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  • Storage Scope Not Working for WhatsApp?

I have setup a Storage Scope for WhatsApp however the auto download media is not saving the images into the Storage Scope. They are being saved somewhere else on my phone (which I can not figure out where).

I did not think this was possible as the storage used is supposed to be isolated?

The only permission WhatsApp uses is Network and Notifications.

    If you've enabled Storage Scopes for Whatsapp, it can't see other directories. It's more than likely that it's downloading files into its own internal storage.

    When downloading a file, is there no option to select a directory to place it in? What's the exact behavior?

    • GI1 replied to this.

      GI1
      On my device WhatsApp media is saved in Main storage/Android/media/com.WhatsApp

      If I want to be able to view my auto-downloaded WhatsApp media in my Gallery app, I set up a storage scope for that folder for my Gallery app.

      Hope that helps to clarify.

      4 days later

      matchboxbananasynergy it uses a separate internal folder? I though storage scopes was to keep all the files separate.

      If apps use internal storage to save photos and data what is the point of the storage scope?

        • [deleted]

        • Edited

        GI1 If apps use internal storage to save photos and data what is the point of the storage scope?

        If you are interested, just give the search engine of your choice a go and look it up, how Android and apps treat storage.

        Shortly, the point is that the app has it's sandbox and is allowed to use it's sandbox space to save its files or downloaded files. This space is visible and accessible only for this one app. Every app can access its own space without any permissions. Some apps, like your WhatsApp, require storage permissions which allow the app to basically scan "anything" on your phone. Facebook, the owner of the WhatsApp, is notorious for malpractice and misuse of users' data. Some apps won't even work if you do not allow them to scan your personal folders...
        Now, the point of storage scope is to grant a permission to acces only the files or folders that you explicitely choose. That means, that the app can't access anything else but these defined files or folders, and it's own space. So the app is working fine, because it is granted "storage" permission, but is actually "mistaken" that has all space access.

        It is comprehensible? There is a good description of what the storage scopes do in grapheneos.org/usage and grapheneos.org/faq.

        GI1 The storage scope is for apps you want to give access to files in addition to their own app data files.

        For example, all camera apps don't use internal storage because they know that your gallery app will want to access the photos your camera takes.

        If you want to access your photos in your gallery app, you can set that up with storage scopes. That way your gallery app has access only to those photos and no other files on your phone (e.g., audio or video files).