I have recently spent a long time trying to allow termux to set the
screen brightness. It needs WRITE_SETTINGS permission.

It turns out that this isn't a 'normal' permission setting, you can't
change it with the package manager in adb. However you *can* give the
required permission using 'appops' in adb.

I only found how to do it by searching all over the place, finding
something similar and then trying various things until it worked.

There's very little help given by 'appops -h', can anyone point me at
anything that describes what appops can do?

--
Chris Green
·

Chris Green wrote on 31.07.2021 14:30
> can anyone point me at anything that describes what appops can do?

I don't have what the OP is looking for but I purposefully helpfully spent
about an hour trying to find the solutions for the OP (and for others).

I had to look up what the App Ops Manager actually was, just to understand
the question (where the OP is seeking a usable appops tutorial).
<https://developer.android.com/reference/android/app/AppOpsManager>

I have never used appops which was apparently introduced native in Android
4.3 but that app ops hidden service was subsequently removed in 4.4.2.
<https://blog.sasken.com/android-application-permission-control-feature-appops>
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=fr.slvn.appops>
<https://appops.rikka.app/guide/technical/system_behaviors/>
<https://www.addictivetips.com/android/how-to-bring-back-app-ops-to-android-4-4-2-kitkat/>
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=droidmate.appopsinstaller>

Since the OP is using adb, this appops app may work in conjunction with adb:
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=rikka.appops>

This application operations permissions manager issue get complex fast,
so I can definitely agree with the OP that a usable tutorial would be nice.

There's a short introduction to App Ops here by the way, which explains:
<https://muntashirakon.github.io/AppManager/tech/AppOps.html>
"any app with android.Manifest.permission.GET_APP_OPS_STATS permission can
get the app ops information for other applications but this permission is
hidden from users and can only be enabled using ADB or root."

That author also covers the "appops" command line interface, but,
unfortunately he says "The help page of this command is self explanatory",
which doesn't lead us to a tutorial.

However the author of that description did suggest the AppOpsX FOSS app:
<https://github.com/8enet/AppOpsX>
<https://github.com/8enet/AppOpsX/releases/tag/1.2.5>

I installed the GitHub AppOpsX, which has adb mode for those like me who are
unrooted. But when I pointed AppOpsX to Termux, it asked, understandably,
for either adb on a computer or for root on the Android device.
<https://github.com/8enet/AppOpsX/releases/download/1.2.5/appopsx-1.2.5.apk>

There's also an AppOpsXposed but that requires installing Xposed first.
<https://repo.xposed.info/module/at.jclehner.appopsxposed>
<https://github.com/jclehner/AppOpsXposed>
<https://github.com/jclehner/AppOpsXposed/releases/tag/v1.30.1>
<https://dl-xda.xposed.info/modules/at.jclehner.appopsxposed_v13003_801ef9.apk>

Rather than fumble around further, I agree with the OP that an appops
tutorial would be nice as it would save a lot of testing time otherwise.

To that end, I found a few step by step procedures do "do things" with
appops that may together comprise a rudimentary tutorial of what it can do.

*How to Uninstall System Apps on Android without Root, using appops*
<https://technastic.com/freeze-uninstall-system-apps-android/>

*How to stop apps from reading your clipboard, using appops*
<https://www.xda-developers.com/stop-apps-reading-android-clipboard/>

*How to stop apps from stealing autofocus, using appops*
<https://www.xda-developers.com/pokemon-go-audio-focus/>

*How to stop pokemon go from stealing autofocus, using appops*
<https://www.pokemongroup.com/stop-pokemon-go-stealing-audio-focus/>

*How to bypass screen recording, using appops*
<https://support.anydesk.com/AnyDesk_on_Android>

*Freeze and Uninstall System Apps on Android Without Root using appops*
<https://ihax.io/freeze-and-uninstall-system-apps-on-android-without-root/>

*How to enter Delegated device admin mode using appops*
<https://www.reddit.com/r/privacytoolsIO/comments/fit0tr/taking_almost_full_control_of_your_unrooted/>

*How to give permission to manage external storage using appops*
<https://source.android.com/compatibility/cts/verifier>

*How to lock facebook privacy using appops*
<https://galaxy-note-3.gadgethacks.com/how-to/lock-down-facebook-app-permissions-for-more-privacy-your-galaxy-note-3-0155914/>

By way of summary, I couldn't find a tutorial for the OP for appops.
All I could find were examples using appops as shown above in detail
sufficient to easily reproduce my results.

BTW, this suggests alternatives to using appops to manage permissions:
<https://www.educba.com/android/>
--
Purposefully helpful people move the ball forward for all to benefit from.