I’m working on an Android app and need to implement functionality that allows users to upload files from their device storage to Google Drive. I’ve been searching online for tutorials and documentation but I’m getting confused with all the different API versions and examples I found seem outdated. Can someone please provide a working code example that shows how to authenticate with Google Drive API and upload files from Android device? I want to make sure I’m using the current and recommended approach for this integration. Any help with proper authentication flow and file upload implementation would be really appreciated.
Just implemented this and here’s what worked for me: Use Google Drive API client libraries instead of raw REST calls - they handle most of the messy stuff for you. Add the right dependencies to build.gradle and set up DriveServiceHelper properly. The tricky part was authentication - check if the user’s already signed in before trying to upload anything. For uploads, create a FileContent object with your local file and call files().create(). Don’t skip error handling since uploads fail all the time - network issues, user’s Drive is full, etc.
same issue here last month. getting manifest permissions right was the biggest headache - don’t forget internet permission and handle it when users deny google account access. i started testing with tiny files (1mb max) before moving to larger uploads. also, run uploads on a background thread or your app will freeze.
Google Drive API on Android can be tricky due to constant changes in documentation. I successfully integrated it using Drive REST API v3 alongside Google Sign-In. Start by setting up your OAuth2 credentials in the Google Cloud Console, ensuring you request the appropriate scopes, particularly the drive.file scope, which allows access to files your app creates. For uploading, utilize multipart requests with correct MIME types. Be aware that for larger files, you’ll need to implement resumable uploads to avoid timeouts, which occur after a few megabytes. The latest official documentation has improved, and their Android quickstart guide is now quite helpful.