The Play Store restricts AnkiDroid's access to your current collection (/storage/emulated/0/AnkiDroid). If you have a current backup on AnkiWeb, it is recommended that you reinstall AnkiDroid and re-download your data.

The remainder of this article details accessing your current collection without restoring from a backup

[!WARNING] Please backup the AnkiDroid folder on your device before continuing. The file manager app on your device should show this folder under "External storage". Backup by making a copy of this folder.

• This folder contains all AnkiDroid data

1. Parallel Releases

If you have not synced your collection, parallel releases allow you to sync your AnkiDroid collection to AnkiWeb, or perform a full backup. Parallel releases can be installed alongside 'regular' installs of AnkiDroid, and have appropriate permissions to read the AnkiDroid folder

Once a collection is fully synced and you are sure all media has uploaded, you may reinstall from the Play Store and download from AnkiWeb, or select an alternate app store version below

Sync via a parallel release with full storage access

Download the Parallel.A apk from: https://github.com/ankidroid/Anki-Android/releases/latest

2. Alternate app stores (MANAGE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE)

Alternate app stores allow you to continue using the /AnkiDroid folder

[!WARNING] You need to uninstall & wipe app data to install AnkiDroid from an alternate app store otherwise you will likely encounter package install errors

• See https://github.com/ankidroid/Anki-Android/issues/14216

2.i via F-Droid (recommended)

https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.ichi2.anki/

• F-Droid requests MANAGE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE, which is forbidden by the Play Store, keeping your collection in a location which Android will not offer to delete if AnkiDroid is uninstalled.

2.ii via GitHub

[!CAUTION] GitHub releases do not automatically update Download full-universal.apk from: https://github.com/ankidroid/Anki-Android/releases/latest

2.iii via Obtainium

https://github.com/ImranR98/Obtainium

Obtainium is an option to download GitHub builds that can automatically update

3. Restoring permissions on Android 13+ (advanced)

If your error message states WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE, you can uninstall the app from the Google Play Store and reinstall it (but that might destroy your local data) or you can restore access to your collection using adb.

Install adb and connect to your phone, then enter:

adb shell pm grant com.ichi2.anki android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE
adb shell pm grant com.ichi2.anki android.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE