1page.title=<uses-feature> 2page.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, 39you enable Google Play to present your application only to users whose 40devices meet the application's feature requirements, rather than presenting it 41to all users. </p> 42 43<p>For important information about how 44Google Play uses features as the basis for filtering, please read <a 45href="#market-feature-filtering">Google Play and Feature-Based Filtering</a>, 46below.</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 62href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/manifest/manifest-element.html"><manifest></a></code></dd> 63 64<dt>description:</dt> 65<dd itemprop="description">Declares a single hardware or software feature that is used by the 66application. 67 68<p>The purpose of a <code><uses-feature></code> declaration is to inform 69any external entity of the set of hardware and software features on which your 70application depends. The element offers a <code>required</code> attribute that 71lets you specify whether your application requires and cannot function without 72the declared feature, or whether it prefers to have the feature but can function 73without it. Because feature support can vary across Android devices, the 74<code><uses-feature></code> element serves an important role in letting an 75application describe the device-variable features that it uses.</p> 76 77<p>The set of available features that your application declares corresponds to 78the set of feature constants made available by the Android {@link 79android.content.pm.PackageManager}, which are listed for 80convenience in the <a href="#features-reference">Features Reference</a> tables 81at the bottom of this document. 82 83<p>You must specify each feature in a separate <code><uses-feature></code> 84element, so if your application requires multiple features, it would declare 85multiple <code><uses-feature></code> elements. For example, an application 86that requires both Bluetooth and camera features in the device would declare 87these 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 96application requires.</p> 97 98<p>Declared <code><uses-feature></code> elements are informational only, meaning 99that the Android system itself does not check for matching feature support on 100the 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 103with your application. For this reason, it's very important that you declare all of 104the 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 107a 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 109exist 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 114devices running API Level 4 or higher, it is recommended to include these 115elements for all applications, even if the <a href="uses-sdk-element.html#min"><code>minSdkVersion</code></a> 116is "3" or lower. Devices running older versions of the platform will simply 117ignore the element.</p> 118 119<p class="note"><strong>Note:</strong> When declaring a feature, remember 120that you must also request permissions as appropriate. For example, you must 121still request the {@link android.Manifest.permission#CAMERA} 122permission before your application can access the camera API. Requesting the 123permission grants your application access to the appropriate hardware and 124software, while declaring the features used by your application ensures proper 125device 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, 137as a descriptor string. Valid descriptor values are listed in the <a 138href="#hw-features">Hardware features</a> and <a href="#sw-features">Software 139features</a> tables, below. Descriptor string values are case-sensitive.</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, 147you are specifying that the application <em>cannot function, or is not 148designed to function</em>, when the specified feature is not present on the 149device. </li> 150 151<li>When you declare <code>"android:required="false"</code> for a feature, it 152means that the application <em>prefers to use the feature</em> if present on 153the device, but that it <em>is designed to function without the specified 154feature</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 164represent the major number and the lower 16 bits represent the minor number. For 165example, 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> 169attribute in its manifest. If it specifies more than one, the 170<code>android:glEsVersion</code> with the numerically highest value is used and 171any other values are ignored.</p> 172 173 <p>If an application does not specify an <code>android:glEsVersion</code> 174attribute, then it is assumed that the application requires only OpenGL ES 1.0, 175which is supported by all Android-powered devices.</p> 176 177 <p>An application can assume that if a platform supports a given OpenGL ES 178version, it also supports all numerically lower OpenGL ES versions. Therefore, 179an application that requires both OpenGL ES 1.0 and OpenGL ES 2.0 must specify 180that it requires OpenGL ES 2.0.</p> 181 182 <p>An application that can work with any of several OpenGL ES versions should 183only specify the numerically lowest version of OpenGL ES that it requires. (It 184can 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 187version at runtime, see the <a href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/graphics/opengl.html">OpenGL ES</a> 188API 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 215users can see and download only those applications that are compatible with 216their devices. One of the ways it filters applications is by feature 217compatibility.</p> 218 219<p>To determine an application's feature compatibility with a given user's 220device, 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 — 226a 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 230provides a shared set of feature constants that both applications and devices 231use to declare feature requirements and support. The available feature constants 232are listed in the <a href="#features-reference">Features Reference</a> tables at 233the bottom of this document, and in the class documentation for {@link 234android.content.pm.PackageManager}.</p> 235 236<p>When the user launches Google Play, the application queries the 237Package Manager for the list of features available on the device by calling 238{@link android.content.pm.PackageManager#getSystemAvailableFeatures()}. The 239Store application then passes the features list up to Google Play 240when establishing the session for the user.</p> 241 242<p>Each time you upload an application to the Google Play Developer Console, 243Google Play scans the application's manifest file. It looks for 244<code><uses-feature></code> elements and evaluates them in combination 245with other elements, in some cases, such as <code><uses-sdk></code> and 246<code><uses-permission></code> elements. After establishing the 247application's set of required features, it stores that list internally as 248metadata associated with the application <code>.apk</code> and the application 249version. </p> 250 251<p>When a user searches or browses for applications using the Google Play 252application, the service compares the features needed by each application with 253the features available on the user's device. If all of an application's required 254features are present on the device, Google Play allows the user to see the 255application and potentially download it. If any required feature is not 256supported by the device, Google Play filters the application so that it is 257not visible to the user and not available for download. </p> 258 259<p>Because the features you declare in <code><uses-feature></code> 260elements directly affect how Google Play filters your application, it's 261important to understand how Google Play evaluates the application's manifest 262and establishes the set of required features. The sections below provide more 263information. </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 269an <code>android:required=["true" | "false"]</code> attribute (if you are 270compiling against API level 5 or higher), which lets you specify whether the 271application absolutely requires the feature and cannot function properly without 272it (<code>"true"</code>), or whether the application prefers to use the feature 273if 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 279the feature to the list of required features for the application. It then 280filters the application from users on devices that do not provide that feature. 281For 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 284Play <em>does not</em> add the feature to the list of required features. For 285that reason, an explicitly declared non-required feature is never considered when 286filtering the application. Even if the device does not provide the declared 287feature, Google Play will still consider the application compatible with the 288device and will show it to the user, unless other filtering rules apply. For 289example: 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 293is 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 297versions, the <code>android:required</code> attribute is not available in the 298API 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 302including an <code>android:required="false"</code> attribute, you can 303effectively 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 310function properly, but which is <em>not</em> declared in a 311<code><uses-feature></code> element in the manifest file. Strictly 312speaking, every application should <em>always</em> declare all features that it 313uses or requires, so the absence of a declaration for a feature used by an 314application should be considered an error. However, as a safeguard for users and 315developers, Google Play looks for implicit features in each application and 316sets up filters for those features, just as it would do for an explicitly 317declared 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 324not available.</li> 325<li>The developer incorrectly assumed that the feature would be present on all 326devices 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 329valid. For example, a spelling error in the <code><uses-feature></code> 330element 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 336application's implied feature requirements by examining <em>other elements</em> 337declared 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 342therefore requires those features</em>, even though there might be no 343corresponding to <code><uses-feature></code> declarations. For such 344permissions, Google Play adds the underlying hardware features to the 345metadata 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 348but does not declare a <code><uses-feature></code> element for 349<code>android.hardware.camera</code>, Google Play considers that the 350application requires a camera and should not be shown to users whose devices do 351not offer a camera.</p> 352 353<p>If you don't want Google Play to filter based on a specific implied 354feature, you can disable that behavior. To do so, declare the feature explicitly 355in a <code><uses-feature></code> element and include an 356<code>android:required="false"</code> attribute. For example, to disable 357filtering derived from the <code>CAMERA</code> permission, you would declare 358the 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 363request in <code><uses-permission></code> elements can directly affect how 364Google Play filters your application. The reference section <a 365href="#permissions">Permissions that Imply Feature Requirements</a>, 366below, lists the full set of permissions that imply feature requirements and 367therefore 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 372determining 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 376the Bluetooth feature in a <code><uses-feature></code> element, Google 377Play checks the version(s) of the Android platform on which the application is 378designed 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 381Bluetooth feature only if the application declares its lowest or targeted 382platform as Android 2.0 (API level 5) or higher. However, note that Google 383Play applies the normal rules for filtering when the application explicitly 384declares 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 388Bluetooth feature requirement for an application that requests a Bluetooth 389permission 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 402based on their reported support for the <code>android.hardware.bluetooth</code> 403feature.</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 409do not support the <code>android.hardware.bluetooth</code> feature (including 410older 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 419Google 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 423declares 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 436API level of "5". </dt> 437<dd><em>Result:</em> Google Play now assumes that the feature is required and 438will filter the application from all devices that do not report Bluetooth support, 439including 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 464feature 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 479determine how Google Play will filter your application, based on its declared 480features and permissions. To do so, run <code>aapt</code> with the <code>dump 481badging</code> command. This causes <code>aapt</code> to parse your 482application's manifest and apply the same rules as used by Google Play to 483determine 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>. 489If you are developing in Eclipse with ADT, right-click the project and select 490<strong>Android Tools</strong> > <strong>Export Unsigned Application 491Package</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. 494If 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 498you do not have the latest Platform-Tools component, download it using the <a 499href="{@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 509package: name='com.example.android.btexample' versionCode='' versionName='' 510<strong>uses-permission:'android.permission.BLUETOOTH_ADMIN'</strong> 511<strong>uses-feature:'android.hardware.bluetooth'</strong> 512sdkVersion:'3' 513targetSdkVersion:'5' 514application: label='BT Example' icon='res/drawable/app_bt_ex.png' 515launchable activity name='com.example.android.btexample.MyActivity'label='' icon='' 516uses-feature:'android.hardware.touchscreen' 517main 518supports-screens: 'small' 'normal' 'large' 519locales: '--_--' 520densities: '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 527features 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 532most current platform release. To signal that your application uses or requires 533a hardware feature, declare each value in a <code>android:name</code> attribute 534in 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 547is sensitive to delays or lag in sound input or output.</td> 548<td> 549</td> 550 </tr> 551 <tr> 552 <td rowspan="2">Bluetooth</td> 553 <td><code>android.hardware.bluetooth</code></td> 554 <td>The application uses Bluetooth radio features in the device.</td> 555 <td></td> 556 </tr> 557 <tr> 558 <td><code>android.hardware.bluetooth_le</code></td> 559 <td>The application uses Bluetooth Low Energy radio features in the device.</td> 560 <td></td> 561 </tr> 562 <tr> 563 <td rowspan="5">Camera</td> 564 <td><code>android.hardware.camera</code></td> 565 <td>The application uses the device's camera. If the device supports 566 multiple cameras, the application uses the camera that facing 567 away from the screen.</td> 568 <td></td> 569 </tr> 570<tr> 571 <td><code>android.hardware.camera.autofocus</code></td> 572 <td>Subfeature. The application uses the device camera's autofocus capability.</td> 573 <td rowspan="3">These subfeatures implicitly declare the 574<code>android.hardware.camera</code> parent feature, unless declared with 575<code>android:required="false"</code>.</td> 576</tr> 577<tr> 578 <td><code>android.hardware.camera.flash</code></td> 579 <td>Subfeature. The application uses the device camera's flash.</td> 580</tr> 581<tr> 582 <td><code>android.hardware.camera.front</code></td> 583 <td>Subfeature. The application uses a front-facing camera on the device.</td> 584</tr> 585<tr> 586 <td><code>android.hardware.camera.any</code></td> 587 <td>The application uses at least one camera facing in any direction, or an 588external camera device if one is connected. Use this in preference to 589<code>android.hardware.camera</code> if a back-facing camera is not required. 590 </td> 591</tr> 592<tr> 593 <td><code>android.hardware.camera.external</code></td> 594 <td>The application uses an external camera device if one is connected.</td> 595</tr> 596 597<tr> 598 <td>Infrared</td> 599 <td><code>android.hardware.consumerir</code></td> 600 <td>The application uses the consumer IR capabilities on the device.</td> 601 <td></td> 602</tr> 603 604<tr> 605 <td rowspan="3">Location</td> 606 <td><code>android.hardware.location</code></td> 607 <td>The application uses one or more features on the device for determining 608location, such as GPS location, network location, or cell location.</td> 609 <td></td> 610</tr> 611<tr> 612 <td><code>android.hardware.location.network</code></td> 613 <td>Subfeature. The application uses coarse location coordinates obtained from 614a network-based geolocation system supported on the device.</td> 615 <td rowspan="2">These subfeatures implicitly declare the 616<code>android.hardware.location</code> parent feature, unless declared with 617<code>android:required="false"</code>. </td> 618</tr> 619<tr> 620 <td><code>android.hardware.location.gps</code></td> 621 <td>Subfeature. The application uses precise location coordinates obtained 622from a Global Positioning System receiver on the device. </td> 623</tr> 624<tr> 625 <td>Microphone</td> 626 <td><code>android.hardware.microphone</code></td> 627 <td>The application uses a microphone on the device. 628 </td> 629 <td></td> 630</tr> 631<tr> 632 <td rowspan="2">NFC</td> 633 <td><code>android.hardware.nfc</td> 634 <td>The application uses Near Field Communications radio features in the device.</td> 635 <td></td> 636</tr> 637<tr> 638 <td><code>android.hardware.nfc.hce</code></td> 639 <td>The application uses the NFC card emulation feature in the device.</td> 640 <td></td> 641</tr> 642<tr> 643 <td rowspan="8">Sensors</td> 644 <td><code>android.hardware.sensor.accelerometer</code></td> 645 <td>The application uses motion readings from an accelerometer on the 646device.</td> 647 <td></td> 648</tr> 649<tr> 650 <td><code>android.hardware.sensor.barometer</code></td> 651 <td>The application uses the device's barometer.</td> 652 <td></td> 653</tr> 654<tr> 655 <td><code>android.hardware.sensor.compass</code></td> 656 <td>The application uses directional readings from a magnetometer (compass) on 657the device.</td> 658 <td></td> 659</tr> 660<tr> 661 <td><code>android.hardware.sensor.gyroscope</code></td> 662 <td>The application uses the device's gyroscope sensor.</td> 663 <td></td> 664</tr> 665<tr> 666 <td><code>android.hardware.sensor.light</code></td> 667 <td>The application uses the device's light sensor.</td> 668 <td></td> 669</tr> 670<tr> 671 <td><code>android.hardware.sensor.proximity</code></td> 672 <td>The application uses the device's proximity sensor.</td> 673 <td></td> 674</tr> 675<tr> 676 <td><code>android.hardware.sensor.stepcounter</code></td> 677 <td>The application uses the device's step counter.</td> 678 <td></td> 679</tr> 680<tr> 681 <td><code>android.hardware.sensor.stepdetector</code></td> 682 <td>The application uses the device's step detector.</td> 683 <td></td> 684</tr> 685 686<tr> 687 <td rowspan="2">Screen</td> 688 <td><code>android.hardware.screen.landscape</code></td> 689 <td>The application requires landscape orientation.</td> 690 <td rowspan="2"> 691 <p>For example, if your app requires portrait orientation, you should declare 692<code><uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.screen.portrait"/></code> so that only devices 693that support portrait orientation (whether always or by user choice) can install your app. If your 694application <em>supports</em> both orientations, then you don't need to declare either.</p> 695 <p>Both orientations are assumed <em>not required</em>, by default, so your app may be installed 696on devices that support one or both orientations. However, if any of your activities request that 697they run in a specific orientation, using the <a 698href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/manifest/activity-element.html#screen">{@code 699android:screenOrientation}</a> attribute, then this also declares that the application requires that 700orientation. For example, if you declare <a 701href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/manifest/activity-element.html#screen">{@code 702android:screenOrientation}</a> with either {@code "landscape"}, {@code "reverseLandscape"}, or 703{@code "sensorLandscape"}, then your application will be available only to devices that support 704landscape orientation. As a best practice, you should still declare your requirement for this 705orientation using a {@code <uses-feature>} element. If you declare an orientation for your 706activity using <a href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/manifest/activity-element.html#screen">{@code 707android:screenOrientation}</a>, but don't actually <em>require</em> it, you can disable the 708requirement by declaring the orientation with a {@code <uses-feature>} element and include 709{@code android:required="false"}.</p> 710 <p>For backwards compatibility, any device running a platform version that supports only API 711level 12 or lower is assumed to support both landscape and portrait.</p> 712 </td> 713</tr> 714<tr> 715 <td><code>android.hardware.screen.portrait</code></td> 716 <td>The application requires portrait orientation.</td> 717</tr> 718 719<tr> 720 <td rowspan="3">Telephony</td> 721 <td><code>android.hardware.telephony</code></td> 722 <td>The application uses telephony features on the device, such as telephony 723radio with data communication services.</td> 724 <td></td> 725</tr> 726<tr> 727 <td><code>android.hardware.telephony.cdma</code></td> 728 <td>Subfeature. The application uses CDMA telephony radio features on the 729device. </td> 730 <td rowspan="2">These subfeatures implicitly declare the 731<code>android.hardware.telephony</code> parent feature, unless declared with 732<code>android:required="false"</code>. </td> 733</tr> 734<tr> 735 <td><code>android.hardware.telephony.gsm</code></td> 736 <td>Subfeature. The application uses GSM telephony radio features on the 737device.</td> 738</tr> 739 740<tr> 741 <td>Television</td> 742 <td><code>android.hardware.type.television</code></td> 743 <td>The application is designed for a television user experience.</td> 744 <td>This feature defines "television" to be a typical living room television experience: 745 displayed on a big screen, where the user is sitting far away and the dominant form of 746 input is something like a d-pad, and generally not through touch or a 747 mouse/pointer-device.</td> 748</tr> 749 750<tr> 751 <td rowspan="7">Touchscreen</td> 752 <td><code>android.hardware.faketouch</code></td> 753 <td>The application uses basic touch interaction events, such as "click down", "click 754up", and drag.</td> 755 <td><p>When declared as required, this indicates that the application is compatible with a device 756only if it offers an emulated touchscreen ("fake touch" interface), or better. A device that offers 757a fake touch interface provides a user input system that emulates a subset of touchscreen 758capabilities. For example, a mouse or remote control that drives an on-screen cursor provides a fake 759touch interface. If your application requires basic point and click interaction (in other 760words, it won't work with <em>only</em> a d-pad controller), you should declare this feature. 761Because this is the minimum level of touch interaction, your app will also be compatible with 762devices that offer more complex touch interfaces.</p> 763 <p class="note"><strong>Note:</strong> Because applications require the {@code 764android.hardware.touchscreen} feature by default, if you want your application to be available to 765devices that provide a fake touch interface, you must also explicitly declare that a touch screen is 766<em>not</em> required by declaring {@code <uses-feature 767android:name="android.hardware.touchscreen" <strong>android:required="false"</strong> 768/>}</p></td> 769</tr> 770 771<tr> 772 <td><code>android.hardware.faketouch.multitouch.distinct</code></td> 773 <td>The application performs distinct tracking of two or more "fingers" on a fake touch 774interface. This is a superset of the faketouch feature.</td> 775 <td><p>When declared as required, this indicates that the application is compatible with a device 776only if it supports touch emulation for events that supports distinct tracking of two or more 777fingers, or better.</p> 778 <p>Unlike the distinct multitouch defined by {@code 779android.hardware.touchscreen.multitouch.distinct}, input devices that support distinct multi-touch 780with a fake touch interface will not support all two-finger gestures, because the input is 781being transformed to cursor movement on the screen. That is, single finger gestures on such a device 782move a cursor; two-finger swipes will result in single-finger touch events; other two-finger 783gestures will result in the corresponding two-finger touch event. An example device that supports 784distinct multi-touch with a fake touch interface is one that provides a trackpad for cursor movement 785which also supports two or more fingers.</p></td> 786</tr> 787 788<tr> 789 <td><code>android.hardware.faketouch.multitouch.jazzhand</code></td> 790 <td>The application performs distinct tracking of five or more "fingers" on a fake touch 791interface. This is a superset of the faketouch feature.</td> 792 <td><p>When declared as required, this indicates that the application is compatible with a device 793only if it supports touch emulation for events that supports distinct tracking of five or more 794fingers.</p> 795 <p>Unlike the distinct multitouch defined by {@code 796android.hardware.touchscreen.multitouch.jazzhand}, input devices that support jazzhand multi-touch 797with a fake touch interface will not support all five-finger gestures, because the input is being 798transformed to cursor movement on the screen. That is, single finger gestures on such a device move 799a cursor; multi-finger gestures will result in single-finger touch events; other multi-finger 800gestures will result in the corresponding multi-finger touch event. An example device that supports 801distinct multi-touch with a fake touch interface is one that provides a trackpad for cursor movement 802which also supports five or more fingers.</p></td> 803</tr> 804 805<tr> 806 <td><code>android.hardware.touchscreen</code></td> 807 <td>The application uses touchscreen capabilities for gestures that are more interactive 808than basic touch events, such as a fling. This is a superset of the basic faketouch feature.</td> 809 <td><p>By default, your application requires this. As such, your application is <em>not</em> 810available to devices that provide only an emulated touch interface ("fake touch"), by default. If 811you want your application available to devices that provide a fake touch interface (or even devices 812that provide only a d-pad controller), you must explicitly declare that a touch screen is not 813required, by declaring {@code android.hardware.touchscreen} with {@code android:required="false"}. 814You should do so even if your application uses—but does not <em>require</em>—a real 815touch screen interface.</p> 816<p>If your application <em>does require</em> a touch interface (in order to perform touch 817gestures such as a fling), then you don't need to do anything, because this is required by default. 818However, it's best if you explicitly declare all features used by your application, so you should 819still declare this if your app uses it.</p> 820 <p>If you require more complex touch interaction, such as multi-finger gestures, you 821should declare the advanced touch screen features below.</p></td> 822</tr> 823<tr> 824 <td><code>android.hardware.touchscreen.multitouch</code></td> 825 <td>The application uses basic two-point multitouch capabilities on the device 826screen, such as for pinch gestures, but does not need to track touches independently. This 827is a superset of touchscreen feature.</td> 828 <td>This implicitly declares the <code>android.hardware.touchscreen</code> parent feature, unless 829declared with <code>android:required="false"</code>. </td> 830</tr> 831<tr> 832 <td><code>android.hardware.touchscreen.multitouch.distinct</code></td> 833 <td>Subfeature. The application uses advanced multipoint multitouch 834capabilities on the device screen, such as for tracking two or more points fully 835independently. This is a superset of multitouch feature.</td> 836 <td rowspan="2">This implicitly declares the <code>android.hardware.touchscreen.multitouch</code> 837parent feature, unless declared with <code>android:required="false"</code>. </td> 838</tr> 839<tr> 840 <td><code>android.hardware.touchscreen.multitouch.jazzhand</code></td> 841 <td>The application uses advanced multipoint multitouch 842capabilities on the device screen, for tracking up to five points fully 843independently. This is a superset of distinct multitouch feature.</td> 844</tr> 845 846<tr> 847 <td rowspan="2">USB</td> 848 <td><code>android.hardware.usb.host</code></td> 849 <td>The application uses USB host mode features (behaves as the host and connects to USB 850devices).</td> 851 <td></td> 852</tr> 853 854<tr> 855 <td><code>android.hardware.usb.accessory</code></td> 856 <td>The application uses USB accessory features (behaves as the USB device and connects to USB 857hosts).</td> 858 <td></td> 859</tr> 860 861<tr> 862 <td rowspan="2">Wi-Fi</td> 863 <td><code>android.hardware.wifi</code></td> 864 <td>The application uses 802.11 networking (Wi-Fi) features on the device.</td> 865 <td></td> 866</tr> 867<tr> 868 <td><code>android.hardware.wifi.direct</code></td> 869 <td>The application uses the Wi-Fi Direct networking features on the device.</td> 870</tr> 871 872 </table> 873 874<h3 id="sw-features">Software features</h3> 875 876<p>The table below describes the software feature descriptors supported by the 877most current platform release. To signal that your application uses or requires 878a software feature, declare each value in a <code>android:name</code> attribute 879in a separate <code><uses-feature></code> element. </p> 880 881 882 <table> 883<tr> 884 <th>Feature</th> 885 <th>Attribute Value</th> 886 <th>Description</th> 887</tr> 888<tr> 889 <td>App Widgets</td> 890 <td><code>android.software.app_widgets</code></td> 891 <td>The application uses or provides App Widgets and should be installed only on devices 892 that include a Home screen or similar location where users can embed App Widgets.</td> 893</tr> 894<tr> 895 <td>Device Management</td> 896 <td><code>android.software.device_admin</code></td> 897 <td>The application uses device policy enforcement via device administrators.</td> 898</tr> 899<tr> 900 <td>Home Screen</td> 901 <td><code>android.software.home_screen</code></td> 902 <td>The application behaves as a Home screen replacement and should be installed only on 903 devices that support third-party Home screen apps.</td> 904</tr> 905<tr> 906 <td>Input Method</td> 907 <td><code>android.software.input_methods</code></td> 908 <td>The application provides a custom input method and should be installed only on devices that 909 support third-party input methods.</td> 910</tr> 911<tr> 912 <td>Live Wallpaper</td> 913 <td><code>android.software.live_wallpaper</code></td> 914 <td>The application uses or provides Live Wallpapers and should be installed only on devices that 915 support Live Wallpapers.</td> 916</tr> 917<tr> 918 <td rowspan="2">SIP/VOIP</td> 919 <td><code>android.software.sip</code></td> 920 <td>The application uses SIP service on the device and should be installed only on devices that 921 support SIP. 922 </td> 923</tr> 924<tr> 925 <td><code>android.software.sip.voip</code></td> 926 <td><p>Subfeature. The application uses SIP-based VOIP service on the device. 927 <p>This subfeature implicitly declares the <code>android.software.sip</code> parent feature, 928unless declared with <code>android:required="false"</code>.</td> 929</tr> 930 </table> 931 932 933<h3 id="permissions">Permissions that Imply Feature Requirements</h3> 934 935<p>Some feature constants listed in the tables above were made available to 936applications <em>after</em> the corresponding API; for example, the 937<code>android.hardware.bluetooth</code> feature was added in Android 2.2 (API 938level 8), but the bluetooth API that it refers to was added in Android 2.0 (API 939level 5). Because of this, some apps were able to use the API before they had 940the ability to declare that they require the API via the 941<code><uses-feature></code> system. </p> 942 943<p>To prevent those apps from being made available unintentionally, Google 944Play assumes that certain hardware-related permissions indicate that the 945underlying hardware features are required by default. For instance, applications 946that use Bluetooth must request the <code>BLUETOOTH</code> permission in a 947<code><uses-permission></code> element — for legacy apps, Google 948Play assumes that the permission declaration means that the underlying 949<code>android.hardware.bluetooth</code> feature is required by the application 950and sets up filtering based on that feature. </p> 951 952<p>The table below lists permissions that imply feature requirements 953equivalent to those declared in <code><uses-feature></code> elements. Note 954that <code><uses-feature></code> declarations, including any declared 955<code>android:required</code> attribute, always take precedence over features 956implied by the permissions below. </p> 957 958<p>For any of the permissions below, you can disable filtering based on the 959implied feature by explicitly declaring the implied feature explicitly, in a 960<code><uses-feature></code> element, with an 961<code>android:required="false"</code> attribute. For example, to disable any 962filtering based on the <code>CAMERA</code> permission, you would add this 963<code><uses-feature></code> declaration to the manifest file:</p> 964 965<pre><uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.camera" android:required="false" /></pre> 966 967<table id="permissions-features" > 968 <tr> 969 <th>Category</th> 970 <th>This Permission...</th> 971 <th>Implies This Feature Requirement</th> 972 <!-- <th>Comments</th> --> 973 </tr> 974 975 976<tr> 977 <td rowspan="2">Bluetooth</td> 978 <td><code>BLUETOOTH</code></td> 979 <td><code>android.hardware.bluetooth</code> 980<p>(See <a href="#bt-permission-handling">Special handling for Bluetooth feature</a> for details.)</p></td> 981<!-- <td></td> --> 982</tr> 983<tr> 984 <td><code>BLUETOOTH_ADMIN</code></td> 985 <td><code>android.hardware.bluetooth</code></td> 986<!-- <td></td> --> 987</tr> 988 989<tr> 990 <td>Camera</td> 991 <td><code>CAMERA</code></td> 992 <td><code>android.hardware.camera</code> <em>and</em> 993<br><code>android.hardware.camera.autofocus</code></td> 994<!-- <td></td> --> 995</tr> 996 997<tr> 998 <td rowspan="5">Location</td> 999 <td><code>ACCESS_MOCK_LOCATION</code></td> 1000 <td><code>android.hardware.location</code></td> 1001<!-- <td></td> --> 1002</tr> 1003<tr> 1004 <td><code>ACCESS_LOCATION_EXTRA_COMMANDS</code></td> 1005 <td><code>android.hardware.location</code></td> 1006<!-- <td></td> --> 1007</tr> 1008<tr> 1009 <td><code>INSTALL_LOCATION_PROVIDER</code></td> 1010 <td><code>android.hardware.location</code></td> 1011<!-- <td></td> --> 1012</tr> 1013<tr> 1014 <td><code>ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION</code></td> 1015 <td><code>android.hardware.location.network</code> <em>and</em> 1016<br><code>android.hardware.location</code></td> 1017<!-- <td></td> --> 1018</tr> 1019<tr> 1020 <td><code>ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION</code></td> 1021 <td><code>android.hardware.location.gps</code> <em>and</em> 1022<br><code>android.hardware.location</code></td> 1023<!-- <td></td> --> 1024</tr> 1025 1026<tr> 1027 <td>Microphone</td> 1028 <td><code>RECORD_AUDIO</code></td> 1029 <td><code>android.hardware.microphone</code></td> 1030<!-- <td></td> --> 1031</tr> 1032 1033<tr> 1034 <td rowspan="11">Telephony</td> 1035 <td><code>CALL_PHONE</code></td> 1036 <td><code>android.hardware.telephony</code></td> 1037<!-- <td></td> --> 1038</tr> 1039<tr> 1040 <td><code>CALL_PRIVILEGED</code></td> 1041 <td><code>android.hardware.telephony</code></td> 1042<!-- <td></td> --> 1043</tr> 1044 1045<tr> 1046 <td><code>MODIFY_PHONE_STATE</code></td> 1047 <td><code>android.hardware.telephony</code></td> 1048<!-- <td></td> --> 1049</tr> 1050<tr> 1051 <td><code>PROCESS_OUTGOING_CALLS</code></td> 1052 <td><code>android.hardware.telephony</code></td> 1053<!-- <td></td> --> 1054</tr> 1055<tr> 1056 <td><code>READ_SMS</code></td> 1057 <td><code>android.hardware.telephony</code></td> 1058<!-- <td></td> --> 1059</tr> 1060<tr> 1061 <td><code>RECEIVE_SMS</code></td> 1062 <td><code>android.hardware.telephony</code></td> 1063<!-- <td></td> --> 1064</tr> 1065<tr> 1066 <td><code>RECEIVE_MMS</code></td> 1067 <td><code>android.hardware.telephony</code></td> 1068<!-- <td></td> --> 1069</tr> 1070<tr> 1071 <td><code>RECEIVE_WAP_PUSH</code></td> 1072 <td><code>android.hardware.telephony</code></td> 1073<!-- <td></td> --> 1074</tr> 1075<tr> 1076 <td><code>SEND_SMS</code></td> 1077 <td><code>android.hardware.telephony</code></td> 1078<!-- <td></td> --> 1079</tr> 1080<tr> 1081 <td><code>WRITE_APN_SETTINGS</code></td> 1082 <td><code>android.hardware.telephony</code></td> 1083<!-- <td></td> --> 1084</tr> 1085<tr> 1086 <td><code>WRITE_SMS</code></td> 1087 <td><code>android.hardware.telephony</code></td> 1088<!-- <td></td> --> 1089</tr> 1090 1091<tr> 1092 <td rowspan="3">Wi-Fi</td> 1093 <td><code>ACCESS_WIFI_STATE</code></td> 1094 <td><code>android.hardware.wifi</code></td> 1095<!-- <td></td> --> 1096</tr> 1097<tr> 1098 <td><code>CHANGE_WIFI_STATE</code></td> 1099 <td><code>android.hardware.wifi</code></td> 1100<!-- <td></td> --> 1101</tr> 1102<tr> 1103 <td><code>CHANGE_WIFI_MULTICAST_STATE</code></td> 1104 <td><code>android.hardware.wifi</code></td> 1105<!-- <td></td> --> 1106</tr> 1107</table> 1108