I’m working on an Android application that needs to integrate with Google Drive functionality. I’m wondering if users must have the official Google Drive mobile application installed on their phones for the Google Drive API to work properly.
I’ve been searching through documentation but haven’t found a clear answer about this dependency. Since I haven’t set up my Google Developer Console account yet, I can’t run tests to verify this myself. Has anyone worked with the Drive API before and can confirm whether the standalone app installation is required?
Any insights about potential limitations or workarounds would be really helpful for my project planning.
nope, u dont need the drive app. I’ve used the api for years without forcing users to install it. it connects directly to google’s cloud, no local app needed. the auth might vary a lil bit, but functionality stays the same. hope this helps!
I’ve integrated Drive API into several Android apps - the official Drive app isn’t needed at all. The API works through direct HTTP calls to Google’s servers. Authentication changes slightly based on whether users have Google Play Services, but that’s unrelated to the Drive app. You can handle files, metadata, and sharing permissions without any mobile app dependency. One gotcha I ran into: some users don’t have their Google account set up properly on their device, but that’s an account issue, not an app requirement. The Drive API docs make this confusing since they push the app ecosystem hard, but your standalone setup will work perfectly.
The Google Drive API doesn’t require the Drive mobile app to be installed. Your Android application can communicate directly with Google’s servers using REST calls without needing the Drive app. In several projects I’ve worked on, users haven’t needed to install the Drive app. However, it’s worth noting that if users don’t have the app, the OAuth authentication will redirect them through a web browser rather than the app interface. This doesn’t affect functionality; users still have full access to upload, download, create folders, and manage permissions through your application as if the app were installed.