device compatibility.</p> 126 127 </dd> 128 129 130 <dt>attributes:</dt> 131 132 <dd> 133 <dl class="attr"> 134 135 <dt><a name="name"></a><code>android:name</code></dt> 136 <dd>Specifies a single hardware or software feature used by the application, 137 as a descriptor string. Valid descriptor values are listed in the <a 138 href="#hw-features">Hardware features</a> and <a href="#sw-features">Software 139 features</a> tables, below. </dd> 140 141 <dt><a name="required"></a><code>android:required</code></dt> <!-- added in api level 5 --> 142 <dd>Boolean value that indicates whether the application requires 143 the feature specified in <code>android:name</code>. 144 145 <ul> 146 <li>When you declare <code>"android:required="true"</code> for a feature, 147 you are specifying that the application <em>cannot function, or is not 148 designed to function</em>, when the specified feature is not present on the 149 device. </li> 150 151 <li>When you declare <code>"android:required="false"</code> for a feature, it 152 means that the application <em>prefers to use the feature</em> if present on 153 the device, but that it <em>is designed to function without the specified 154 feature</em>, if necessary. </li> 155 156 </ul> 157 158 <p>The default value for <code>android:required</code> if not declared is 159 <code>"true"</code>.</p> 160 </dd> 161 162 <dt><a name="glEsVersion"></a><code>android:glEsVersion</code></dt> 163 <dd>The OpenGL ES version required by the application. The higher 16 bits 164 represent the major number and the lower 16 bits represent the minor number. For 165 example, to specify OpenGL ES version 2.0, you would set the value as 166 "0x00020000", or to specify OpenGL ES 3.0, you would set the value as "0x00030000". 167 168 <p>An application should specify at most one <code>android:glEsVersion</code> 169 attribute in its manifest. If it specifies more than one, the 170 <code>android:glEsVersion</code> with the numerically highest value is used and 171 any other values are ignored.</p> 172 173 <p>If an application does not specify an <code>android:glEsVersion</code> 174 attribute, then it is assumed that the application requires only OpenGL ES 1.0, 175 which is supported by all Android-powered devices.</p> 176 177 <p>An application can assume that if a platform supports a given OpenGL ES 178 version, it also supports all numerically lower OpenGL ES versions. Therefore, 179 an application that requires both OpenGL ES 1.0 and OpenGL ES 2.0 must specify 180 that it requires OpenGL ES 2.0.</p> 181 182 <p>An application that can work with any of several OpenGL ES versions should 183 only specify the numerically lowest version of OpenGL ES that it requires. (It 184 can check at run-time whether a higher level of OpenGL ES is available.)</p> 185 186 <p>For more information about using OpenGL ES, including how to check the supported OpenGL ES 187 version at runtime, see the <a href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/graphics/opengl.html">OpenGL ES</a> 188 API guide.</p> 189 </dd> 190 191 </dl> 192 </dd> 193 194 <!-- ##api level indication## --> 195 <dt>introduced in:</dt> 196 <dd>API Level 4</dd> 197 198 <dt>see also:</dt> 199 <dd> 200 <ul> 201 <li>{@link android.content.pm.PackageManager}</li> 202 <li>{@link android.content.pm.FeatureInfo}</li> 203 <li>{@link android.content.pm.ConfigurationInfo}</li> 204 <li><a href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/manifest/uses-permission-element.html"><code><uses-permission></code></a></li> 205 <li><a href="{@docRoot}google/play/filters.html">Filters on Google Play</a></li> 206 </ul> 207 </dd> 208 209 </dl> 210 211 212 <h2 id="market-feature-filtering">Google Play and Feature-Based Filtering</h2> 213 214 <p>Google Play filters the applications that are visible to users, so that 215 users can see and download only those applications that are compatible with 216 their devices. One of the ways it filters applications is by feature 217 compatibility.</p> 218 219 <p>To determine an application's feature compatibility with a given user's 220 device, Google Play compares:</p> 221 222 <ul> 223 <li>Features required by the application — an application declares features in 224 <code><uses-feature></code> elements in its manifest <br/>with...</li> 225 <li>Features available on the device, in hardware or software — 226 a device reports the features it supports as read-only system properties.</li> 227 </ul> 228 229 <p>To ensure an accurate comparison of features, the Android Package Manager 230 provides a shared set of feature constants that both applications and devices 231 use to declare feature requirements and support. The available feature constants 232 are listed in the <a href="#features-reference">Features Reference</a> tables at 233 the bottom of this document, and in the class documentation for {@link 234 android.content.pm.PackageManager}.</p> 235 236 <p>When the user launches Google Play, the application queries the 237 Package Manager for the list of features available on the device by calling 238 {@link android.content.pm.PackageManager#getSystemAvailableFeatures()}. The 239 Store application then passes the features list up to Google Play 240 when establishing the session for the user.</p> 241 242 <p>Each time you upload an application to the Google Play Developer Console, 243 Google Play scans the application's manifest file. It looks for 244 <code><uses-feature></code> elements and evaluates them in combination 245 with other elements, in some cases, such as <code><uses-sdk></code> and 246 <code><uses-permission></code> elements. After establishing the 247 application's set of required features, it stores that list internally as 248 metadata associated with the application <code>.apk</code> and the application 249 version. </p> 250 251 <p>When a user searches or browses for applications using the Google Play 252 application, the service compares the features needed by each application with 253 the features available on the user's device. If all of an application's required 254 features are present on the device, Google Play allows the user to see the 255 application and potentially download it. If any required feature is not 256 supported by the device, Google Play filters the application so that it is 257 not visible to the user and not available for download. </p> 258 259 <p>Because the features you declare in <code><uses-feature></code> 260 elements directly affect how Google Play filters your application, it's 261 important to understand how Google Play evaluates the application's manifest 262 and establishes the set of required features. The sections below provide more 263 information. </p> 264 265 <h3 id="declared">Filtering based on explicitly declared features</h3> 266 267 <p>An explicitly declared feature is one that your application declares in a 268 <code><uses-feature></code> element. The feature declaration can include 269 an <code>android:required=["true" | "false"]</code> attribute (if you are 270 compiling against API level 5 or higher), which lets you specify whether the 271 application absolutely requires the feature and cannot function properly without 272 it (<code>"true"</code>), or whether the application prefers to use the feature 273 if available, but is designed to run without it (<code>"false"</code>).</p> 274 275 <p>Google Play handles explicitly declared features in this way: </p> 276 277 <ul> 278 <li>If a feature is explicitly declared as being required, Google Play adds 279 the feature to the list of required features for the application. It then 280 filters the application from users on devices that do not provide that feature. 281 For example: 282 <pre><uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.camera" android:required="true" /></pre></li> 283 <li>If a feature is explicitly declared as <em>not</em> being required, Google 284 Play <em>does not</em> add the feature to the list of required features. For 285 that reason, an explicitly declared non-required feature is never considered when 286 filtering the application. Even if the device does not provide the declared 287 feature, Google Play will still consider the application compatible with the 288 device and will show it to the user, unless other filtering rules apply. For 289 example: 290 <pre><uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.camera" android:required="false" /></pre></li> 291 <li>If a feature is explicitly declared, but without an 292 <code>android:required</code> attribute, Google Play assumes that the feature 293 is required and sets up filtering on it. </li> 294 </ul> 295 296 <p>In general, if your application is designed to run on Android 1.6 and earlier 297 versions, the <code>android:required</code> attribute is not available in the 298 API and Google Play assumes that any and all 299 <code><uses-feature></code> declarations are required. </p> 300 301 <p class="note"><strong>Note:</strong> By declaring a feature explicitly and 302 including an <code>android:required="false"</code> attribute, you can 303 effectively disable all filtering on Google Play for the specified feature. 304 </p> 305 306 307 <h3 id="implicit">Filtering based on implicit features</h3> 308 309 <p>An <em>implicit</em> feature is one that an application requires in order to 310 function properly, but which is <em>not</em> declared in a 311 <code><uses-feature></code> element in the manifest file. Strictly 312 speaking, every application should <em>always</em> declare all features that it 313 uses or requires, so the absence of a declaration for a feature used by an 314 application should be considered an error. However, as a safeguard for users and 315 developers, Google Play looks for implicit features in each application and 316 sets up filters for those features, just as it would do for an explicitly 317 declared feature. </p> 318 319 <p>An application might require a feature but not declare it because: </p> 320 321 <ul> 322 <li>The application was compiled against an older version of the Android library 323 (Android 1.5 or earlier) and the <code><uses-feature></code> element was 324 not available.</li> 325 <li>The developer incorrectly assumed that the feature would be present on all 326 devices and a declaration was unnecessary.</li> 327 <li>The developer omitted the feature declaration accidentally.</li> 328 <li>The developer declared the feature explicitly, but the declaration was not 329 valid. For example, a spelling error in the <code><uses-feature></code> 330 element name or an unrecognized string value for the 331 <code>android:name</code> attribute would invalidate the feature declaration. 332 </li> 333 </ul> 334 335 <p>To account for the cases above, Google Play attempts to discover an 336 application's implied feature requirements by examining <em>other elements</em> 337 declared in the manifest file, specifically, 338 <code><uses-permission></code> elements.</p> 339 340 <p>If an application requests hardware-related permissions, Google Play 341 <em>assumes that the application uses the underlying hardware features and 342 therefore requires those features</em>, even though there might be no 343 corresponding to <code><uses-feature></code> declarations. For such 344 permissions, Google Play adds the underlying hardware features to the 345 metadata that it stores for the application and sets up filters for them.</p> 346 347 <p>For example, if an application requests the <code>CAMERA</code> permission 348 but does not declare a <code><uses-feature></code> element for 349 <code>android.hardware.camera</code>, Google Play considers that the 350 application requires a camera and should not be shown to users whose devices do 351 not offer a camera.</p> 352 353 <p>If you don't want Google Play to filter based on a specific implied 354 feature, you can disable that behavior. To do so, declare the feature explicitly 355 in a <code><uses-feature></code> element and include an 356 <code>android:required="false"</code> attribute. For example, to disable 357 filtering derived from the <code>CAMERA</code> permission, you would declare 358 the feature as shown below.</p> 359 360 <pre><uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.camera" android:required="false" /></pre> 361 362 <p class="caution">It's important to understand that the permissions that you 363 request in <code><uses-permission></code> elements can directly affect how 364 Google Play filters your application. The reference section <a 365 href="#permissions">Permissions that Imply Feature Requirements</a>, 366 below, lists the full set of permissions that imply feature requirements and 367 therefore trigger filtering.</p> 368 369 <h3 id="bt-permission-handling">Special handling for Bluetooth feature</h3> 370 371 <p>Google Play applies slightly different rules than described above, when 372 determining filtering for Bluetooth.</p> 373 374 <p>If an application declares a Bluetooth permission in a 375 <code><uses-permission></code> element, but does not explicitly declare 376 the Bluetooth feature in a <code><uses-feature></code> element, Google 377 Play checks the version(s) of the Android platform on which the application is 378 designed to run, as specified in the <code><uses-sdk></code> element. </p> 379 380 <p>As shown in the table below, Google Play enables filtering for the 381 Bluetooth feature only if the application declares its lowest or targeted 382 platform as Android 2.0 (API level 5) or higher. However, note that Google 383 Play applies the normal rules for filtering when the application explicitly 384 declares the Bluetooth feature in a <code><uses-feature></code> element. 385 </p> 386 387 <p class="caption"><strong>Table 1.</strong> How Google Play determines the 388 Bluetooth feature requirement for an application that requests a Bluetooth 389 permission but does not declare the Bluetooth feature in a 390 <code><uses-feature></code> element.</p> 391 392 <table style="margin-top:1em;"> 393 <tr> 394 <th><nobr>If <code>minSdkVersion</code> is ...</nobr></th> 395 <th><nobr>or <code>targetSdkVersion</code> is</nobr></th> 396 <th>Result</th> 397 </tr> 398 <tr> 399 <td><nobr><=4 (or uses-sdk is not declared)</nobr></td> 400 <td><=4</td> 401 <td>Google Play <em>will not</em> filter the application from any devices 402 based on their reported support for the <code>android.hardware.bluetooth</code> 403 feature.</td> 404 </tr> 405 <tr> 406 <td><=4</td> 407 <td>>=5</td> 408 <td rowspan="2">Google Play filters the application from any devices that 409 do not support the <code>android.hardware.bluetooth</code> feature (including 410 older releases).</td> 411 </tr> 412 <tr> 413 <td>>=5</td> 414 <td>>=5</td> 415 </tr> 416 </table> 417 418 <p>The examples below illustrate the different filtering effects, based on how 419 Google Play handles the Bluetooth feature. </p> 420 421 <dl> 422 <dt>In first example, an application that is designed to run on older API levels 423 declares a Bluetooth permission, but does not declare the Bluetooth feature in a 424 <code><uses-feature></code> element.</dt> 425 <dd><em>Result:</em> Google Play does not filter the application from any device.</dd> 426 </dl> 427 428 <pre><manifest ...> 429 <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.BLUETOOTH_ADMIN" /> 430 <uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="3" /> 431 ... 432 </manifest></pre> 433 434 <dl> 435 <dt>In the second example, below, the same application also declares a target 436 API level of "5". </dt> 437 <dd><em>Result:</em> Google Play now assumes that the feature is required and 438 will filter the application from all devices that do not report Bluetooth support, 439 including devices running older versions of the platform. </dd> 440 </dl> 441 442 <pre><manifest ...> 443 <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.BLUETOOTH_ADMIN" /> 444 <uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="3" android:targetSdkVersion="5" /> 445 ... 446 </manifest></pre> 447 448 <dl> 449 <dt>Here the same application now specifically declares the Bluetooth feature.</dt> 450 <dd><em>Result:</em> Identical to the previous example (filtering is applied).</dd> 451 </dl> 452 453 <pre><manifest ...> 454 <uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.bluetooth" /> 455 <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.BLUETOOTH_ADMIN" /> 456 <uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="3" android:targetSdkVersion="5" /> 457 ... 458 </manifest></pre> 459 460 <dl> 461 <dt>Finally, in the case below, the same application adds an 462 <code>android:required="false"</code> attribute.</dt> 463 <dd><em>Result:</em> Google Play disables filtering based on Bluetooth 464 feature support, for all devices.</dd> 465 </dl> 466 467 <pre><manifest ...> 468 <uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.bluetooth" android:required="false" /> 469 <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.BLUETOOTH_ADMIN" /> 470 <uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="3" android:targetSdkVersion="5" /> 471 ... 472 </manifest></pre> 473 474 475 476 <h3 id="testing">Testing the features required by your application</h3> 477 478 <p>You can use the <code>aapt</code> tool, included in the Android SDK, to 479 determine how Google Play will filter your application, based on its declared 480 features and permissions. To do so, run <code>aapt</code> with the <code>dump 481 badging</code> command. This causes <code>aapt</code> to parse your 482 application's manifest and apply the same rules as used by Google Play to 483 determine the features that your application requires. </p> 484 485 <p>To use the tool, follow these steps: </p> 486 487 <ol> 488 <li>First, build and export your application as an unsigned <code>.apk</code>. 489 If you are developing in Eclipse with ADT, right-click the project and select 490 <strong>Android Tools</strong> > <strong>Export Unsigned Application 491 Package</strong>. Select a destination filename and path and click 492 <strong>OK</strong>. </li> 493 <li>Next, locate the <code>aapt</code> tool, if it is not already in your PATH. 494 If you are using SDK Tools r8 or higher, you can find <code>aapt</code> in the 495 <code><<em>SDK</em>>/platform-tools/</code> directory. 496 <p class="note"><strong>Note:</strong> You must use the version of 497 <code>aapt</code> that is provided for the latest Platform-Tools component available. If 498 you do not have the latest Platform-Tools component, download it using the <a 499 href="{@docRoot}sdk/exploring.html">Android SDK Manager</a>. 500 </p></li> 501 <li>Run <code>aapt</code> using this syntax: </li> 502 </ol> 503 504 <pre>$ aapt dump badging <<em>path_to_exported_.apk</em>></pre> 505 506 <p>Here's an example of the command output for the second Bluetooth example, above: </p> 507 508 <pre>$ ./aapt dump badging BTExample.apk 509 package: name='com.example.android.btexample' versionCode='' versionName='' 510 <strong>uses-permission:'android.permission.BLUETOOTH_ADMIN'</strong> 511 <strong>uses-feature:'android.hardware.bluetooth'</strong> 512 sdkVersion:'3' 513 targetSdkVersion:'5' 514 application: label='BT Example' icon='res/drawable/app_bt_ex.png' 515 launchable activity name='com.example.android.btexample.MyActivity'label='' icon='' 516 uses-feature:'android.hardware.touchscreen' 517 main 518 supports-screens: 'small' 'normal' 'large' 519 locales: '--_--' 520 densities: '160' 521 </pre> 522 523 524 <h2 id=features-reference>Features Reference</h2> 525 526 <p>The tables below provide reference information about hardware and software 527 features and the permissions that can imply them on Google Play. </p> 528 529 <h3 id="hw-features">Hardware features</h3> 530 531 <p>The table below describes the hardware feature descriptors supported by the 532 most current platform release. To signal that your application uses or requires 533 a hardware feature, declare each value in a <code>android:name</code> attribute 534 in a separate <code><uses-feature></code> element. </p> 535 536 <table> 537 <tr> 538 <th>Feature Type</th> 539 <th>Feature Descriptor</th> 540 <th style="min-width:170px">Description</th> 541 <th>Comments</th> 542 </tr> 543 <tr> 544 <td>Audio</td> 545 <td><code>android.hardware.audio.low_latency</td> 546 <td>The application uses a low-latency audio pipeline on the device and 547 is sensitive to delays or lag in sound input or output.</td> 548 <td> 549 </td> 550 </tr> 551 <tr> 552 <td>Bluetooth</td> 553 <td><code>android.hardware.bluetooth</td> 554 <td>The application uses Bluetooth radio features in the device.</td> 555 <td>If your app uses Bluetooth Low Energy, also declare 556 {@code android.software.bluetooth_le}.</td> 557 </tr> 558 <tr> 559 <td rowspan="5">Camera</td> 560 <td><code>android.hardware.camera</code></td> 561 <td>The application uses the device's camera. If the device supports 562 multiple cameras, the application uses the camera that facing 563 away from the screen.</td> 564 <td></td> 565 </tr> 566 <tr> 567 <td><code>android.hardware.camera.autofocus</code></td> 568 <td>Subfeature. The application uses the device camera's autofocus capability.</td> 569 <td rowspan="3">These subfeatures implicitly declare the 570 <code>android.hardware.camera</code> parent feature, unless declared with 571 <code>android:required="false"</code>.</td> 572 </tr> 573 <tr> 574 <td><code>android.hardware.camera.flash</code></td> 575 <td>Subfeature. The application uses the device camera's flash.</td> 576 </tr> 577 <tr> 578 <td><code>android.hardware.camera.front</code></td> 579 <td>Subfeature. The application uses a front-facing camera on the device.</td> 580 </tr> 581 <tr> 582 <td><code>android.hardware.camera.any</code></td> 583 <td>The application uses at least one camera facing in any direction. Use this 584 in preference to <code>android.hardware.camera</code> if a back-facing camera is 585 not required.</td> 586 </tr> 587 588 <tr> 589 <td rowspan="3">Location</td> 590 <td><code>android.hardware.location</code></td> 591 <td>The application uses one or more features on the device for determining 592 location, such as GPS location, network location, or cell location.</td> 593 <td></td> 594 </tr> 595 <tr> 596 <td><code>android.hardware.location.network</code></td> 597 <td>Subfeature. The application uses coarse location coordinates obtained from 598 a network-based geolocation system supported on the device.</td> 599 <td rowspan="2">These subfeatures implicitly declare the 600 <code>android.hardware.location</code> parent feature, unless declared with 601 <code>android:required="false"</code>. </td> 602 </tr> 603 <tr> 604 <td><code>android.hardware.location.gps</code></td> 605 <td>Subfeature. The application uses precise location coordinates obtained 606 from a Global Positioning System receiver on the device. </td> 607 </tr> 608 <tr> 609 <td>Microphone</td> 610 <td><code>android.hardware.microphone</code></td> 611 <td>The application uses a microphone on the device. 612 </td> 613 <td></td> 614 </tr> 615 <tr> 616 <td>NFC</td> 617 <td><code>android.hardware.nfc</td> 618 <td>The application uses Near Field Communications radio features in the device.</td> 619 <td></td> 620 </tr> 621 <tr> 622 <td rowspan="6">Sensors</td> 623 <td><code>android.hardware.sensor.accelerometer</code></td> 624 <td>The application uses motion readings from an accelerometer on the 625 device.</td> 626 <td></td> 627 </tr> 628 <tr> 629 <td><code>android.hardware.sensor.barometer</code></td> 630 <td>The application uses the device's barometer.</td> 631 <td></td> 632 </tr> 633 <tr> 634 <td><code>android.hardware.sensor.compass</code></td> 635 <td>The application uses directional readings from a magnetometer (compass) on 636 the device.</td> 637 <td></td> 638 </tr> 639 <tr> 640 <td><code>android.hardware.sensor.gyroscope</code></td> 641 <td>The application uses the device's gyroscope sensor.</td> 642 <td></td> 643 </tr> 644 <tr> 645 <td><code>android.hardware.sensor.light</code></td> 646 <td>The application uses the device's light sensor.</td> 647 <td></td> 648 </tr> 649 <tr> 650 <td><code>android.hardware.sensor.proximity</code></td> 651 <td>The application uses the device's proximity sensor.</td> 652 <td></td> 653 </tr> 654 655 <tr> 656 <td rowspan="2">Screen</td> 657 <td><code>android.hardware.screen.landscape</code></td> 658 <td>The application requires landscape orientation.</td> 659 <td rowspan="2"> 660 <p>For example, if your app requires portrait orientation, you should declare 661 <code><uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.screen.portrait"/></code> so that only devices 662 that support portrait orientation (whether always or by user choice) can install your app. If your 663 application <em>supports</em> both orientations, then you don't need to declare either.</p> 664 <p>Both orientations are assumed <em>not required</em>, by default, so your app may be installed 665 on devices that support one or both orientations. However, if any of your activities request that 666 they run in a specific orientation, using the <a 667 href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/manifest/activity-element.html#screen">{@code 668 android:screenOrientation}</a> attribute, then this also declares that the application requires that 669 orientation. For example, if you declare <a 670 href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/manifest/activity-element.html#screen">{@code 671 android:screenOrientation}</a> with either {@code "landscape"}, {@code "reverseLandscape"}, or 672 {@code "sensorLandscape"}, then your application will be available only to devices that support 673 landscape orientation. As a best practice, you should still declare your requirement for this 674 orientation using a {@code <uses-feature>} element. If you declare an orientation for your 675 activity using <a href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/manifest/activity-element.html#screen">{@code 676 android:screenOrientation}</a>, but don't actually <em>require</em> it, you can disable the 677 requirement by declaring the orientation with a {@code <uses-feature>} element and include 678 {@code android:required="false"}.</p> 679 <p>For backwards compatibility, any device running a platform version that supports only API 680 level 12 or lower is assumed to support both landscape and portrait.</p> 681 </td> 682 </tr> 683 <tr> 684 <td><code>android.hardware.screen.portrait</code></td> 685 <td>The application requires portrait orientation.</td> 686 </tr> 687 688 <tr> 689 <td rowspan="3">Telephony</td> 690 <td><code>android.hardware.telephony</code></td> 691 <td>The application uses telephony features on the device, such as telephony 692 radio with data communication services.</td> 693 <td></td> 694 </tr> 695 <tr> 696 <td><code>android.hardware.telephony.cdma</code></td> 697 <td>Subfeature. The application uses CDMA telephony radio features on the 698 device. </td> 699 <td rowspan="2">These subfeatures implicitly declare the 700 <code>android.hardware.telephony</code> parent feature, unless declared with 701 <code>android:required="false"</code>. </td> 702 </tr> 703 <tr> 704 <td><code>android.hardware.telephony.gsm</code></td> 705 <td>Subfeature. The application uses GSM telephony radio features on the 706 device.</td> 707 </tr> 708 709 <tr> 710 <td>Television</td> 711 <td><code>android.hardware.type.television</code></td> 712 <td>The application is designed for a television user experience.</td> 713 <td>This feature defines "television" to be a typical living room television experience: 714 displayed on a big screen, where the user is sitting far away and the dominant form of 715 input is something like a d-pad, and generally not through touch or a 716 mouse/pointer-device.</td> 717 </tr> 718 719 <tr> 720 <td rowspan="7">Touchscreen</td> 721 <td><code>android.hardware.faketouch</code></td> 722 <td>The application uses basic touch interaction events, such as "click down", "click 723 up", and drag.</td> 724 <td><p>When declared as required, this indicates that the application is compatible with a device 725 only if it offers an emulated touchscreen ("fake touch" interface), or better. A device that offers 726 a fake touch interface provides a user input system that emulates a subset of touchscreen 727 capabilities. For example, a mouse or remote control that drives an on-screen cursor provides a fake 728 touch interface. If your application requires basic point and click interaction (in other 729 words, it won't work with <em>only</em> a d-pad controller), you should declare this feature. 730 Because this is the minimum level of touch interaction, your app will also be compatible with 731 devices that offer more complex touch interfaces.</p> 732 <p class="note"><strong>Note:</strong> Because applications require the {@code 733 android.hardware.touchscreen} feature by default, if you want your application to be available to 734 devices that provide a fake touch interface, you must also explicitly declare that a touch screen is 735 <em>not</em> required by declaring {@code <uses-feature 736 android:name="android.hardware.touchscreen" <strong>android:required="false"</strong> 737 />}</p></td> 738 </tr> 739 740 <tr> 741 <td><code>android.hardware.faketouch.multitouch.distinct</code></td> 742 <td>The application performs distinct tracking of two or more "fingers" on a fake touch 743 interface. This is a superset of the faketouch feature.</td> 744 <td><p>When declared as required, this indicates that the application is compatible with a device 745 only if it supports touch emulation for events that supports distinct tracking of two or more 746 fingers, or better.</p> 747 <p>Unlike the distinct multitouch defined by {@code 748 android.hardware.touchscreen.multitouch.distinct}, input devices that support distinct multi-touch 749 with a fake touch interface will not support all two-finger gestures, because the input is 750 being transformed to cursor movement on the screen. That is, single finger gestures on such a device 751 move a cursor; two-finger swipes will result in single-finger touch events; other two-finger 752 gestures will result in the corresponding two-finger touch event. An example device that supports 753 distinct multi-touch with a fake touch interface is one that provides a trackpad for cursor movement 754 which also supports two or more fingers.</p></td> 755 </tr> 756 757 <tr> 758 <td><code>android.hardware.faketouch.multitouch.jazzhand</code></td> 759 <td>The application performs distinct tracking of five or more "fingers" on a fake touch 760 interface. This is a superset of the faketouch feature.</td> 761 <td><p>When declared as required, this indicates that the application is compatible with a device 762 only if it supports touch emulation for events that supports distinct tracking of five or more 763 fingers.</p> 764 <p>Unlike the distinct multitouch defined by {@code 765 android.hardware.touchscreen.multitouch.jazzhand}, input devices that support jazzhand multi-touch 766 with a fake touch interface will not support all five-finger gestures, because the input is being 767 transformed to cursor movement on the screen. That is, single finger gestures on such a device move 768 a cursor; multi-finger gestures will result in single-finger touch events; other multi-finger 769 gestures will result in the corresponding multi-finger touch event. An example device that supports 770 distinct multi-touch with a fake touch interface is one that provides a trackpad for cursor movement 771 which also supports five or more fingers.</p></td> 772 </tr> 773 774 <tr> 775 <td><code>android.hardware.touchscreen</code></td> 776 <td>The application uses touchscreen capabilities for gestures that are more interactive 777 than basic touch events, such as a fling. This is a superset of the basic faketouch feature.</td> 778 <td><p>By default, your application requires this. As such, your application is <em>not</em> 779 available to devices that provide only an emulated touch interface ("fake touch"), by default. If 780 you want your application available to devices that provide a fake touch interface (or even devices 781 that provide only a d-pad controller), you must explicitly declare that a touch screen is not 782 required, by declaring {@code android.hardware.touchscreen} with {@code android:required="false"}. 783 You should do so even if your application uses—but does not <em>require</em>—a real 784 touch screen interface.</p> 785 <p>If your application <em>does require</em> a touch interface (in order to perform touch 786 gestures such as a fling), then you don't need to do anything, because this is required by default. 787 However, it's best if you explicitly declare all features used by your application, so you should 788 still declare this if your app uses it.</p> 789 <p>If you require more complex touch interaction, such as multi-finger gestures, you 790 should declare the advanced touch screen features below.</p></td> 791 </tr> 792 <tr> 793 <td><code>android.hardware.touchscreen.multitouch</code></td> 794 <td>The application uses basic two-point multitouch capabilities on the device 795 screen, such as for pinch gestures, but does not need to track touches independently. This 796 is a superset of touchscreen feature.</td> 797 <td>This implicitly declares the <code>android.hardware.touchscreen</code> parent feature, unless 798 declared with <code>android:required="false"</code>. </td> 799 </tr> 800 <tr> 801 <td><code>android.hardware.touchscreen.multitouch.distinct</code></td> 802 <td>Subfeature. The application uses advanced multipoint multitouch 803 capabilities on the device screen, such as for tracking two or more points fully 804 independently. This is a superset of multitouch feature.</td> 805 <td rowspan="2">This implicitly declares the <code>android.hardware.touchscreen.multitouch</code> 806 parent feature, unless declared with <code>android:required="false"</code>. </td> 807 </tr> 808 <tr> 809 <td><code>android.hardware.touchscreen.multitouch.jazzhand</code></td> 810 <td>The application uses advanced multipoint multitouch 811 capabilities on the device screen, for tracking up to five points fully 812 independently. This is a superset of distinct multitouch feature.</td> 813 </tr> 814 815 <tr> 816 <td rowspan="2">USB</td> 817 <td><code>android.hardware.usb.host</code></td> 818 <td>The application uses USB host mode features (behaves as the host and connects to USB 819 devices).</td> 820 <td></td> 821 </tr> 822 823 <tr> 824 <td><code>android.hardware.usb.accessory</code></td> 825 <td>The application uses USB accessory features (behaves as the USB device and connects to USB 826 hosts).</td> 827 <td></td> 828 </tr> 829 830 <tr> 831 <td>Wifi</td> 832 <td><code>android.hardware.wifi</code></td> 833 <td>The application uses 802.11 networking (wifi) features on the device.</td> 834 <td></td> 835 </tr> 836 837 </table> 838 839 <h3 id="sw-features">Software features</h3> 840 841 <p>The table below describes the software feature descriptors supported by the 842 most current platform release. To signal that your application uses or requires 843 a software feature, declare each value in a <code>android:name</code> attribute 844 in a separate <code><uses-feature></code> element. </p> 845 846 847 <table> 848 <tr> 849 <th>Feature</th> 850 <th>Attribute Value</th> 851 <th>Description</th> 852 </tr> 853 <tr> 854 <td>App Widgets</td> 855 <td><code>android.software.app_widgets</code></td> 856 <td>The application uses or provides App Widgets and should be installed only on devices 857 that include a Home screen or similar location where users can embed App Widgets.</td> 858 </tr> 859 <tr> 860 <td>Bluetooth Low Energy</td> 861 <td><code>android.software.bluetooth_le</code></td> 862 <td><p>The application uses Bluetooth Low Energy APIs and should be installed only on devices 863 that are capable of communicating with other devices via Bluetooth Low Energy. 864 <p>This implicitly also declares the {@code android.hardware.bluetooth} feature.</td> 865 </tr> 866 <tr> 867 <td>Home Screen</td> 868 <td><code>android.software.home_screen</code></td> 869 <td>The application behaves as a Home screen replacement and should be installed only on 870 devices that support third-party Home screen apps.</td> 871 </tr> 872 <tr> 873 <td>Input Method</td> 874 <td><code>android.software.input_methods</code></td> 875 <td>The application provides a custom input method and should be installed only on devices that 876 support third-party input methods.</td> 877 </tr> 878 <tr> 879 <td>Live Wallpaper</td> 880 <td><code>android.software.live_wallpaper</code></td> 881 <td>The application uses or provides Live Wallpapers and should be installed only on devices that 882 support Live Wallpapers.</td> 883 </tr> 884 <tr> 885 <td rowspan="2">SIP/VOIP</td> 886 <td><code>android.software.sip</code></td> 887 <td>The application uses SIP service on the device and should be installed only on devices that 888 support SIP. 889 </td> 890 </tr> 891 <tr> 892 <td><code>android.software.sip.voip</code></td> 893 <td><p>Subfeature. The application uses SIP-based VOIP service on the device. 894 <p>This subfeature implicitly declares the <code>android.software.sip</code> parent feature, 895 unless declared with <code>android:required="false"</code>.</td> 896 </tr> 897 </table> 898 899 900 <h3 id="permissions">Permissions that Imply Feature Requirements</h3> 901 902 <p>Some feature constants listed in the tables above were made available to 903 applications <em>after</em> the corresponding API; for example, the 904 <code>android.hardware.bluetooth</code> feature was added in Android 2.2 (API 905 level 8), but the bluetooth API that it refers to was added in Android 2.0 (API 906 level 5). Because of this, some apps were able to use the API before they had 907 the ability to declare that they require the API via the 908 <code><uses-feature></code> system. </p> 909 910 <p>To prevent those apps from being made available unintentionally, Google 911 Play assumes that certain hardware-related permissions indicate that the 912 underlying hardware features are required by default. For instance, applications 913 that use Bluetooth must request the <code>BLUETOOTH</code> permission in a 914 <code><uses-permission></code> element — for legacy apps, Google 915 Play assumes that the permission declaration means that the underlying 916 <code>android.hardware.bluetooth</code> feature is required by the application 917 and sets up filtering based on that feature. </p> 918 919 <p>The table below lists permissions that imply feature requirements 920 equivalent to those declared in <code><uses-feature></code> elements. Note 921 that <code><uses-feature></code> declarations, including any declared 922 <code>android:required</code> attribute, always take precedence over features 923 implied by the permissions below. </p> 924 925 <p>For any of the permissions below, you can disable filtering based on the 926 implied feature by explicitly declaring the implied feature explicitly, in a 927 <code><uses-feature></code> element, with an 928 <code>android:required="false"</code> attribute. For example, to disable any 929 filtering based on the <code>CAMERA</code> permission, you would add this 930 <code><uses-feature></code> declaration to the manifest file:</p> 931 932 <pre><uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.camera" android:required="false" /></pre> 933 934 <table id="permissions-features" > 935 <tr> 936 <th>Category</th> 937 <th>This Permission...</th> 938 <th>Implies This Feature Requirement</th> 939 <!-- <th>Comments</th> --> 940 </tr> 941 942 943 <tr> 944 <td rowspan="2">Bluetooth</td> 945 <td><code>BLUETOOTH</code></td> 946 <td><code>android.hardware.bluetooth</code> 947 <p>(See <a href="#bt-permission-handling">Special handling for Bluetooth feature</a> for details.)</p></td> 948 <!-- <td></td> --> 949 </tr> 950 <tr> 951 <td><code>BLUETOOTH_ADMIN</code></td> 952 <td><code>android.hardware.bluetooth</code></td> 953 <!-- <td></td> --> 954 </tr> 955 956 <tr> 957 <td>Camera</td> 958 <td><code>CAMERA</code></td> 959 <td><code>android.hardware.camera</code> <em>and</em> 960 <br><code>android.hardware.camera.autofocus</code></td> 961 <!-- <td></td> --> 962 </tr> 963 964 <tr> 965 <td rowspan="5">Location</td> 966 <td><code>ACCESS_MOCK_LOCATION</code></td> 967 <td><code>android.hardware.location</code></td> 968 <!-- <td></td> --> 969 </tr> 970 <tr> 971 <td><code>ACCESS_LOCATION_EXTRA_COMMANDS</code></td> 972 <td><code>android.hardware.location</code></td> 973 <!-- <td></td> --> 974 </tr> 975 <tr> 976 <td><code>INSTALL_LOCATION_PROVIDER</code></td> 977 <td><code>android.hardware.location</code></td> 978 <!-- <td></td> --> 979 </tr> 980 <tr> 981 <td><code>ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION</code></td> 982 <td><code>android.hardware.location.network</code> <em>and</em> 983 <br><code>android.hardware.location</code></td> 984 <!-- <td></td> --> 985 </tr> 986 <tr> 987 <td><code>ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION</code></td> 988 <td><code>android.hardware.location.gps</code> <em>and</em> 989 <br><code>android.hardware.location</code></td> 990 <!-- <td></td> --> 991 </tr> 992 993 <tr> 994 <td>Microphone</td> 995 <td><code>RECORD_AUDIO</code></td> 996 <td><code>android.hardware.microphone</code></td> 997 <!-- <td></td> --> 998 </tr> 999 1000 <tr> 1001 <td rowspan="11">Telephony</td> 1002 <td><code>CALL_PHONE</code></td> 1003 <td><code>android.hardware.telephony</code></td> 1004 <!-- <td></td> --> 1005 </tr> 1006 <tr> 1007 <td><code>CALL_PRIVILEGED</code></td> 1008 <td><code>android.hardware.telephony</code></td> 1009 <!-- <td></td> --> 1010 </tr> 1011 1012 <tr> 1013 <td><code>MODIFY_PHONE_STATE</code></td> 1014 <td><code>android.hardware.telephony</code></td> 1015 <!-- <td></td> --> 1016 </tr> 1017 <tr> 1018 <td><code>PROCESS_OUTGOING_CALLS</code></td> 1019 <td><code>android.hardware.telephony</code></td> 1020 <!-- <td></td> --> 1021 </tr> 1022 <tr> 1023 <td><code>READ_SMS</code></td> 1024 <td><code>android.hardware.telephony</code></td> 1025 <!-- <td></td> --> 1026 </tr> 1027 <tr> 1028 <td><code>RECEIVE_SMS</code></td> 1029 <td><code>android.hardware.telephony</code></td> 1030 <!-- <td></td> --> 1031 </tr> 1032 <tr> 1033 <td><code>RECEIVE_MMS</code></td> 1034 <td><code>android.hardware.telephony</code></td> 1035 <!-- <td></td> --> 1036 </tr> 1037 <tr> 1038 <td><code>RECEIVE_WAP_PUSH</code></td> 1039 <td><code>android.hardware.telephony</code></td> 1040 <!-- <td></td> --> 1041 </tr> 1042 <tr> 1043 <td><code>SEND_SMS</code></td> 1044 <td><code>android.hardware.telephony</code></td> 1045 <!-- <td></td> --> 1046 </tr> 1047 <tr> 1048 <td><code>WRITE_APN_SETTINGS</code></td> 1049 <td><code>android.hardware.telephony</code></td> 1050 <!-- <td></td> --> 1051 </tr> 1052 <tr> 1053 <td><code>WRITE_SMS</code></td> 1054 <td><code>android.hardware.telephony</code></td> 1055 <!-- <td></td> --> 1056 </tr> 1057 1058 <tr> 1059 <td rowspan="3">Wifi</td> 1060 <td><code>ACCESS_WIFI_STATE</code></td> 1061 <td><code>android.hardware.wifi</code></td> 1062 <!-- <td></td> --> 1063 </tr> 1064 <tr> 1065 <td><code>CHANGE_WIFI_STATE</code></td> 1066 <td><code>android.hardware.wifi</code></td> 1067 <!-- <td></td> --> 1068 </tr> 1069 <tr> 1070 <td><code>CHANGE_WIFI_MULTICAST_STATE</code></td> 1071 <td><code>android.hardware.wifi</code></td> 1072 <!-- <td></td> --> 1073 </tr> 1074 </table>