feat(reminders): request notification permissions

[ericli3690]

Blocked by dependency Currently blocked by some other dependent / related change :

• feat(reminders): AddEditReminderDialog #19109

Purpose / Description

Creates a BottomSheet for requesting notification permissions from the user. This BottomSheet shows up when the user first triggers a sync and when the user first creates a review reminder, as these are the two features that rely on notifications.

UI

All Commit Messages

As discussed in Discord, we have decided to use the PermissionsActivity which shows up when the app is initially installed to request mandatory permissions from the user. For optional permissions, we have decided to try and request them in a less intrusive way. Here, I've created a PermissionsBottomSheet that can pop up and request optional permissions from the user. I use this bottom sheet in a later commit for requesting notification permissions.

I've modeled PermissionsBottomSheet after PermissionsActivity. I'm fairly sure I cannot reuse PermissionsActivity's code because it is a full-screen activity, whereas PermissionsBottomSheet needs to inherit BottomSheetFragment and be a fragment.

Created the PermissionsFragment which will be hosted inside PermissionsBottomSheet for requesting notification permissions from the user. It is launched via requestNotificationsPermissionIfNeeded in Permissions. This method takes a callback so that I can do some conditional preference-setting in a later commit. Created a new PermissionSet for the notifications permission in InitialActivity, which is gated behind API 33. In a way, this means I've sort of resurrected TiramisuPermissionsFragment, so maybe I shouldn't have been so quick to delete it, whoops.

Adds two new boolean Preferences for saving whether we have requested notification permissions from the user: one for whether it has been done for the sync process yet (we will request notification permissions the first time the user tries to sync) and one for whether it has been done for the review reminders feature yet (we will request notification permissions the first time the user creates a review reminder).

I'm aware there is a shouldShowRequestPermissionRationale method which Google recommends using to check if we should request notification permissions from the user. I do not believe we should use it as it is incredibly confusing and has some very weird edge-case behaviour. See this post for more information. Rather, it makes good sense to use two quick preferences and carefully handle whether we have shown the request dialog ourselves. This is also more extensible in the future, should a future developer choose to request the notification permission in a different circumstance, too.

I have decided to request the permission once for the sync feature and once for the review reminder feature because if the user denies the permission for the sync feature and then goes to enable review reminders, they may change their mind about providing AnkiDroid with notification permissions; and vice versa.

If the notification is denied, I have chosen not to downgrade any review reminders functionality: the user will still be able to create, edit, and delete them. However, they will not receive any notifications. I do not believe it makes sense to restrict the user's ability to edit review reminders even though they have notifications disabled, as a user might want to customize their reminders to their liking before enabling notifications, etc. In the future, I may add a help screen to help users who are confused why they are not getting notifications and who may have notifications accidentally disabled, but otherwise, I think we should assume that if the user has denied notification permissions, then we simply should not sent notifications, and do not need to downgrade any other functionality.

The old code requested notification permissions via MyAccount and requests the permission each time a new user logs in, which makes no sense. Notifications are tied to the phone the app is installed on, not an individual user profile. Rather, we should be requesting notification permissions when the user first triggers a sync. This is what this change accomplishes.

Deletes all old logic for requesting notification permissions. Deletes checkNotificationPermission as it has been moved to Permissions as shouldRequestNotificationPermissions. Requests notification permissions the first time the user triggers a sync.

Request notification permissions when the user first creates a review reminder. Involves a simple edit to AddEditReminderDialog.

Fixes

• Fixes Ask the Notifications permission in the permission screen in Android 13+ #15952
• Part of GSoC 2025: Review Reminders

Approach

• Creates a new PermissionsBottomSheet. My intention is: mandatory permissions -> use PermissionsActivity; optional permissions -> use PermissionsBottomSheet. I think the BottomSheet is less intrusive compared to the full-screen PermissionsActivity, as befits an optional permission.

How Has This Been Tested?

• Runs on a physical Samsung S23, API 34.
• Medium Phone, API 35.

Learning (optional, can help others)

• Spent a lot of time stuck on a bug involving fragmentManagers, but managed to figure it out.

Checklist

• You have a descriptive commit message with a short title (first line, max 50 chars).
• You have commented your code, particularly in hard-to-understand areas
• You have performed a self-review of your own code
• UI changes: include screenshots of all affected screens (in particular showing any new or changed strings)
• UI Changes: You have tested your change using the Google Accessibility Scanner

[github-actions]

Important

Maintainers: This PR contains Strings changes

1. Sync Translations before merging this PR and wait for the action to complete
2. Review and merge the auto-generated PR in order to sync all user-submitted translations
3. Sync Translations again and merge the PR so the huge automated string changes caused by merging this PR are by themselves and easy to review

[ericli3690]

• Fixed the headline of the BottomSheet, which was hardcoded for some reason. It now reads: AnkiDroid works best with these permissions.
• Rebased on top of improvement: permission explanations #18978

[ericli3690]

• Rebased.

[ericli3690]

• Rebased. The optional permissions header has been moved to improvement: permission explanations #18978, which this PR is based on top of.

[ericli3690]

• Rebased.

[ericli3690]

• Rebased and resolved merge conflicts.
• Now only blocked by feat(reminders): AddEditReminderDialog #19109.