Nextcloud cries foul over Google Play Store app rejection

Exclusive European software vendor Nextcloud has accused Google of deliberately crippling its Android Files application, which it says has more than 800,000 users. The problem lies with the "All files access" permission, where broad access to files on a device is required. While most applications can make do with Google's more privacy-friendly storage access tools, such as Storage Access Framework (SAF) or the MediaStore API, others require more permissions – hence the "All files access" privilege. Nextcloud's Android Files app is a file synchronization tool that, according to the company, has long had permission to read and write all file types. "Nextcloud has had this feature since its inception in 2016," it said, "and we never heard about any security concerns from Google about it." That changed in 2024, when someone or something at Google's Play Store decided to revoke the permission, effectively crippling the application. Nextcloud was instructed to use "a more privacy-aware re ... Read full article.