Permissions & Background Work

Runtime permissions

Dangerous permissions (camera, location, contacts) must be requested at runtime, not just in the manifest.

val launcher = registerForActivityResult(
    ActivityResultContracts.RequestPermission()
) { granted ->
    if (granted) openCamera() else showMessage("Permission needed")
}

launcher.launch(Manifest.permission.CAMERA)

Background work with WorkManager

For tasks that must run even if the app closes (sync, upload), use WorkManager.

class SyncWorker(ctx: Context, params: WorkerParameters) : CoroutineWorker(ctx, params) {
    override suspend fun doWork(): Result {
        // do the sync...
        return Result.success()
    }
}

val work = OneTimeWorkRequestBuilder<SyncWorker>().build()
WorkManager.getInstance(this).enqueue(work)

Choose the right tool: short async work → coroutines; guaranteed deferred work → WorkManager; long foreground task (music) → a Foreground Service.