How to retrieve password from the configured email on the android phone

Question

I'm trying to retrieve the password of google account, but getting security exception.

Also i have given permissions in androidManifest.xml to account_manager, aunthenticator, get_account, manage account.

android.accounts.Account[] googleAccount =
AccountManager.get(mContext).getAccounts();
for (android.accounts.Account account: googleAccount ) {
String pwd = AccountManager.get(mContext).getPassword(account);
AccountManager.get(mContext).setPassword(account, null);
}

Solution

The documentation of getPassword() says:

This method requires the caller to hold the permission AUTHENTICATE_ACCOUNTS and to have the same UID as the account's authenticator.

I think the last part of the sentence is important in your case. You're trying to get the password for an account for which you haven't written the Authenticator. The Authenticator defines how to authenticate to a certain service. Only the authenticator or an application which uses the same UID are allowed to call the getPassword() method. By this restriction it is assured that no one can steal the user's account credentials.

Comments

[apatki]

We are new to this field.....can u plz elaborate or can u shw a demo code and thank you for the reply

[Nick Maina]

There is no code for this, as it is impossible what you're trying to archive. You cannot retrieve the password for an Google account from you custom code. Only application which uses the same UID as the Authenticator for the Google accounts can call this method. Other applications will always get an error message.

[CoDe]

@Flo can u please say more about UID and what are the possibility to get it?