Is possible to specify different permissions depending on the Android version?

Question

my app is actually using the PARSE library for push notifications, which requires some permissions to work properly. I've noticed that some of the potential users of my application are a bit suspicious in particular of the permission GET_ACCOUNTS: they think it could access their personal data or so :-/

I looked at the Android documentation (see here) and it seems that GET_ACCOUNTS is only required for push notifications for devices running OS versions below 4.0.4, so I would like to get rid of that permission at least for higher OS versions.

What it the best way to achieve this?. I imagine that I could use the Play Store Multiple APK support, but is this really necessary just for removing a single line of permissions in Manifest file?. I hope there is a better solution but so far I couldn't find out any other.

Answer 1

Use android:maxSdkVersion on your <uses-permission> Manifest entry:

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.GET_ACCOUNTS"
    android:maxSdkVersion="13" />

Note: you should still test on both Android versions as Parse may still check for an account even on higher versions of Android.