Getting Android owner's email address nicely

Question

I want to allow the user to provide me their email address without typing it in. Ideally, there'd be a text field where the user could either type an email address or push a button to autofill it.

In an earlier question, Roman Nurik suggests using an AccountManager to handle this, but that requires my app to use the GET_ACCOUNTS privilege; my app could then access all of the user's accounts on the device, including their Facebook/Twitter accounts. That permission seems way too broad for what I want.

Is there a nicer way to handle this that doesn't require granting my app such a heavy duty permission?

Ashlynashman

One thing I noticed after posing the question is that the GET_ACCOUNTS privilege is often hidden in the "More Details" section; it doesn't show up in the list of privileges above the fold. So most users won't notice if you ask for this permission. – Ashlynashman

Do you really think GET_ACCOUNTS is so heavy? You need it for GCM (at least if you want to support < v4.0.4). – Grillo

Do you need to request this permission too? Can user disable it? – Coinage

Answer 1

I know I'm way too late, but this might be useful to others.

I think the best way to auto-populate an email field now is by using AccountPicker

If your app has the GET_ACCOUNTS permission and there's only one account, you get it right away. If your app doesn't have it, or if there are more than one account, users get a prompt so they can authorize or not the action.

Your app needs to include the Google Play Services auth library com.google.android.gms:play-services-auth but it doesn't need any permissions.

This whole process will fail on older versions of Android (2.2+ is required), or if Google Play is not available so you should consider that case.

Here's a basic code sample:

    private static final int REQUEST_CODE_EMAIL = 1;
    private TextView email = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.email);

    // ...

    try {
        Intent intent = AccountPicker.newChooseAccountIntent(null, null,
                new String[] { GoogleAuthUtil.GOOGLE_ACCOUNT_TYPE }, false, null, null, null, null);
        startActivityForResult(intent, REQUEST_CODE_EMAIL);
    } catch (ActivityNotFoundException e) {
        // TODO
    }

    // ...

    @Override
    protected void onActivityResult(int requestCode, int resultCode, Intent data) {
        if (requestCode == REQUEST_CODE_EMAIL && resultCode == RESULT_OK) {
            String accountName = data.getStringExtra(AccountManager.KEY_ACCOUNT_NAME);
            email.setText(accountName);
        }
    }

Alemanni

I like this approach, it works on 4.0.3 tablet I use and I will surely test on other devices :) Thanks! – Spindling

Doesn't make sense to say if Google Play isn't activated it won't work because every app is downloaded through Google play, unless the person downloaded the apk from browser. But good answer tho +1 – Conlen

There are a lot of devices that don't comply the requirements set by Google and therefore don't have access to G-apps, including Google Play. They have to install apps from alternate markets or by downloading APK files. Even if it's a small percentage, you must always consider all scenarios in your apps. – Alemanni

Keep in mind that Google play services might be out of date and even misconfigured. – Wildawildcat

The requestCode returned to onActivityResult is for some reason always 65644 and not what is sent in startActivityForResult (1 in above code). I just ignored the returnCode and checked the data for desired data. – Tyndale

Thanks so much for this. I know it's a bit of an old answer, but it would be helpful to me (and probably others) to know what would happen on a device that has Google Play, but where the app was installed through another marketplace like Amazon? If the user does not have Google play, is that caught under the ActivityNotFoundException section? – Sputum

@Sputum It doesn't matter if the app was installed through Amazon, direct download or any other way. As long as Google Play is there and the OS is Android 2.2+ then it will work. If those requirements are not met then an ActivityNotFoundException will be triggered. – Alemanni

Tested on 4 different devices and works [from Android 4.x to Android 5.1] and this approach is working on all of them: Galaxy Note 4, HTC One X+, Sony Xperia and Nexus7 tablet. Thanks! – Kathykathye

Hmm, I feel like something is wrong here. I tried it on my nexus 5 with android 6 with only 1 account. When I call activity for result, it immediately return result with no interaction with user. So user is not aware of it. That way I can steal his email without him even noticing it. What a hell? – Manure

Where there is more than one account name, is there any way of just grabbing the first account name, without the selection dialog appearing (though with some sort of authorisation dialog first, if the app does not have GET_ACCOUNTS permission)? – Capsicum

"Your app needs to include the Google Play Services but it doesn't need any permissions." - This sentence may lead to misunderstanding. Because the permissions are automatically added: #30658939 – Watersick

@Watersick For some reason, only permissions that are added on are internet-related stuff and "prevent phone from sleeping". Not something related to contacts/accounts. I've tested it now on multiple Android devices and versions. Also, BTW, as of Android 6, you can use : AccountManager.newChooseAccountIntent – Maillot

To be exact, you need to include com.google.android.gms:play-services-auth:17.0.0 – Glaciate

Answer 2

Indeed, not only can't you do this without GET_ACCOUNTS, the information you want only exists in the user's (Google) account data.

On my Sprint phone, the 'owner' address sprint assigns is [email protected], and that can be seen using getprop from a shell. But that's not my primary email address, or even one I ever use/check. What you want is my gmail address, and that's stored in the Android account data.

Actually, you want one of the two — which is another reason you need GET_ACCOUNTS. If you're going to ask for my email address, you need to let me select among the two @gmail.com accounts I have configured on the device. I know which one is my 'preferred' one (although even that's contextual), but AFAIK neither is considered by the system to be more 'primary' or 'default' than the other.

Kosher

Answer 3

An alternative approach might be to find the Google username associated with the device, from which you can reconstruct a [email protected] address, but that still requires use of the AccountManager. See Accessing Google Account Id /username via Android.

Palpitant

I don't think that's even an alternative approach; that's no different from Roman's suggestion (which I linked in the original question). It requires me to GET_ACCOUNTS which is just too big of a security privilege IMO – Ashlynashman

Well, then, I think the answer to your question is No. – Palpitant

Don't use this, some people have custom domains. – Voltage

Answer 4

As the accepted answer is deprecated, you can use new approach:

val result = registerForActivityResult(ActivityResultContracts.StartActivityForResult()) {

    if (it.resultCode == Activity.RESULT_OK) {
        val accountName = it.data?.getStringExtra(AccountManager.KEY_ACCOUNT_NAME)
    }
}

val options = AccountChooserOptions.Builder()       
    .setAlwaysShowAccountPicker(true)
    .build()

result.launch(AccountPicker.newChooseAccountIntent(options))

Uphemia

Answer 5

There is no nice way to access the user's account (e-mail) information without asking for the GET_ACCOUNTS permission. :-)

Notion