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Qt Android Manifest File Configuration

The Android Manifest is an XML file necessary for any Android app. It contains app configuration for different settings and features that the app use, as well as details on the app itself, such as, package name, app name, version, etc. Permissions and hardware features can also be set from the manifest.

Qt for Android maintains a version of AndroidManifest.xml with default configuration that include features, permissions and other configuration used by the build system which are needed for building and running Qt apps on Android.

Qt Project to Manifest Configuration

Qt defines some meta-data that is passed from the build systems and to androiddeployqt which populates the manifest with the correct values without explicitly setting these in the manifest file. Such meta-data is assigned a value in the form "-- %%INSERT_VALUE%% --", for example:

<manifest ...
    android:versionCode="-- %%INSERT_VERSION_CODE%% --"
    ...
</manifest>

This would be populated with the version code that is set in, for example, CMake.

Qt Default Configuration

Qt sets the following manifest configuration by default:

Section	Option	Description
<manifest>	package	Sets the package name. Default: `org.qtproject.example.app_name`.
	`android:installLocation`	Sets the app's installation location, whether internal or external storage. Default: `auto`.
	android:versionCode	Sets the internal version code. Populated from `ANDROID_VERSION_CODE` (qmake) and `QT_ANDROID_VERSION_CODE` (CMake). Default: `1`.
	android:versionName	Sets the public version name. Populated from `ANDROID_VERSION_NAME` (qmake) and `QT_ANDROID_VERSION_NAME` (CMake). Default: `1.0`.
	`<supports-screens>`	Sets the screen sizes that the app supports, default values are `anyDensity`, `largeScreens`, `normalScreens`, and `smallScreens`.
<application>	android:name	The application class name. Default: `org.qtproject.qt.android.bindings.QtApplication`.
	android:label	The application name label. Default: the Qt project's target name.
	android:extractNativeLibs	Extracts the native C++ libraries on installation. Default: `true`.
	android:hardwareAccelerated	Sets hardware acceleration preference. Default: `true`.
	android:requestLegacyExternalStorage	Whether to use Android scoped storage. Default `true`.
<activity>	android:name	The activity class name. Default: `org.qtproject.qt.android.bindings.QtActivity`.
	android:label	The activity name label. Default: the Qt project's target name.
	android:configChanges	Lists configuration changes that the activity handles. Default: `orientation`, `uiMode`, `screenLayout`, `screenSize`, `smallestScreenSize`, `layoutDirection`, `locale`, `fontScale`, `keyboard`, `keyboardHidden`, `navigation`, `mcc`, `mnc`, `density`.
	android:launchMode	The method used to launch the activity. Default: `singleTop`.
	android:screenOrientation	The orientation of the activity's display on the device. Default: `unspecified`.
	<intent-filter>	Specifies the types of intents that the activity can respond to. Default: <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN"/> <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER"/>

Qt Specific Meta-data

In addition to the default manifest configuration that Qt sets, Qt defines some meta-data that is valid for Qt apps only. Such meta-data is usually under the <activity> section in the form:

<meta-data
    android:name="meta-data-name"
    android:value="meta-data-value" />

The following is a list of such meta-data defined by Qt:

meta-data name	Description
android.app.lib_name	The filename of the native C++ library that is used by the activity. Note: This attribute is mandatory and shouldn't be removed. Default: the Qt project's target name.
android.app.extract_android_style	The method used to extract the native Android Style information. For more information, see Style Extraction. Default: `minimal`.
android.app.background_running	Sets whether the app keeps running tasks in the background. Setting this to `true` is the equivalent of setting the environment variable `QT_BLOCK_EVENT_LOOPS_WHEN_SUSPENDED` to `0`. Default: `false`. Warning: Setting this to `true` may cause unexpected crash if the application tries to draw after QGuiApplication::applicationStateChanged() signal is sent with a Qt::ApplicationSuspended state.
android.app.arguments	Sets a list of arguments to pass to the app `"arg1 arg2"`. Populated from `ANDROID_APPLICATION_ARGUMENTS` (qmake) and `QT_ANDROID_APPLICATION_ARGUMENTS` (CMake). Default: not set.
android.app.splash_screen_drawable_portrait	Sets a drawable for a splash screen specific to portrait mode. For example: `android:resource="@drawable/splash_portrait"`. Default: not set.
android.app.splash_screen_drawable_landscape	Sets a drawable for a splash screen specific to landscape mode. For example: `android:resource="@drawable/splash_landscape"`. Default: not set.
android.app.splash_screen_drawable	Sets a drawable for a splash screen at the start of the app. Note: Orientation specific splash screens are checked first, if not set, this is used instead. For example: `android:resource="@drawable/splash"`. Default: not set.
android.app.splash_screen_sticky	Sets whether the splash screen stays visible until explicitly hidden by the app. For more information, see QAndroidApplication::hideSplashScreen().
android.app.system_libs_prefix	Specifies a custom system library path to use for library loading lookup. This is necessary when running as a system app. Default: `/system/lib/`.

Meta-data in Services

Some meta-data attributes can also be used in Services. The main ones are:

Qt Permissions and Features

Different Qt modules might require some Android permissions or features to function properly, for example, Camera permission in QtMultimedia. l{The androiddeployqt Tool} takes care of including such requirements into the Android manifest during the build. Qt defines the following lines into the manifest, which they get replaced by the actual values:

<manifest ...
    <!-- %%INSERT_PERMISSIONS -->
    <!-- %%INSERT_FEATURES -->
    ...
</manifest>

Note: If those lines are removed from the project manifest, Qt won't be able to include the correct permissions. So some functionalities might not work properly.

Style Extraction

Qt uses different methods to determine how Qt Widgets and Qt Quick Controls should be styled:

default or full: when using Qt Widgets or Qt Quick Controls 1.

Note: This method uses some Android non-SDK interfaces, that are being restricted and removed by Google starting from Android 9.0 (API 28). For that reason, this is not recommended for Android 9.0 or greater.
minimal: when using Qt Quick Controls 2 and no Qt Widgets or Qt Quick Controls 1. This is faster than using the default or full options.
none: no style extraction.

Qt Manifest before 6.2 Release

Versions of Qt earlier than 6.2 used to have an additional set of meta-data defined by Qt. These attributes used to manage dependencies and some were used by the discontinued Ministro service. With Qt 6.2, they should be removed. Here is a list of these attributes:

android.app.qt_sources_resource_id
android.app.repository
android.app.bundled_libs_resource_id
android.app.bundle_local_qt_libs
android.app.use_local_qt_libs
android.app.libs_prefix
android.app.load_local_libs_resource_id
android.app.load_local_jars
android.app.static_init_classes
android.app.qt_libs_resource_id
android.app.ministro_not_found_msg
android.app.ministro_needed_msg
android.app.fatal_error_msg

For more information on the Android Manifest, see Android App Manifest.

© The Qt Company Ltd
Licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3.
https://doc.qt.io/qt-6.2/android-manifest-file-configuration.html