So… Why Bother?

You might wonder why Google is bothering with this, given that the whitelists allow you to bypass the restrictions, and that’s ignoring the official QUERY_ALL_PACKAGES opt-out.

In general, it appears as though this is simply a tightening of the security rules (“principle of least access”), not tied to anything specific.

And, while Google expressly hints about possible restrictions on Play Store distribution for apps using QUERY_ALL_PACKAGES, do not assume that the whitelists are some form of escape hatch:

• Future versions of Android might present information about your whitelists to the user (on the Play Store or at install time). If you ask for too much, the user might elect to abandon your app.
• Google might put Play Store restrictions on certain whitelist options. For example, they might allow actual launchers to whitelist apps with MAIN/LAUNCHER activities, but they might ban non-launchers from doing the same.