I have a MAUI mobile app that needs fine location and background location permissions. I have added all required entries to AndroidManifest.xml including ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION. But when I request LocationWhenInUse in code, the app only asks for approximate location, never for fine location. When I then request LocationAlways, I get a PermissionException saying

You need to declare using the permission: android.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION in your AndroidManifest.xml

Here you can see the permission added to AndroidManifest and the the app asking for only approximate permission.

I'm using MAUI's own method to ask for permissions:

await Permissions.RequestAsync<Permissions.LocationWhenInUse>()

I tried to get the permissions via PackageInfo:

var context = Android.App.Application.Context;
var pi = context.PackageManager.GetPackageInfo(context.PackageName, Android.Content.PM.PackageInfoFlags.Permissions);
var perms = pi?.RequestedPermissions.ToList();

But here also ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION does not appear in the list, while all other location permissions do appear. This is an app that's being ported from Xamarin to MAUI. In Xamarin I haven't had this issue. I tried to reproduce it in a new MAUI project, but was unable to. I'm using framework net8.0-android, testing on a physical device running Android 14.

Any help is much appreciated.

I have a MAUI mobile app that needs fine location and background location permissions. I have added all required entries to AndroidManifest.xml including ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION. But when I request LocationWhenInUse in code, the app only asks for approximate location, never for fine location. When I then request LocationAlways, I get a PermissionException saying

You need to declare using the permission: android.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION in your AndroidManifest.xml

Here you can see the permission added to AndroidManifest and the the app asking for only approximate permission.

I'm using MAUI's own method to ask for permissions:

await Permissions.RequestAsync<Permissions.LocationWhenInUse>()

I tried to get the permissions via PackageInfo:

var context = Android.App.Application.Context;
var pi = context.PackageManager.GetPackageInfo(context.PackageName, Android.Content.PM.PackageInfoFlags.Permissions);
var perms = pi?.RequestedPermissions.ToList();

But here also ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION does not appear in the list, while all other location permissions do appear. This is an app that's being ported from Xamarin to MAUI. In Xamarin I haven't had this issue. I tried to reproduce it in a new MAUI project, but was unable to. I'm using framework net8.0-android, testing on a physical device running Android 14.

Any help is much appreciated.

• c#
• android
• maui

2 Answers 2

Buff, I also had problems with that in a migration to MAUI.

From version 12 onwards you have to first apply for the location in use permission. To request permissions from code, do something like this:

var permiso_location_fine = await Permissions.RequestAsync<Permissions.LocationWhenInUse>();

if (permiso_location_fine == PermissionStatus.Granted) {
    var permiso_uso_background= await Permissions.RequestAsync<Permissions.LocationAlways>();
    if (permiso_uso_background!= PermissionStatus.Granted)  {
        // Do what you need to do
    }
}
else {
   // Do what you need to do
}

In my case I did two more things:

1. I hand-added the permissions in the AndroidManifest.xml:

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_BACKGROUND_LOCATION" />

2. I forced it to include the AndroidManifest from the csproj:

<ItemGroup>
        <AndroidManifest Include="PlatformsAndroidAndroidManifest.xml"/>
</ItemGroup>
<AndroidUseLegacyPackaging>False</AndroidUseLegacyPackaging>

All in all, this story should show you the permission to ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION in: 
obj/Debug/net8.0-androidandroid/AndroidManifest.xml when compiling.

Excuse my level of English... I hope it helped you.

Good luck!!!!

First, according to your description, the android.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION didn't work correctly. You can clean and rebuild or restart the visual studio after you added it into the AndroidManifest.xml.

And then, you can try to uninstall the app on the device you tested on or try different devices / emulators.

Finally, you can try to request the permission by the android native code. Put the following code in the MainActivity:

    protected override void OnCreate(Bundle? savedInstanceState)
    {
        base.OnCreate(savedInstanceState);
        if(this.CheckSelfPermission(Manifest.Permission.AccessFineLocation) !=Permission.Granted || this.CheckSelfPermission(Manifest.Permission.AccessCoarseLocation) != Permission.Granted)
        {
            this.RequestPermissions(new string[] { Manifest.Permission.AccessFineLocation, Manifest.Permission.AccessCoarseLocation }, 0);
        }
    }

For more information, please check the official document about Request location access at runtime.