is removing WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission possible?

[John Dupuy]

In my "buildozer.spec" file I do not add any android.permissions as it does not appear that my app specifically needs any.

In fact, it would be ideal if my app were completely clean of all requests for "special permissions" when installed from the PlayStore.

And yet, every APK I've built so far seems to arbitrarily add a Storage requirement anyway. I confirmed it running aapt against the APK:

>  uses-permission: name='android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE'

Is it possible to remove this permission? Or is it something fundamentally needed by kivy, buildozer, or python-for-android?

It's okay if the answer turns out to be "no it is needed." Unfortunately the docs do not seem to provide any answers.

Thanks for any help!

John