Support for Google Play’s New "Contacts Permissions" Policy & Android Contact Picker integration

[Mohammad-Abureesh]

Feature Request / Policy Compliance

Google Play recently announced a new "Contacts Permissions" policy. Apps that do not require "broad access" to contacts must now use the Android Contact Picker to minimize data collection.

Problem

Current implementation of flutter_contacts relies heavily on READ_CONTACTS and WRITE_CONTACTS permissions. With the new policy, Google may reject apps that use these permissions if the primary goal is just selecting a specific contact.

Suggested Changes

1. Lightweight Mode: Provide a way to use the native Contact Picker without requiring the READ_CONTACTS permission in the Manifest.
2. Documentation Update: Add a guide on how to comply with Google Play’s 30-day deadline using this package.
3. Internal Picker: Ensure that openExternalPick() can function as a standalone intent that doesn't trigger permission-related rejections during Google Play's automated review.

Are there any plans to provide a "Permission-less" picker implementation to align with these privacy updates?

....
Google Policy Announcement

[joachim-quis]

Hey @Mohammad-Abureesh, thanks again for raising this. Just released v2.1.0 which makes FlutterContacts.native.showPicker() permissionless on both Android and iOS. It returns a Contact? with id and displayName always populated, and you can pass a properties set to ask for additional fields. On Android, requesting properties still requires READ_CONTACTS (it throws PlatformException otherwise), but the basic permissionless flow Google Play is asking for is fully covered. The README has the full per-method permission breakdown. Did this solve your problem?

[Mohammad-Abureesh]

Hi @joachim-quis , thank you for the update! While my specific use case currently requires displaying a full list of contacts with phone numbers inside the app (which still needs READ_CONTACTS on Android), having the permissionless native picker in v2.1.0 is a huge step forward. It gives us a solid compliant alternative if Google Play's enforcement becomes stricter for our category. Appreciate your hard work on this 🙏

[joachim-quis]

thanks @Mohammad-Abureesh! closing as fixed