Some apps unable to properly access SD card after update

[Ozach19]

Since last system update, some apps (audioteka.cz; mapy.cz) have problem accessing the SD card, reporting the storage failure. I can however access the card through file manager normally. Any advice? 

[fornaditami]

Xperia X performance (F8131) with the exact same issue on 7.1.1 except the camera app can't record videos. Took me a while to figure out. I used to have my SD card encrypted, but it caused issues, so I reverted the encryption. Never clicked that ongoing issues were the same.

[NoImNotSwedish]

I got the latest android for my Sony xz  7.1.??? And everything was ok Monday 09 October 2017 .I then got an update Tuesdays. Since then I have not been able to Access the  sd card on my phone. Apps that need it do not work 

I did a backup & reset and that has not helped. My SD card was not encrypted 

[Dcorrea]

Well I update at oreo but don't solve the problem some can to solve it? How can help me with this? 

[Vinimend88]

I'm also having this issue with the dual SIM XZ. Cannot save anything in the SD card. Most apps can read information, like Google music play, but cannot write. Netflix recognize the card for a while when unmounted and mounted again but it soon disappears. 

I've always been happy with Sony but I'm starting to think that this may be my last Sony phone. 

[wandervogel]

Mine is dual SIM Z5 Premium, and got exactly the same trouble since 7.1.1 update (October 2017). This is not the first. I've got my SD broken to trash, completely unusable after upgrading from Marshmallow to Nougat. Very frustrating!

[MoreToRemember]

Bug in the use of an external SD card.

Jonas, I see no solution on this thread.  The same bug is now showing in the new XZ1c

Various apps need to write to this folder on the SD card to function and use the SD card as storage:

/storage/AE88-0F60/Android/data/XXXX

and

/storage/AE88-0F60/Android/media/XXXX

The apps correctly request permission for storage, and seem to receive that permission, but nevertheless fail to write to the card. Log files show permission errors.

The SD card is fine, unencrypted, and I have formatted it from within the phone.

This is an issue with 4 apps I am presently using, all of which work fine on other devices. It would therefore seem to be an Xperia bug.

Please advise on the best course of action.

[DCOXF]

Thanks @ThomasBigot for your information. Any news @Jonas on when the fix is going to come out? I have just upgraded to a XZ Premium (G8141) running Oreo. It ran several system software updates and as of yesterday I was having the same trouble as many on this thread:

1. Google Play Music crashed when selecting the SD card as the download location

2. Plex could not sync my own music files to the SD card

3. Apple Music could not download music the SD card (it showed as 0.0 B available but was empty other than for a few photos)

4. Amazon Prime music would also show 0.0 B available on the SD card and fail to download  anything there

Today my phone has updated to 47.1.A.12.34. Apps now behave differently:

1. Google Play Music: I can no longer see an option to choose download location

2. Plex: can now only choose interal storage

3. Apple Music: no option to change download location from device storage

4. Amazon Prime music: Greyed out message 'New downloads are saved on your device' (no option to change)

It appears Sony have updated the system software so that these apps cannot even see the SD card. Is this going to be fixed so that there will be SD card support? If not, I'd like to know pretty soon as this is a deal-breaker for me and I am still in the window where I could return my phone. 

[dkz]

I have exactly the same issue, before and after that same update. I can add serveral apps to the list with this problem:

• Spotify (cached music) Now only displays internal storage.
• Podcast Addict (podcast app, stores podcasts) Now only displays internal storage.
• Smugmug (photo app that syncs photo albums to the phone) Works no longer as it was set to use the SD card and no longer can access it and it was not programmed with that sequence of events in mind, might work to reinstall it.

It seems as if Sony have removed the support for all third party apps using SD cards by crippeling one or more APIs but they have conveniently adapted their own apps to work with the (probably) proprietary APIs that they have in place of the standard Android solutions. Although the phone is very good I am contemplating returning it as it becomes more and more crippeled and that it has no support for SD cards except for Sony's own apps. 

Another app shows the internal memory both as internal and as SD Memory, that being the acmqueue app for scientific and other articles from ACM Queue. Also is very

File browser apps seems to work though, I have tested a couple. They can display both internal memory and SD cards. There is no problem writing to the card, Sony's photo app works just fine.

[texiu]

Same Problem here. Another app that is unusable now is foldersync pro...

[DavidAW]

Brand new Sony Xperia X with all 7 Android updates performed. Brand new, unencrypted SanDisk MicroSD card and the same issue continues. My map & voice files for Here WeGo! maps are stored on this MicroSD card and having told Here maps to use the MicroSD card it will no longer start properly and removing and re-installing it does nothing to improve the issue. I see no ability in the Sony version of Android 8 which would allow me to provide Storage permissions to Here maps either. Here's my video of the issue occurring. Note, it is virtually instant that the crash occurs due to this Sony Xperia & MicroSD card issue:

https://youtu.be/xETSvHt8dN0

This is unreasonable and unacceptable from such a device. Par for the course I guess - Sony and data f*ck ups...