Plus Messenger files access issue
What is the issue?
At 14th of November 2021 Plus Messenger 8.2.3.0 was released. Some features were broken in that version (only for Android 11 and newer):
- Gallery app stopped displaying media files which were downloaded in Plus Messenger (either automatically or manually).
- "Themes for Telegram" and "Plus Themes" apps could not apply themes on Plus Messenger anymore.
- Plus Messenger could not save Plus settings anymore (either into device memory or into cloud).
This happened because Plus 8.2.3.0 could store files only in Android\Data\org.telegram.plus folder in internal memory. So was the restriction of new version of developer tools. Plus Messenger developer has to use new version of them: this was Google Play Market requirement. More details here: https://t.me/plusmsgrchat/1095438. By the way official Telegram app has the same issue: http://bugs.telegram.org/c/10927.
How to fix all that?
Bad news: Google Play Market still has this restriction and it looks like it will have it forever.
Good news: you can download Plus Messenger not only from Google Play Market but from Appcenter too. And Appcenter version has some settings which help users to bypass this restriction.
Why is Appcenter version better?
- Appcenter version provides the way to bypass files access issue. Here is the instruction: https://t.me/plusmsgrfaq/39.
- Appcenter version has some more settings which are not available in Google Play Market.
- Appcenter version has no some (but not all!) copyright restrictions which are in Google Play Market version. In fact Appcenter version is similar to direct version (https://telegram.org/android) of official Telegram app.
- Appcenter version checks for updates itself. You do not need to check them: app displays notification when new version is released. Of course if you did not turn those notifications off by https://t.me/plusmods/updateAppMethod.
- New versions are released more quickly in Appcenter than in Google Play Market: read https://t.me/plusmsgrfaq/38 for details.
How to download Appcenter version?
• Stable version: here.
• Beta version: here.
Google Play Market conflict
Google Play Market app can find Appcenter Plus Messenger on your device.
And when new version of Plus Messenger appears in Google Market then this app can update your Appcenter app to Google Store version so you lose Appcenter app advantages.
Turn off Plus Messenger autoupdate in Google Play Market settings to avoid this:
- Open https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.telegram.plus link in Google Play app.
- Tap on three dots in top right corner.
- Disable autoupdating.
⚠️ Please note: on some devices it disables autoupdating for all apps installed from Google Play.