As you may be aware, Android 11 made some big changes to the Scoped Storage
functionality that Google began to implement with Android 10.

One of the biggest user-facing changes is removing access to the
"Android/data" folder, blocking all apps (including file managers) from
accessing any data within it.

This is unfortunate, as many apps, including emulators as well as source
ports of PC games, require users to place files inside the "Android/data"
folder in order for these apps to run.

Having access to "Android/data" is also useful for backup / restore
purposes. It's significantly more complicated to do so under Android 11, but
there are still ways to manage files inside this folder.

One method is to connect your device up to a computer the USB and manage the
files there. When connected to USB you have full access to the contents of
the "Android/data" folder.

However, this is cumbersome and not everyone has access to a computer these
days. Of course, you can root and just browse to the files via
/data/media/0/Android/data instead, but rooting has its own set of
drawbacks.

Thankfully, there is a way to fully manage files inside of the
"Android/data" folder, completely on device, without root or USB.

*Opening the AOSP Files app*

Only one app is specifically granted access by the Android platform to
manage files inside the "Android/data" folder: the AOSP Files app.

This used to be easily accessible via a launcher icon in your app drawer,
but on Pixel devices at least, that icon is gone in favor of the preloaded
Files by Google app. However, the AOSP Files app is still present on the
device and it can still be launched.

Option 1: Open up the system Settings, then navigate to Storage and click
"Files"

Option 2: Download this Files app from the Play Store, which is really just
a shortcut to open the AOSP files app.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.marc.files

*Copying and moving files outside of the folder*

Okay, so we have the AOSP files app open. Copying or moving data out of the
"Android/data" folder is, thankfully, pretty simple. Simply navigate to the
folder as usual, long-press on the content you want to select, then go to
the three-dot menu in the upper-right and choose either "Copy to..." or
"Move to...".

This will open up a separate screen where you can navigate to the
destination directory easily. Use the hamburger menu in the top-left corner,
then select your device's name to show your device's file system, if needed.
Copying and moving files into the folder

Getting content into the folder is a bit trickier, but still possible.

If you follow the same steps above, you'll notice that when selecting the
"Android" directory, "data" is completely missing. What an unfortunate
oversight on Google's part!

Thankfully, you can also drag and drop files into the folder from the main
file manager view, which works fine. So, in order to get content into the
"Android/data" folder:
1 First, copy or move your files into the top level of your device's
storage, following the steps above.
2 Back at the main file manager view, select the files again.
3 Tap and hold on the selected items to enter drag-and-drop mode.
4 Move your finger over the "Android" folder, then the "data" folder.
5 Keep moving your finger through the folder hierarchy, and once you're
inside the folder that the files will be placed into, release your finger.

*What Google should have done*

So yes, it's kind of a roundabout way to manage files that were previously
considered publically accessible in Android 10 and earlier. It's an
unfortunate change that Google could have handled better:

1 As part of the Scoped Storage changes, there is a new permission,
MANAGE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE, that is intended specifically for file manager apps
to use so that they can have the broad access they need for the user to
manage files under Android 11. Unfortunately, even with this broad
permission, file managers still cannot access files under "Android/data".
Since apps with the MANAGE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission have to be vetted by
Google before they are approved for distribution in the Play Store, it
doesn't make sense for file managers to still be disallowed access to this
directory for security reasons. Apps holding this permission should be
allowed to manage the entirety of external storage as they were under
Android 10 and earlier.

2 Google could have tested the AOSP files app a bit better, especially since
they specifically implemented the ability to manage files inside
"Android/data" just for this one app. Looking at the code for the files app,
the main file manager activity is configured to use this access, but not the
picker activity (used for copying / moving files). You'd think that some
basic QA testing for this use case would have caught this issue before
Android 11 was finalized, but since the AOSP files app is going to be sunset
in favor of Files by Google, it's no surprise that testing wasn't a huge
priority.

3 Frankly, they shouldn't have limited access to the "Android/data"
directory at all. Preventing other apps from accessing the directory
basically turns it into a redundant copy of an app's existing internal
storage area (located under /data/data/<package name>/files. There used to
be a clear distinction between an app's internal storage directory and its
external storage directory. Now with Android 11, there's very little
difference between the two.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/j3zgmm/managing_files_in_the_androiddata_folder_on/
--
J. B. Wood e-mail: arl_123234@hotmail.com