uses-feature-element.jd revision 60dd520d37a6d3163747eb9a4266d0a08b207c98
1page.title=<uses-feature>
2parent.title=The AndroidManifest.xml File
3parent.link=manifest-intro.html
4@jd:body
5
6<div id="qv-wrapper">
7<div id="qv">
8
9
10<h2>In this document</h2>
11<ol>
12  <li><a href="#market-feature-filtering">Google Play and Feature-Based Filtering</a>
13    <ol>
14      <li><a href="#declared">Filtering based on explicitly declared features</a></li>
15      <li><a href="#implicit">Filtering based on implicit features</a></li>
16      <li><a href="#bt-permission-handling">Special handling for Bluetooth feature</a></li>
17      <li><a href="#testing">Testing the features required by your application</a></li>
18    </ol>
19  </li>
20  <li><a href="#features-reference">Features Reference</a>
21    <ol>
22      <li><a href="#hw-features">Hardware features</a></li>
23      <li><a href="#sw-features">Software features</a></li>
24      <li><a href="#permissions">Permissions that Imply Feature Requirements</a></li>
25    </ol>
26  </li>
27</ol>
28</div>
29</div>
30
31
32<dl class="xml">
33
34<dt>syntax:</dt>
35<dd>
36<pre class="stx">&lt;uses-feature android:<a href="#name">name</a>="<em>string</em>"
37              android:<a href="#required">required</a>=["true" | "false"]
38              android:<a href="#glEsVersion">glEsVersion</a>="<em>integer</em>" /&gt;</pre>
39</dd>
40
41<dt>contained in:</dt>
42<dd><code><a
43href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/manifest/manifest-element.html">&lt;manifest&gt;</a></code></dd>
44
45 <div class="sidebox-wrapper"> 
46  <img id="rule" src="{@docRoot}assets/images/grad-rule-qv.png"> 
47  <div id="qv-sub-rule"> 
48    <img src="{@docRoot}assets/images/icon_play.png" style="float:left;margin:0;padding:0;"> 
49    <p style="color:#669999;padding-top:1em;">Google Play and <code style="color:#669999;">&lt;uses-feature&gt;</code> elements</p>
50    <p style="margin-top:1em;">Google Play filters the applications that are visible to users, so
51that users can see and download only those applications that are compatible with their
52devices. One of the ways it filters applications is by feature compatibility.</p>
53
54<p style="margin-top:1em;">To do this, Google Play checks the
55<code>&lt;uses-feature&gt;</code> elements in each application's manifest, to
56establish the app's feature needs. Google Play then shows or hides the application to
57each user, based on a comparison with the features available on the user's
58device. </p>
59
60<p style="margin-top:1em;">By specifying the features that your application requires,
61you enable Google Play to present your application only to users whose
62devices meet the application's feature requirements, rather than presenting it
63to all users. </p>
64
65<p style="margin-top:1em;" class="caution">For important information about how
66Google Play uses features as the basis for filtering, please read <a
67href="#market-feature-filtering">Google Play and Feature-Based Filtering</a>,
68below.</p>
69</div>
70</div>
71
72<dt>description:</dt>
73<dd>Declares a single hardware or software feature that is used by the
74application.
75
76<p>The purpose of a <code>&lt;uses-feature&gt;</code> declaration is to inform
77any external entity of the set of hardware and software features on which your
78application depends. The element offers a <code>required</code> attribute that
79lets you specify whether your application requires and cannot function without
80the declared feature, or whether it prefers to have the feature but can function
81without it. Because feature support can vary across Android devices, the
82<code>&lt;uses-feature&gt;</code> element serves an important role in letting an
83application describe the device-variable features that it uses.</p>
84
85<p>The set of available features that your application declares corresponds to
86the set of feature constants made available by the Android {@link
87android.content.pm.PackageManager}, which are listed for
88convenience in the <a href="#features-reference">Features Reference</a> tables
89at the bottom of this document.
90
91<p>You must specify each feature in a separate <code>&lt;uses-feature&gt;</code>
92element, so if your application requires multiple features, it would declare
93multiple <code>&lt;uses-feature&gt;</code> elements. For example, an application
94that requires both Bluetooth and camera features in the device would declare
95these two elements:</p>
96
97<pre>
98&lt;uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.bluetooth" />
99&lt;uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.camera" />
100</pre>
101
102<p>In general, you should always make sure to declare
103<code>&lt;uses-feature&gt;</code> elements for all of the features that your
104application requires.</p>
105
106<p>Declared <code>&lt;uses-feature></code> elements are informational only, meaning
107that the Android system itself does not check for matching feature support on
108the device before installing an application. However, other services
109(such as Google Play) or applications may check your application's 
110<code>&lt;uses-feature></code> declarations as part of handling or interacting
111with your application. For this reason, it's very important that you declare all of
112the features (from the list below) that your application uses. </p>
113
114<p>For some features, there may exist a specific attribute that allows you to define
115a version of the feature, such as the version of Open GL used (declared with
116<a href="#glEsVersion"><code>glEsVersion</code></a>). Other features that either do or do not
117exist for a device, such as a camera, are declared using the
118<a href="#name"><code>name</code></a> attribute.</p>
119
120
121<p>Although the <code>&lt;uses-feature></code> element is only activated for
122devices running API Level 4 or higher, it is recommended to include these
123elements for all applications, even if the <a href="uses-sdk-element.html#min"><code>minSdkVersion</code></a>
124is "3" or lower. Devices running older versions of the platform will simply
125ignore the element.</p>
126
127<p class="note"><strong>Note:</strong> When declaring a feature, remember
128that you must also request permissions as appropriate. For example, you must
129still request the {@link android.Manifest.permission#CAMERA}
130permission before your application can access the camera API. Requesting the
131permission grants your application access to the appropriate hardware and
132software, while declaring the features used by your application ensures proper
133device compatibility.</p>
134
135</dd> 
136
137
138<dt>attributes:</dt>
139
140<dd>
141<dl class="attr">
142
143  <dt><a name="name"></a><code>android:name</code></dt>
144  <dd>Specifies a single hardware or software feature used by the application,
145as a descriptor string. Valid descriptor values are listed in the <a
146href="#hw-features">Hardware features</a> and <a href="#sw-features">Software
147features</a> tables, below. </dd>
148
149  <dt><a name="required"></a><code>android:required</code></dt>  <!-- added in api level 5 -->
150  <dd>Boolean value that indicates whether the application requires
151  the feature specified in <code>android:name</code>.
152
153<ul>
154<li>When you declare <code>"android:required="true"</code> for a feature,
155you are specifying that the application <em>cannot function, or is not
156designed to function</em>, when the specified feature is not present on the
157device. </li>
158
159<li>When you declare <code>"android:required="false"</code> for a feature, it
160means that the application <em>prefers to use the feature</em> if present on
161the device, but that it <em>is designed to function without the specified
162feature</em>, if necessary. </li>
163
164</ul>
165
166<p>The default value for <code>android:required</code> if not declared is
167<code>"true"</code>.</p>
168  </dd>
169
170  <dt><a name="glEsVersion"></a><code>android:glEsVersion</code></dt>
171  <dd>The OpenGL ES version required by the application. The higher 16 bits
172represent the major number and the lower 16 bits represent the minor number. For
173example, to specify OpenGL ES version 2.0, you would set the value as
174"0x00020000". To specify OpenGL ES 2.1, if/when such a version were made
175available, you would set the value as "0x00020001".
176
177  <p>An application should specify at most one <code>android:glEsVersion</code>
178attribute in its manifest. If it specifies more than one, the
179<code>android:glEsVersion</code> with the numerically highest value is used and
180any other values are ignored.</p>
181
182  <p>If an application does not specify an <code>android:glEsVersion</code>
183attribute, then it is assumed that the application requires only OpenGL ES 1.0,
184which is supported by all Android-powered devices.</p>
185
186  <p>An application can assume that if a platform supports a given OpenGL ES
187version, it also supports all numerically lower OpenGL ES versions. Therefore,
188an application that requires both OpenGL ES 1.0 and OpenGL ES 2.0 must specify
189that it requires OpenGL ES 2.0.</p>
190
191  <p>An application that can work with any of several OpenGL ES versions should
192only specify the numerically lowest version of OpenGL ES that it requires. (It
193can check at run-time whether a higher level of OpenGL ES is available.)</p>
194  </dd>
195
196</dl>
197</dd>
198
199<!-- ##api level indication## -->
200<dt>introduced in:</dt>
201<dd>API Level 4</dd>
202
203<dt>see also:</dt>
204<dd>
205  <ul>
206    <li>{@link android.content.pm.PackageManager}</li>
207    <li>{@link android.content.pm.FeatureInfo}</li>
208    <li>{@link android.content.pm.ConfigurationInfo}</li>
209    <li><a href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/manifest/uses-permission-element.html"><code>&lt;uses-permission&gt;</code></a></li>
210    <li><a href="{@docRoot}guide/google/play/filters.html">Filters on Google Play</a></li>
211  </ul>
212</dd>
213
214</dl>
215
216
217<h2 id="market-feature-filtering">Google Play and Feature-Based Filtering</h2>
218
219<p>Google Play filters the applications that are visible to users, so that
220users can see and download only those applications that are compatible with
221their devices. One of the ways it filters applications is by feature
222compatibility.</p>
223
224<p>To determine an application's feature compatibility with a given user's
225device, Google Play compares:</p>
226
227<ul>
228<li>Features required by the application &mdash; an application declares features in
229<code>&lt;uses-feature&gt;</code> elements in its manifest <br/>with...</li>
230<li>Features available on the device, in hardware or software &mdash;
231a device reports the features it supports as read-only system properties.</li>
232</ul>
233
234<p>To ensure an accurate comparison of features, the Android Package Manager
235provides a shared set of feature constants that both applications and devices
236use to declare feature requirements and support. The available feature constants
237are listed in the <a href="#features-reference">Features Reference</a> tables at
238the bottom of this document, and in the class documentation for {@link
239android.content.pm.PackageManager}.</p>
240
241<p>When the user launches Google Play, the application queries the
242Package Manager for the list of features available on the device by calling
243{@link android.content.pm.PackageManager#getSystemAvailableFeatures()}. The
244Store application then passes the features list up to Google Play
245when establishing the session for the user.</p>
246
247<p>Each time you upload an application to the Google Play publisher site,
248Google Play scans the application's manifest file. It looks for
249<code>&lt;uses-feature&gt;</code> elements and evaluates them in combination
250with other elements, in some cases, such as <code>&lt;uses-sdk&gt;</code> and
251<code>&lt;uses-permission&gt;</code> elements. After establishing the
252application's set of required features, it stores that list internally as
253metadata associated with the application <code>.apk</code> and the application
254version. </p>
255
256<p>When a user searches or browses for applications using the Google Play
257application, the service compares the features needed by each application with
258the features available on the user's device. If all of an application's required
259features are present on the device, Google Play allows the user to see the
260application and potentially download it. If any required feature is not
261supported by the device, Google Play filters the application so that it is
262not visible to the user and not available for download. </p>
263
264<p>Because the features you declare in <code>&lt;uses-feature&gt;</code>
265elements directly affect how Google Play filters your application, it's
266important to understand how Google Play evaluates the application's manifest
267and establishes the set of required features. The sections below provide more
268information. </p>
269
270<h3 id="declared">Filtering based on explicitly declared features</h3>
271
272<p>An explicitly declared feature is one that your application declares in a
273<code>&lt;uses-feature&gt;</code> element. The feature declaration can include
274an <code>android:required=["true" | "false"]</code> attribute (if you are
275compiling against API level 5 or higher), which lets you specify whether the
276application absolutely requires the feature and cannot function properly without
277it (<code>"true"</code>), or whether the application prefers to use the feature
278if available, but is designed to run without it (<code>"false"</code>).</p>
279
280<p>Google Play handles explicitly declared features in this way: </p>
281
282<ul>
283<li>If a feature is explicitly declared as being required, Google Play adds
284the feature to the list of required features for the application. It then
285filters the application from users on devices that do not provide that feature.
286For example:
287<pre>&lt;uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.camera" android:required="true" /&gt;</pre></li>
288<li>If a feature is explicitly declared as <em>not</em> being required, Google
289Play <em>does not</em> add the feature to the list of required features. For
290that reason, an explicitly declared non-required feature is never considered when
291filtering the application. Even if the device does not provide the declared
292feature, Google Play will still consider the application compatible with the
293device and will show it to the user, unless other filtering rules apply. For
294example:
295<pre>&lt;uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.camera" android:required="false" /&gt;</pre></li>
296<li>If a feature is explicitly declared, but without an
297<code>android:required</code> attribute, Google Play assumes that the feature
298is required and sets up filtering on it. </li>
299</ul>
300
301<p>In general, if your application is designed to run on Android 1.6 and earlier
302versions, the <code>android:required</code> attribute is not available in the
303API and Google Play assumes that any and all
304<code>&lt;uses-feature&gt;</code> declarations are required. </p>
305
306<p class="note"><strong>Note:</strong> By declaring a feature explicitly and
307including an <code>android:required="false"</code> attribute, you can
308effectively disable all filtering on Google Play for the specified feature.
309</p>
310
311
312<h3 id="implicit">Filtering based on implicit features</h3>
313
314<p>An <em>implicit</em> feature is one that an application requires in order to
315function properly, but which is <em>not</em> declared in a
316<code>&lt;uses-feature&gt;</code> element in the manifest file. Strictly
317speaking, every application should <em>always</em> declare all features that it
318uses or requires, so the absence of a declaration for a feature used by an
319application should be considered an error. However, as a safeguard for users and
320developers, Google Play looks for implicit features in each application and
321sets up filters for those features, just as it would do for an explicitly
322declared feature. </p>
323
324<p>An application might require a feature but not declare it because: </p>
325
326<ul>
327<li>The application was compiled against an older version of the Android library
328(Android 1.5 or earlier) and the <code>&lt;uses-feature&gt;</code> element was
329not available.</li>
330<li>The developer incorrectly assumed that the feature would be present on all
331devices and a declaration was unnecessary.</li>
332<li>The developer omitted the feature declaration accidentally.</li>
333<li>The developer declared the feature explicitly, but the declaration was not
334valid. For example, a spelling error in the <code>&lt;uses-feature&gt;</code>
335element name or an unrecognized string value for the
336<code>android:name</code> attribute would invalidate the feature declaration.
337</li>
338</ul>
339
340<p>To account for the cases above, Google Play attempts to discover an
341application's implied feature requirements by examining <em>other elements</em>
342declared in the manifest file, specifically,
343<code>&lt;uses-permission&gt;</code> elements.</p>
344
345<p>If an application requests hardware-related permissions, Google Play
346<em>assumes that the application uses the underlying hardware features and
347therefore requires those features</em>, even though there might be no
348corresponding to <code>&lt;uses-feature&gt;</code> declarations. For such
349permissions, Google Play adds the underlying hardware features to the
350metadata that it stores for the application and sets up filters for them.</p>
351
352<p>For example, if an application requests the <code>CAMERA</code> permission
353but does not declare a <code>&lt;uses-feature&gt;</code> element for
354<code>android.hardware.camera</code>, Google Play considers that the
355application requires a camera and should not be shown to users whose devices do
356not offer a camera.</p>
357
358<p>If you don't want Google Play to filter based on a specific implied
359feature, you can disable that behavior. To do so, declare the feature explicitly
360in a <code>&lt;uses-feature&gt;</code> element and include an 
361<code>android:required="false"</code> attribute. For example, to disable
362filtering derived from the <code>CAMERA</code> permission, you would declare
363the feature as shown below.</p>
364
365<pre>&lt;uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.camera" android:required="false" /&gt;</pre>
366
367<p class="caution">It's important to understand that the permissions that you
368request in <code>&lt;uses-permission&gt;</code> elements can directly affect how
369Google Play filters your application. The reference section <a
370href="#permissions">Permissions that Imply Feature Requirements</a>,
371below, lists the full set of permissions that imply feature requirements and
372therefore trigger filtering.</p>
373
374<h3 id="bt-permission-handling">Special handling for Bluetooth feature</h3>
375
376<p>Google Play applies slightly different rules than described above, when
377determining filtering for Bluetooth.</p>
378
379<p>If an application declares a Bluetooth permission in a
380<code>&lt;uses-permission&gt;</code> element, but does not explicitly declare
381the Bluetooth feature in a <code>&lt;uses-feature&gt;</code> element, Google
382Play checks the version(s) of the Android platform on which the application is
383designed to run, as specified in the <code>&lt;uses-sdk&gt;</code> element. </p>
384
385<p>As shown in the table below, Google Play enables filtering for the
386Bluetooth feature only if the application declares its lowest or targeted
387platform as Android 2.0 (API level 5) or higher. However, note that Google
388Play applies the normal rules for filtering when the application explicitly
389declares the Bluetooth feature in a <code>&lt;uses-feature&gt;</code> element.
390</p>
391
392<p class="caption"><strong>Table 1.</strong> How Google Play determines the
393Bluetooth feature requirement for an application that requests a Bluetooth
394permission but does not declare the Bluetooth feature in a
395<code>&lt;uses-feature&gt;</code> element.</p>
396
397<table style="margin-top:1em;">
398<tr>
399<th><nobr>If <code>minSdkVersion</code> is ...</nobr></th>
400<th><nobr>or <code>targetSdkVersion</code> is</nobr></th>
401<th>Result</th>
402</tr>
403<tr>
404<td><nobr>&lt;=4 (or uses-sdk is not declared)</nobr></td>
405<td>&lt;=4</td>
406<td>Google Play <em>will not</em> filter the application from any devices
407based on their reported support for the <code>android.hardware.bluetooth</code>
408feature.</td>
409</tr>
410<tr>
411<td>&lt;=4</td>
412<td>&gt;=5</td>
413<td rowspan="2">Google Play filters the application from any devices that
414do not support the <code>android.hardware.bluetooth</code> feature (including
415older releases).</td>
416</tr>
417<tr>
418<td>&gt;=5</td>
419<td>&gt;=5</td>
420</tr>
421</table>
422
423<p>The examples below illustrate the different filtering effects, based on how
424Google Play handles the Bluetooth feature. </p>
425
426<dl>
427<dt>In first example, an application that is designed to run on older API levels
428declares a Bluetooth permission, but does not declare the Bluetooth feature in a
429<code>&lt;uses-feature&gt;</code> element.</dt>
430<dd><em>Result:</em> Google Play does not filter the application from any device.</dd>
431</dl>
432
433<pre>&lt;manifest ...>
434    &lt;uses-permission android:name="android.permission.BLUETOOTH_ADMIN" />
435    &lt;uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="3" />
436    ...
437&lt;/manifest></pre>
438
439<dl>
440<dt>In the second example, below, the same application also declares a target
441API level of "5". </dt>
442<dd><em>Result:</em> Google Play now assumes that the feature is required and
443will filter the application from all devices that do not report Bluetooth support,
444including devices running older versions of the platform. </dd>
445</dl>
446
447<pre>&lt;manifest ...>
448    &lt;uses-permission android:name="android.permission.BLUETOOTH_ADMIN" />
449    &lt;uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="3" android:targetSdkVersion="5" />
450    ...
451&lt;/manifest></pre>
452
453<dl>
454<dt>Here the same application now specifically declares the Bluetooth feature.</dt>
455<dd><em>Result:</em> Identical to the previous example (filtering is applied).</dd>
456</dl>
457
458<pre>&lt;manifest ...>
459    &lt;uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.bluetooth" />
460    &lt;uses-permission android:name="android.permission.BLUETOOTH_ADMIN" />
461    &lt;uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="3" android:targetSdkVersion="5" />
462    ...
463&lt;/manifest></pre>
464
465<dl>
466<dt>Finally, in the case below, the same application adds an
467<code>android:required="false"</code> attribute.</dt>
468<dd><em>Result:</em> Google Play disables filtering based on Bluetooth
469feature support, for all devices.</dd>
470</dl>
471
472<pre>&lt;manifest ...>
473    &lt;uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.bluetooth" android:required="false" />
474    &lt;uses-permission android:name="android.permission.BLUETOOTH_ADMIN" />
475    &lt;uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="3" android:targetSdkVersion="5" />
476    ...
477&lt;/manifest></pre>
478
479
480
481<h3 id="testing">Testing the features required by your application</h3>
482
483<p>You can use the <code>aapt</code> tool, included in the Android SDK, to
484determine how Google Play will filter your application, based on its declared
485features and permissions. To do so, run  <code>aapt</code> with the <code>dump
486badging</code> command. This causes <code>aapt</code> to parse your
487application's manifest and apply the same rules as used by Google Play to
488determine the features that your application requires. </p>
489
490<p>To use the tool, follow these steps: </p>
491
492<ol>
493<li>First, build and export your application as an unsigned <code>.apk</code>.
494If you are developing in Eclipse with ADT, right-click the project and select
495<strong>Android Tools</strong> &gt; <strong>Export Unsigned Application
496Package</strong>. Select a destination filename and path and click
497<strong>OK</strong>. </li>
498<li>Next, locate the <code>aapt</code> tool, if it is not already in your PATH.
499If you are using SDK Tools r8 or higher, you can find <code>aapt</code> in the
500<code>&lt;<em>SDK</em>&gt;/platform-tools/</code> directory.
501<p class="note"><strong>Note:</strong> You must use the version of
502<code>aapt</code> that is provided for the latest Platform-Tools component available. If
503you do not have the latest Platform-Tools component, download it using the <a
504href="{@docRoot}sdk/exploring.html">Android SDK Manager</a>.
505</p></li>
506<li>Run <code>aapt</code> using this syntax: </li>
507</ol>
508
509<pre>$ aapt dump badging &lt;<em>path_to_exported_.apk</em>&gt;</pre>
510
511<p>Here's an example of the command output for the second Bluetooth example, above: </p>
512
513<pre>$ ./aapt dump badging BTExample.apk
514package: name='com.example.android.btexample' versionCode='' versionName=''
515<strong>uses-permission:'android.permission.BLUETOOTH_ADMIN'</strong>
516<strong>uses-feature:'android.hardware.bluetooth'</strong>
517sdkVersion:'3'
518targetSdkVersion:'5'
519application: label='BT Example' icon='res/drawable/app_bt_ex.png'
520launchable activity name='com.example.android.btexample.MyActivity'label='' icon=''
521uses-feature:'android.hardware.touchscreen'
522main
523supports-screens: 'small' 'normal' 'large'
524locales: '--_--'
525densities: '160'
526</pre>
527
528
529<h2 id=features-reference>Features Reference</h2>
530
531<p>The tables below provide reference information about hardware and software
532features and the permissions that can imply them on Google Play. </p>
533
534<h3 id="hw-features">Hardware features</h3>
535
536<p>The table below describes the hardware feature descriptors supported by the
537most current platform release. To signal that your application uses or requires
538a hardware feature, declare each value in a <code>android:name</code> attribute
539in a separate <code>&lt;uses-feature&gt;</code> element. </p>
540
541  <table>
542    <tr>
543       <th>Feature Type</th>
544       <th>Feature Descriptor</th>
545       <th style="min-width:170px">Description</th>
546       <th>Comments</th>
547    </tr>
548    <tr>
549       <td>Audio</td>
550       <td><code>android.hardware.audio.low_latency</td>
551       <td>The application uses a low-latency audio pipeline on the device and
552is sensitive to delays or lag in sound input or output.</td>
553<td>
554</td>
555    </tr>
556    <tr>
557       <td>Bluetooth</td>
558       <td><code>android.hardware.bluetooth</td>
559       <td>The application uses Bluetooth radio features in the device.</td>
560<td>
561</td>
562    </tr>
563    <tr>
564       <td rowspan="4">Camera</td>
565       <td><code>android.hardware.camera</code></td>
566       <td>The application uses the device's camera. If the device supports
567           multiple cameras, the application uses the camera that facing
568           away from the screen.</td>
569       <td></td>
570    </tr>
571<tr>
572  <td><code>android.hardware.camera.autofocus</code></td>
573  <td>Subfeature. The application uses the device camera's autofocus capability.</td>
574  <td rowspan="3">These subfeatures implicitly declare the
575<code>android.hardware.camera</code> parent feature, unless declared with
576<code>android:required="false"</code>.</td>
577</tr>
578<tr>
579  <td><code>android.hardware.camera.flash</code></td>
580  <td>Subfeature. The application uses the device camera's flash.</td>
581</tr>
582<tr>
583  <td><code>android.hardware.camera.front</code></td>
584  <td>Subfeature. The application uses a front-facing camera on the device.</td>
585</tr>
586
587<tr>
588  <td rowspan="3">Location</td>
589  <td><code>android.hardware.location</code></td>
590  <td>The application uses one or more features on the device for determining
591location, such as GPS location, network location, or cell location.</td>
592  <td></td>
593</tr>
594<tr>
595  <td><code>android.hardware.location.network</code></td>
596  <td>Subfeature. The application uses coarse location coordinates obtained from
597a network-based geolocation system supported on the device.</td>
598  <td rowspan="2">These subfeatures implicitly declare the
599<code>android.hardware.location</code> parent feature, unless declared with
600<code>android:required="false"</code>. </td>
601</tr>
602<tr>
603  <td><code>android.hardware.location.gps</code></td>
604  <td>Subfeature. The application uses precise location coordinates obtained
605from a Global Positioning System receiver on the device. </td>
606</tr>
607<tr>
608  <td>Microphone</td>
609  <td><code>android.hardware.microphone</code></td>
610  <td>The application uses a microphone on the device.
611  </td>
612  <td></td>
613</tr>
614<tr>
615  <td>NFC</td>
616  <td><code>android.hardware.nfc</td>
617  <td>The application uses Near Field Communications radio features in the device.</td>
618  <td></td>
619</tr>
620<tr>
621  <td rowspan="6">Sensors</td>
622  <td><code>android.hardware.sensor.accelerometer</code></td>
623  <td>The application uses motion readings from an accelerometer on the
624device.</td>
625  <td></td>
626</tr>
627<tr>
628  <td><code>android.hardware.sensor.barometer</code></td>
629  <td>The application uses the device's barometer.</td>
630  <td></td>
631</tr>
632<tr>
633  <td><code>android.hardware.sensor.compass</code></td>
634  <td>The application uses directional readings from a magnetometer (compass) on
635the device.</td>
636  <td></td>
637</tr>
638<tr>
639  <td><code>android.hardware.sensor.gyroscope</code></td>
640  <td>The application uses the device's gyroscope sensor.</td>
641  <td></td>
642</tr>
643<tr>
644  <td><code>android.hardware.sensor.light</code></td>
645  <td>The application uses the device's light sensor.</td>
646  <td></td>
647</tr>
648<tr>
649  <td><code>android.hardware.sensor.proximity</code></td>
650  <td>The application uses the device's proximity sensor.</td>
651  <td></td>
652</tr>
653
654<tr>
655  <td rowspan="2">Screen</td>
656  <td><code>android.hardware.screen.landscape</code></td>
657  <td>The application requires landscape orientation.</td>
658  <td rowspan="2">
659     <p>For example, if your app requires portrait orientation, you should declare
660<code>&lt;uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.screen.portrait"/></code> so that only devices
661that support portrait orientation (whether always or by user choice) can install your app. If your
662application <em>supports</em> both orientations, then you don't need to declare either.</p>
663    <p>Both orientations are assumed <em>not required</em>, by default, so your app may be installed
664on devices that support one or both orientations. However, if any of your activities request that
665they run in a specific orientation, using the <a
666href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/manifest/activity-element.html#screen">{@code
667android:screenOrientation}</a> attribute, then this also declares that the application requires that
668orientation. For example, if you declare <a
669href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/manifest/activity-element.html#screen">{@code
670android:screenOrientation}</a> with either {@code "landscape"}, {@code "reverseLandscape"}, or
671{@code "sensorLandscape"}, then your application will be available only to devices that support
672landscape orientation. As a best practice, you should still declare your requirement for this
673orientation using a {@code &lt;uses-feature&gt;} element. If you declare an orientation for your
674activity using <a href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/manifest/activity-element.html#screen">{@code
675android:screenOrientation}</a>, but don't actually <em>require</em> it, you can disable the
676requirement by declaring the orientation with a {@code &lt;uses-feature&gt;} element and include
677{@code android:required="false"}.</p>
678    <p>For backwards compatibility, any device running a platform version that supports only API
679level 12 or lower is assumed to support both landscape and portrait.</p>
680  </td>
681</tr>
682<tr>
683  <td><code>android.hardware.screen.portrait</code></td>
684  <td>The application requires portrait orientation.</td>
685</tr>
686
687<tr>
688  <td rowspan="3">Telephony</td>
689  <td><code>android.hardware.telephony</code></td>
690  <td>The application uses telephony features on the device, such as telephony
691radio with data communication services.</td>
692  <td></td>
693</tr>
694<tr>
695  <td><code>android.hardware.telephony.cdma</code></td>
696  <td>Subfeature. The application uses CDMA telephony radio features on the
697device. </td>
698  <td rowspan="2">These subfeatures implicitly declare the
699<code>android.hardware.telephony</code> parent feature, unless declared with
700<code>android:required="false"</code>. </td>
701</tr>
702<tr>
703  <td><code>android.hardware.telephony.gsm</code></td>
704  <td>Subfeature. The application uses GSM telephony radio features on the
705device.</td>
706</tr>
707
708<tr>
709  <td>Television</td>
710  <td><code>android.hardware.type.television</code></td>
711  <td>The application is designed for a television user experience.</td>
712  <td>>This feature defines "television" to be a typical living room television experience: 
713  displayed on a big screen, where the user is sitting far away and the dominant form of 
714  input is be something like a d-pad, and generally not through touch or a 
715  mouse/pointer-device.</td>
716</tr>
717
718<tr>
719  <td rowspan="7">Touchscreen</td>
720  <td><code>android.hardware.faketouch</code></td>
721  <td>The application uses basic touch interaction events, such as "click down", "click
722up", and drag.</td>
723  <td><p>When declared as required, this indicates that the application is compatible with a device
724only if it offers an emulated touchscreen ("fake touch" interface), or better. A device that offers
725a fake touch interface provides a user input system that emulates a subset of touchscreen
726capabilities. For example, a mouse or remote control that drives an on-screen cursor provides a fake
727touch interface. If your application requires basic point and click interaction (in other
728words, it won't work with <em>only</em> a d-pad controller), you should declare this feature.
729Because this is the minimum level of touch interaction, your app will also be compatible with
730devices that offer more complex touch interfaces.</p>
731  <p class="note"><strong>Note:</strong> Because applications require the {@code
732android.hardware.touchscreen} feature by default, if you want your application to be available to
733devices that provide a fake touch interface, you must also explicitly declare that a touch screen is
734<em>not</em> required by declaring {@code &lt;uses-feature
735android:name="android.hardware.touchscreen" <strong>android:required="false"</strong>
736/&gt;}</p></td>
737</tr>
738
739<tr>
740  <td><code>android.hardware.faketouch.multitouch.distinct</code></td>
741  <td>The application performs distinct tracking of two or more "fingers" on a fake touch
742interface. This is a superset of the faketouch feature.</td>
743  <td><p>When declared as required, this indicates that the application is compatible with a device
744only if it supports touch emulation for events that supports distinct tracking of two or more
745fingers, or better.</p>
746  <p>Unlike the distinct multitouch defined by {@code
747android.hardware.touchscreen.multitouch.distinct}, input devices that support distinct multi-touch
748with a fake touch interface will not support all two-finger gestures, because the input is
749being transformed to cursor movement on the screen. That is, single finger gestures on such a device
750move a cursor; two-finger swipes will result in single-finger touch events; other two-finger
751gestures will result in the corresponding two-finger touch event. An example device that supports
752distinct multi-touch with a fake touch interface is one that provides a trackpad for cursor movement
753which also supports two or more fingers.</p></td>
754</tr>
755
756<tr>
757  <td><code>android.hardware.faketouch.multitouch.jazzhand</code></td>
758  <td>The application performs distinct tracking of five or more "fingers" on a fake touch
759interface. This is a superset of the faketouch feature.</td>
760  <td><p>When declared as required, this indicates that the application is compatible with a device
761only if it supports touch emulation for events that supports distinct tracking of five or more
762fingers.</p>
763  <p>Unlike the distinct multitouch defined by {@code
764android.hardware.touchscreen.multitouch.jazzhand}, input devices that support jazzhand multi-touch
765with a fake touch interface will not support all five-finger gestures, because the input is being
766transformed to cursor movement on the screen. That is, single finger gestures on such a device move
767a cursor; multi-finger gestures will result in single-finger touch events; other multi-finger
768gestures will result in the corresponding multi-finger touch event. An example device that supports
769distinct multi-touch with a fake touch interface is one that provides a trackpad for cursor movement
770which also supports five or more fingers.</p></td>
771</tr>
772
773<tr>
774  <td><code>android.hardware.touchscreen</code></td>
775  <td>The application uses touchscreen capabilities for gestures that are more interactive
776than basic touch events, such as a fling. This is a superset of the basic faketouch feature.</td>
777  <td><p>By default, your application requires this. As such, your application is <em>not</em>
778available to devices that provide only an emulated touch interface ("fake touch"), by default. If
779you want your application available to devices that provide a fake touch interface (or even devices
780that provide only a d-pad controller), you must explicitly declare that a touch screen is not
781required, by declaring {@code android.hardware.touchscreen} with {@code android:required="false"}.
782You should do so even if your application uses&mdash;but does not <em>require</em>&mdash;a real
783touch screen interface.</p>
784<p>If your application <em>does require</em> a touch interface (in order to perform touch
785gestures such as a fling), then you don't need to do anything, because this is required by default.
786However, it's best if you explicitly declare all features used by your application, so you should
787still declare this if your app uses it.</p>
788  <p>If you require more complex touch interaction, such as multi-finger gestures, you
789should declare the advanced touch screen features below.</p></td>
790</tr>
791<tr>
792  <td><code>android.hardware.touchscreen.multitouch</code></td>
793  <td>The application uses basic two-point multitouch capabilities on the device
794screen, such as for pinch gestures, but does not need to track touches independently. This
795is a superset of touchscreen feature.</td>
796  <td>This implicitly declares the <code>android.hardware.touchscreen</code> parent feature, unless
797declared with <code>android:required="false"</code>. </td>
798</tr>
799<tr>
800  <td><code>android.hardware.touchscreen.multitouch.distinct</code></td>
801  <td>Subfeature. The application uses advanced multipoint multitouch
802capabilities on the device screen, such as for tracking two or more points fully
803independently. This is a superset of multitouch feature.</td>
804  <td rowspan="2">This implicitly declares the <code>android.hardware.touchscreen.multitouch</code>
805parent feature, unless declared with <code>android:required="false"</code>. </td>
806</tr>
807<tr>
808  <td><code>android.hardware.touchscreen.multitouch.jazzhand</code></td>
809  <td>The application uses advanced multipoint multitouch
810capabilities on the device screen, for tracking up to five points fully
811independently. This is a superset of distinct multitouch feature.</td>
812</tr>
813
814<tr>
815  <td rowspan="2">USB</td>
816  <td><code>android.hardware.usb.host</code></td>
817  <td>The application uses USB host mode features (behaves as the host and connects to USB
818devices).</td>
819  <td></td>
820</tr>
821
822<tr>
823  <td><code>android.hardware.usb.accessory</code></td>
824  <td>The application uses USB accessory features (behaves as the USB device and connects to USB
825hosts).</td>
826  <td></td>
827</tr>
828
829<tr>
830  <td>Wifi</td>
831  <td><code>android.hardware.wifi</code></td>
832  <td>The application uses 802.11 networking (wifi) features on the device.</td>
833  <td></td>
834</tr>
835
836  </table>
837
838<h3 id="sw-features">Software features</h3>
839
840<p>The table below describes the software feature descriptors supported by the
841most current platform release. To signal that your application uses or requires
842a software feature, declare each value in a <code>android:name</code> attribute
843in a separate <code>&lt;uses-feature&gt;</code> element. </p>
844
845
846  <table>
847<tr> 
848  <th>Feature</th>
849  <th>Attribute Value</th> 
850  <th>Description</th>
851  <th>Comments</th>
852</tr>
853<tr>
854  <td>Live Wallpaper</td>
855  <td><code>android.software.live_wallpaper</code></td>
856  <td>The application uses or provides Live Wallpapers.</td>
857  <td></td>
858</tr>
859<tr>
860  <td rowspan="2">SIP/VOIP</td>
861  <td><code>android.software.sip</code></td>
862  <td>The application uses SIP service on the device.
863  </td>
864  <td></td>
865</tr>
866<tr>
867  <td><code>android.software.sip.voip</code></td>
868  <td>Subfeature. The application uses SIP-based VOIP service on the device.
869  </td>
870  <td>This subfeature implicitly declares the <code>android.software.sip</code> parent feature,
871unless declared with <code>android:required="false"</code>.</td>
872</tr>
873  </table>
874
875
876<h3 id="permissions">Permissions that Imply Feature Requirements</h3>
877
878<p>Some feature constants listed in the tables above were made available to
879applications <em>after</em> the corresponding API; for example, the
880<code>android.hardware.bluetooth</code> feature was added in Android 2.2 (API
881level 8), but the bluetooth API that it refers to was added in Android 2.0 (API
882level 5). Because of this, some apps were able to use the API before they had
883the ability to declare that they require the API via the
884<code>&lt;uses-feature&gt;</code> system. </p>
885
886<p>To prevent those apps from being made available unintentionally,  Google
887Play assumes that certain hardware-related permissions indicate that the
888underlying hardware features are required by default. For instance, applications
889that use Bluetooth must request the <code>BLUETOOTH</code> permission in a
890<code>&lt;uses-permission&gt;</code> element &mdash; for legacy apps, Google
891Play assumes that the permission declaration means that the underlying
892<code>android.hardware.bluetooth</code> feature is required by the application
893and sets up filtering based on that feature. </p>
894
895<p>The table below lists permissions that imply feature requirements
896equivalent to those declared in <code>&lt;uses-feature&gt;</code> elements. Note
897that <code>&lt;uses-feature&gt;</code> declarations, including any declared
898<code>android:required</code> attribute, always take precedence over features
899implied by the permissions below. </p>
900
901<p>For any of the permissions below, you can disable filtering based on the
902implied feature by explicitly declaring the implied feature explicitly, in a
903<code>&lt;uses-feature&gt;</code> element, with an
904<code>android:required="false"</code> attribute. For example, to disable any
905filtering based on the <code>CAMERA</code> permission, you would add this
906<code>&lt;uses-feature&gt;</code> declaration to the manifest file:</p>
907
908<pre>&lt;uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.camera" android:required="false" /&gt;</pre>
909
910<table id="permissions-features" >
911  <tr> 
912    <th>Category</th>
913    <th>This Permission...</th>
914    <th>Implies This Feature Requirement</th>
915    <!-- <th>Comments</th> -->
916  </tr>
917
918
919<tr>
920  <td rowspan="2">Bluetooth</td>
921  <td><code>BLUETOOTH</code></td>
922  <td><code>android.hardware.bluetooth</code>
923<p>(See <a href="#bt-permission-handling">Special handling for Bluetooth feature</a> for details.)</p></td>
924<!--  <td></td> -->
925</tr>
926<tr>
927  <td><code>BLUETOOTH_ADMIN</code></td>
928  <td><code>android.hardware.bluetooth</code></td>
929<!--  <td></td> -->
930</tr>
931
932<tr>
933  <td>Camera</td>
934  <td><code>CAMERA</code></td>
935  <td><code>android.hardware.camera</code> <em>and</em>
936<br><code>android.hardware.camera.autofocus</code></td>
937<!--  <td></td> -->
938</tr>
939
940<tr>
941  <td rowspan="5">Location</td>
942  <td><code>ACCESS_MOCK_LOCATION</code></td>
943  <td><code>android.hardware.location</code></td>
944<!--  <td></td> -->
945</tr>
946<tr>
947  <td><code>ACCESS_LOCATION_EXTRA_COMMANDS</code></td>
948  <td><code>android.hardware.location</code></td>
949<!--  <td></td> -->
950</tr>
951<tr>
952  <td><code>INSTALL_LOCATION_PROVIDER</code></td>
953  <td><code>android.hardware.location</code></td>
954<!--  <td></td> -->
955</tr>
956<tr>
957  <td><code>ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION</code></td>
958  <td><code>android.hardware.location.network</code> <em>and</em>
959<br><code>android.hardware.location</code></td>
960<!--  <td></td> -->
961</tr>
962<tr>
963  <td><code>ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION</code></td>
964  <td><code>android.hardware.location.gps</code> <em>and</em>
965<br><code>android.hardware.location</code></td>
966<!--  <td></td> -->
967</tr>
968
969<tr>
970  <td>Microphone</td>
971  <td><code>RECORD_AUDIO</code></td>
972  <td><code>android.hardware.microphone</code></td>
973<!--  <td></td> -->
974</tr>
975
976<tr>
977  <td rowspan="11">Telephony</td>
978  <td><code>CALL_PHONE</code></td>
979  <td><code>android.hardware.telephony</code></td>
980<!--  <td></td> -->
981</tr>
982<tr>
983  <td><code>CALL_PRIVILEGED</code></td>
984  <td><code>android.hardware.telephony</code></td>
985<!--  <td></td> -->
986</tr>
987
988<tr>
989  <td><code>MODIFY_PHONE_STATE</code></td>
990  <td><code>android.hardware.telephony</code></td>
991<!--  <td></td> -->
992</tr>
993<tr>
994  <td><code>PROCESS_OUTGOING_CALLS</code></td>
995  <td><code>android.hardware.telephony</code></td>
996<!--  <td></td> -->
997</tr>
998<tr>
999  <td><code>READ_SMS</code></td>
1000  <td><code>android.hardware.telephony</code></td>
1001<!--  <td></td> -->
1002</tr>
1003<tr>
1004  <td><code>RECEIVE_SMS</code></td>
1005  <td><code>android.hardware.telephony</code></td>
1006<!--  <td></td> -->
1007</tr>
1008<tr>
1009  <td><code>RECEIVE_MMS</code></td>
1010  <td><code>android.hardware.telephony</code></td>
1011<!--  <td></td> -->
1012</tr>
1013<tr>
1014  <td><code>RECEIVE_WAP_PUSH</code></td>
1015  <td><code>android.hardware.telephony</code></td>
1016<!--  <td></td> -->
1017</tr>
1018<tr>
1019  <td><code>SEND_SMS</code></td>
1020  <td><code>android.hardware.telephony</code></td>
1021<!--  <td></td> -->
1022</tr>
1023<tr>
1024  <td><code>WRITE_APN_SETTINGS</code></td>
1025  <td><code>android.hardware.telephony</code></td>
1026<!--  <td></td> -->
1027</tr>
1028<tr>
1029  <td><code>WRITE_SMS</code></td>
1030  <td><code>android.hardware.telephony</code></td>
1031<!--  <td></td> -->
1032</tr>
1033
1034<tr>
1035  <td rowspan="3">Wifi</td>
1036  <td><code>ACCESS_WIFI_STATE</code></td>
1037  <td><code>android.hardware.wifi</code></td>
1038<!--  <td></td> -->
1039</tr>
1040<tr>
1041  <td><code>CHANGE_WIFI_STATE</code></td>
1042  <td><code>android.hardware.wifi</code></td>
1043<!--  <td></td> -->
1044</tr>
1045<tr>
1046  <td><code>CHANGE_WIFI_MULTICAST_STATE</code></td>
1047  <td><code>android.hardware.wifi</code></td>
1048<!--  <td></td> -->
1049</tr>
1050</table>