>The user can use a file picker to select individual files as well.

the top comment on this thread says:

It lets an app read and write only files the app owns (or read files a user picks through the file picker control).

which would not include writing picker files. Are you saying picker files could be written?

You do not need to request any sort of OS permission or Drive API access to read or write Drive files that are selected using the system document picker. You do need to specify that you want a writable file when you open the picker. The system will grant your app write permission for that file URI only.

So then the app can't have Recent Files functionality.

Or open the last file the user was editing as it may have been edited elsewhere.

Seems pretty unworkable for a text editor.

Only if you absolutely insist on creating your own special snowflake file picker UI instead of using the OS file picker

I don't think that's true, doesn't the file picker have recent files in it?

> Or open the last file the user was editing as it may have been edited elsewhere.

When is this a particular use case? Auto open a file I opened elsewhere?

The iOS file picker does have a recent files tab and it seems to be the first one that opens.

Those seem pretty minor, and are you sure Google doesn't allow a way for permission on the file to persist?

Even if it doesn't, you can access recent files from the Drive file picker.

> So then the app can't have Recent Files functionality.

Yeah, this is an issue. Google really needs to fix this. And there are multiple ways to do that! They can remember that a file was opened by the app earlier, and let it access again for a reasonable period.

They can also allow delegating access on a directory level instead of a binary all-or-nothing approach.

Android DOES remember permissions for folders that you have opened previously through the picker (although the app does have to code for that); and you can reuse the URLs for files that you have received through the picker, as long as the permissions are still intact. (You can lose them if the app is used infrequently).

Life would be so much easier if the Android File Picker UI weren't so incredibly awful. Has to be the worst piece of UI design I have ever seen. Incredibly difficult to use even if you know exactly what you want.