Aug
18
2019

Read File from Oculus Quest /sdcard/ Folder

An article by mgear

New 2023 (more limitations)

“This is because the Quest OS v53 now uses Android 12, which limits the way apps can access storage. From the developers of Polysketch:

– No Access
— /sdcard/Polysketch/
– Can create folders, but not files
— /sdcard/Android/Polysketch/
– Full folder & file creation
— /sdcard/Android/Android/data/com.PolysketchLLC.Polysketch/files (Application.persistentDataPath)
— /sdcard/Download/Polysketch/ —– not very safe as users will arbitrarily delete-all here if running out of space
— /sdcard/Documents/Polysketch/ —– seems like the best option. Easy user access, and we can read each other’s save locations if we wish to.

How to update –
Setting the flag preserveLegacyExternalStorage to true in the manifest will allow you to read & write from sdcard/whatever/ if the app is installed as an update to an older version. On clean installs, this flag is ignored. So this flag won’t grant us access indefinitely, but will let us read old save files and move them to the new preferred spot. AndroidManifest.xml <application android:requestLegacyExternalStorage=”true” android:PreserveLegacyExternalStorage=”true”>

Source:
https://forum.unity.com/threads/access-to-oculus-2-local-video-images-from-unity.1434886/#post-9004114

Solution#1:

– Place your file into some sdcard folder (by browsing there with Explorer), for example:”This PC\Quest\Internal shared storage\Download\myfile.txt”
– Add script to load file:
var t = File.ReadAllText("/sdcard/Download/myfile.txt");
– From Unity menu select: Oculus/Tools/Create store-compatible AndroidManifest.xml
– Modify Assets/Plugin/Android/AndroidManifest.xml, add this line after </application> :
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" />
– Build & Run *Note: run fails, due to missing launch action.. so run the app manually in device (from library/unknown sources)
– Allow Read permissions when you start the app

Optional:
– You can enable LAUNCHER, to make Build & Run work, by replacing this line:
<category android:name="android.intent.category.INFO"/>
with:
<category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER"/>
– Can also disable permission request (while doing tests), by modifying this line:
meta-data android:name="unityplayer.SkipPermissionsDialog" android:value="false"
into:
meta-data android:name="unityplayer.SkipPermissionsDialog" android:value="true"
– Can also add Write permissions:
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE"/>

My AndroidManifest.xml:
https://gist.github.com/unitycoder/a8a827311ea0837b06af6ccde85effec

My Build Settings for Install location and Write Permissions (they don’t seem to affect much?)
*UPDATE: Settings Write Permission to External seems to help!

Solution#2: (temporary fix)

check what permissions the app has:
adb shell dumpsys package <package_name>
then add permissions
adb shell pm grant <package_name> android.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE
adb shell pm grant <package_name> android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE

You need to get this dialog to appear, so can you can grant access (if it doesnt appear from Build & Run, then close the app, start app from Library / unknown sources)

Resources:
– https://developer.oculus.com/distribute/latest/concepts/publish-mobile-manifest/
– https://forums.oculusvr.com/developer/discussion/78412/accessing-local-files

Tags: file, oculus, permissions, quest, read, sdcard, unity, vr

About the Author:

.fi

10 Comments + Add Comment

Ben Outram 15/01/2020 at 03:39

Hasn’t worked for me.

I followed the instructions closely, replaced the manifest file with the example provided. I built and run, and then closed the app and opened it from ‘Unknown sources’. I believe it throws an error when running the line

string testLoadString = File.ReadAllText(“/sdcard/Download/test.txt”);

Although I don’t know how to see the error once it is not in Unity. Note that, even when I had not included the line

meta-data android:name=”unityplayer.SkipPermissionsDialog” android:value=”true”

it still didn’t ask for permissions when running the app.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Reply
- mgear 15/01/2020 at 22:31
  
  tested it, and seems like using “Write Permission to External” in build settings helped!
  Also you need to get that permission dialog to appear, otherwise it didnt work. (not sure if it appeared when running from library – instead of build and run, or if my new AndroidManifest.xml helper, i’ve added it to that previous link)
  
  Reply
Swan Collective 04/11/2020 at 22:26

This worked perfectly on Quest 1, BUT not on Quest 2.
Any idea if the path changed on Quest 2?

Can pay 50$ via paypal for any insight leading to the solution 🙂

Thanks
Felix

Reply
- mgear 05/11/2020 at 10:23
  
  i’m interested also, waiting for quest 2 to arrive.. maybe in the next few weeks can test too.
  
  is there sdcard folder if you browse device from windows? (thats from where i checked it last time)
  
  Reply
- mgear 11/12/2020 at 18:24
  
  works now, see the comment / link for @3dskild
  
  Reply
Gerard Slee 23/11/2020 at 19:11

Any news on if Quest 2 directory has changed? On if there are any new steps involved.

Reply
- mgear 23/11/2020 at 21:39
  
  looks like others having problems too.
  adding this for reference, https://forums.oculusvr.com/developer/discussion/94022/quest-2-local-storage-path-changed-quest1-app-broken
  
  i didn’t get my quest2 yet so cannot test that adb shell command either..
  
  Reply
3skild 07/12/2020 at 13:18

I had video file read problems in 2019.1 and it seems to be an Android 10 bug.
It was solved for me by using Unity 2019.2.
https://issuetracker.unity3d.com/issues/android-video-player-cannot-play-files-located-in-the-persistent-data-directory-on-android-10?_ga=2.2188601.882680562.1607255200-1472655325.1605534586

Reply
- mgear 11/12/2020 at 18:23
  
  nice! works in Quest 2 if select: Android 9 (API 28) *i’m using 2018.4.8f1
  https://forums.oculusvr.com/developer/discussion/comment/779570/#Comment_779570
  
  Reply
  - mgear 11/01/2021 at 10:26
    
    possible manifest fix:
    https://forum.unity.com/threads/android-10-and-scoped-storage-missed-features-in-unity-2019.749333/#post-5095214
    
    Reply