[Bug]: Android SecurityException - Missing WAKE_LOCK permission

[AdarshJais]

Required Reading

• Confirmed

Plugin Version

4.1.10

Mobile operating-system(s)

• iOS
• Android

Device Manufacturer(s) and Model(s)

Various Android devices

Device operating-systems(s)

Android (various versions)

React Native / Expo version

React Native 0.76.9

What happened?

Description

I'm experiencing a SecurityException crash related to a missing WAKE_LOCK permission when using react-native-background-fetch on Android.

Error Stack Trace

java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to start receiver com.transistorsoft.tsbackgroundfetch.FetchAlarmReceiver: java.lang.SecurityException: Neither user 10221 nor current process has android.permission.WAKE_LOCK.
    at android.app.ActivityThread.handleReceiver(ActivityThread.java:5038)
    at android.app.ActivityThread.-$$Nest$mhandleReceiver(unknown:0)
    at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:2577)
    at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:110)
    at android.os.Looper.loopOnce(Looper.java:248)
    at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:338)
    at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:9067)

Expected Behavior

The background fetch should work without throwing a SecurityException.

Questions for Maintainer

1. Should I manually add the WAKE_LOCK permission to my AndroidManifest.xml? Would adding this permission resolve the issue?

2. Is this permission missing from the README/documentation? I noticed this permission requirement isn't clearly documented in the setup instructions.

3. If this permission is required, should it be:

   • Automatically included by the library?
   • Explicitly documented in the installation/setup guide?

Additional Context

This seems to be occurring when the FetchAlarmReceiver attempts to start but lacks the necessary WAKE_LOCK permission.

Plugin Code and/or Config

 let status = await BackgroundFetch.configure(
        {
            minimumFetchInterval:
                backgroundFetchConfig?.minimumFetchInterval ?? 15,
            scheduleTask: true,
            stopOnTerminate: false,
            startOnBoot: true,
            enableHeadless: true,
        },
        onEvent,
        onTimeout,
    );

Relevant log output

[AdarshJais]

android-crashreport-11-06-2025_1611+0530.txt

[christocracy]

This SDK carries its own AndroidManifest which contains all its required permissions, including WAKE_LOCK.

If it's missing, it can only be because you are explicitly overriding that permission and ordering it removed in your own AndroidManifest.

[AdarshJais]

Thanks for the quick response! I checked as you suggested and found some interesting results:

What I Checked:

1. Library's AndroidManifest (node_modules/react-native-background-fetch/android/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml):

The library's manifest is actually empty - just has <manifest>, <application>, and closing tags. No WAKE_LOCK permission declared here.

2. My App's AndroidManifest (android/app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml):

I searched for tools:node="remove" and found it on line 33, but it's for REQUEST_INSTALL_PACKAGES permission, not WAKE_LOCK:

<uses-permission
    android:name="android.permission.REQUEST_INSTALL_PACKAGES"
    tools:node="remove" />

I don't have any explicit removal of WAKE_LOCK permission in my manifest.

3. Project-wide Search:

When I search for android.permission.WAKE_LOCK across the project, I can see it declared in:

• node_modules/react-native-background-timer/android/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml
• node_modules/react-native-blob-util/android/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml
• node_modules/redux-persist-filesystem-storage/node_modules/react-native-fs/android/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml

But NOT in react-native-background-fetch's manifest.

Questions:

1. Should the WAKE_LOCK permission be in the library's AndroidManifest.xml file? The one I see is empty.
2. Is it possible the permission declaration is in a different location for this library?
3. Could there be an issue with how the library was installed or built?

Screenshots attached showing what I found.

[christocracy]

That's not where this plug-in keeps its permissions. They're shipped in the binary lib tslocationmanager.aar

[mikehardy]

in Android Studio the "Merged Manifest" view should show the final result of all manifests (including that from all AAR files...) merged with merging priorities applied, and information about the source of whatever final state exists for any given config chunk. It's much more useful than a filesystem level search for manifest information since that doesn't show things in aars...