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Granting Permissions Programmatically

This document describes how to grant every permission the app needs from the command line via adb, without opening the UI. This is useful for automated setups, CI pipelines, and headless devices.

The commands below require a device or emulator reachable over adb where the app is already installed. Granting special access (Accessibility, Notification Listener) and some runtime permissions via the command line requires a privileged shell (e.g. an emulator, or a device that allows pm grant / settings put secure from the adb shell). On a standard production device, grant these through the app's Settings > Permissions tab instead.

Application ID

Replace <app-id> with the application ID for your build:

  • Debug: com.danielealbano.androidremotecontrolmcp.debug
  • Release: com.danielealbano.androidremotecontrolmcp

Note: the debug build adds the .debug suffix to the application ID, but the class names do not change. The Accessibility and Notification Listener component names below always use the unsuffixed class package (com.danielealbano.androidremotecontrolmcp.services.*), regardless of build type.

Permission categories

  • Normal — granted automatically at install. No command needed: INTERNET, ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE, FOREGROUND_SERVICE, FOREGROUND_SERVICE_SPECIAL_USE, FOREGROUND_SERVICE_LOCATION, RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED, QUERY_ALL_PACKAGES, KILL_BACKGROUND_PROCESSES, ACCESS_WIFI_STATE, CHANGE_WIFI_STATE.
  • Runtime — granted with pm grant.
  • Special access — granted with settings put secure / cmd notification, not pm grant.

See the Permissions Reference in the README for what each permission is used for.

Runtime permissions

# Notifications (Android 13+)
adb shell pm grant <app-id> android.permission.POST_NOTIFICATIONS

# Camera and microphone
adb shell pm grant <app-id> android.permission.CAMERA
adb shell pm grant <app-id> android.permission.RECORD_AUDIO

# Location
adb shell pm grant <app-id> android.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION
adb shell pm grant <app-id> android.permission.ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION
adb shell pm grant <app-id> android.permission.ACCESS_BACKGROUND_LOCATION

# Nearby WiFi devices (Android 13+)
adb shell pm grant <app-id> android.permission.NEARBY_WIFI_DEVICES

# Media read access (Android 13+) — enables "all files" mode for built-in storage locations
adb shell pm grant <app-id> android.permission.READ_MEDIA_IMAGES
adb shell pm grant <app-id> android.permission.READ_MEDIA_VIDEO
adb shell pm grant <app-id> android.permission.READ_MEDIA_AUDIO

Special access

Accessibility Service

Required for UI introspection, action execution, and screenshots (core functionality).

adb shell settings put secure enabled_accessibility_services \
  <app-id>/com.danielealbano.androidremotecontrolmcp.services.accessibility.McpAccessibilityService
adb shell settings put secure accessibility_enabled 1

Notification Listener

Required for the notification tools (reading and managing notifications).

adb shell cmd notification allow_listener \
  <app-id>/com.danielealbano.androidremotecontrolmcp.services.notifications.McpNotificationListenerService

If cmd notification allow_listener is unavailable on your platform image, use the secure setting instead:

adb shell settings put secure enabled_notification_listeners \
  <app-id>/com.danielealbano.androidremotecontrolmcp.services.notifications.McpNotificationListenerService

One-shot script

The following script grants every runtime permission and enables both special-access services. Set APP_ID to match your installed build.

#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -euo pipefail

# Set to com.danielealbano.androidremotecontrolmcp for a release build
APP_ID="com.danielealbano.androidremotecontrolmcp.debug"

ACCESSIBILITY_SERVICE="$APP_ID/com.danielealbano.androidremotecontrolmcp.services.accessibility.McpAccessibilityService"
NOTIFICATION_LISTENER="$APP_ID/com.danielealbano.androidremotecontrolmcp.services.notifications.McpNotificationListenerService"

# Runtime permissions
for perm in \
  android.permission.POST_NOTIFICATIONS \
  android.permission.CAMERA \
  android.permission.RECORD_AUDIO \
  android.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION \
  android.permission.ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION \
  android.permission.ACCESS_BACKGROUND_LOCATION \
  android.permission.NEARBY_WIFI_DEVICES \
  android.permission.READ_MEDIA_IMAGES \
  android.permission.READ_MEDIA_VIDEO \
  android.permission.READ_MEDIA_AUDIO; do
  adb shell pm grant "$APP_ID" "$perm"
done

# Accessibility service
adb shell settings put secure enabled_accessibility_services "$ACCESSIBILITY_SERVICE"
adb shell settings put secure accessibility_enabled 1

# Notification listener
adb shell cmd notification allow_listener "$NOTIFICATION_LISTENER"

echo "Permissions granted for $APP_ID"

Verifying

# Confirm which build is installed
adb shell pm list packages | grep androidremotecontrolmcp

# Confirm runtime permission grants
adb shell dumpsys package <app-id> | grep -A40 "runtime permissions"

# Confirm the accessibility service is connected
adb shell dumpsys accessibility | grep McpAccessibilityService