How to Play Encrypted Media With MediaPlayer on Android Devices

Last updated March 12, 2024 by Appdome

This Knowledge Base article describes how to use Appdome’s AI/ML in your CI/CD pipeline to continuously deliver plugins that Encrypt Secured media files in Android apps.

Why does Android MediaPlayer Fail to Play Protected Media Files?

Android MediaPlayer runs on a separate process from the application. Like most Android services, MediaPlayer runs as a System Service, under System user (UID 0). When Appdome TOTALDataTM Encryption is enabled, all stored data generated by the app is encrypted at runtime by using industry-standard AES 256  encryption (including media files). This means that when MediaPlayer attempts to read the encrypted media files, it will fail to decrypt the files because it does not have the private key. While in principle the app developer can re-write the code to work with FileProvider (Android) and make it “aware” of the application’s encryption, this a technically challenging approach and in most cases, the application architecture does not allow using Content Providers. In other cases, the developer might not have access to the mobile app’s source code.

How does Appdome Enable Playing Protected Media Files?

Appdome Play Protected Media feature enables capturing initial access to an encrypted media file by the application and replacing it with a temporary one-time file path. This ensures that the media player can securely access unencrypted data. This feature applies secure media files and content handoff to external and embedded media players. This secured handoff is completed on-demand and while the data is in transit.

Play Protected Media allows you to use standard POSIX file I/O, without any extra development effort, as an extension of Appdome TOTALDataTM Encryption. When building the app on Appdome, developers can add a various features, SDKs, and APIs to Android apps and can choose any architecture and file I/O API.

Prerequisites for Using Appdome's Smart Media Sharing Plugins:

To use Appdome’s mobile app security build system to Encrypt Secured media files , you’ll need:

How to Implement Encrypt Secured media files in Android Apps Using Appdome

On Appdome, follow these 3 simple steps to create self-defending Android Apps that Encrypt Secured media files without an SDK or gateway:

  1. Designate the Mobile App to be protected.

    1. Upload an app via the Appdome Mobile Defense platform GUI or via Appdome’s DEV-API or CI/CD Plugins.

    2. Android Formats: .apk or .aab
    3. Smart Media Sharing is compatible with: Java, JS, C++, C#, Kotlin, Flutter, React Native, Unity, Xamarin, Cordova and other Android apps.
  2. Select the defense: Smart Media Sharing.

      1. Create and name the Fusion Set (security template) that will contain the Smart Media Sharing feature as shown below:
        fusion set that contains Smart Media Sharing .

        Figure 1: Fusion Set that will contain the Smart Media Sharing feature
        Note: Naming the Fusion Set to correspond to the protection(s) selected is for illustration purposes only (not required).

      2. Follow the steps in Sections 2.2-2.2.2 of this article to add the Smart Media Sharing feature to your Fusion Set via the Appdome Console.

      3. When you select the Smart Media Sharing you'll notice that the Fusion Set you created in step 2.1 now bears the icon of the protection category that contains Smart Media Sharing.

        Fusion Set applied Smart Media Sharing

        Figure 2: Fusion Set that displays the newly added Smart Media Sharing protection
        Note: Annotating the Fusion Set to identify the protection(s) selected is optional only (not mandatory).

      4. Open the Fusion Set Detail Summary by clicking the “...” symbol on the far-right corner of the Fusion Set. Copy the Fusion Set ID from the Fusion Set Detail Summary (as shown below): fusion Set Detail Summary image

        Figure 3: Fusion Set Detail Summary

      5. Follow the instructions below to use the Fusion Set ID inside any standard mobile DevOps or CI/CD toolkit like Bitrise, Jenkins, Travis, Team City, Circle CI or other system:
        1. Refer to the Appdome API Reference Guide for API building instructions.
        2. Look for sample APIs in Appdome’s GitHub Repository.
    1. Add the Smart Media Sharing feature to your security template.

      1. Navigate to Build > Security tab > TOTALData™ Encryption section in the Appdome Console.
      2. Toggle On > Smart Media Sharing.
        Smart Media Sharing option

        Figure 4: Selecting Encrypt Secured media files

        Note: The Appdome Platform displays the Mobile Operation Systems supported by each defense in real-time. For more details, see our OS Support Policy KB.

      3. Configure the User Experience Options for Smart Media Sharing:
        With Threat-Events™ OFF, Appdome provides several user experience options for mobile brands and developers.
        1. App Compromise Notification: Customize the pop-up or toast Appdome uses to notify the user when a threat is present while using the protected mobile app.
        2. Short message Option. This is available for mobile devices that allow a banner notification for security events.
        3. Localized Message Option. Allows Appdome users to support global languages in security notifications.

          Localized Message

          Figure 5: Default User Experience Options for Appdome’s Secured media files

        4. Smart Media Sharing Threat Code™. Appdome uses AI/ML to generate a unique code each time Smart Media Sharing is triggered by an active threat on the mobile device. Use the code in Appdome Threat Resolution Center™ to help end users identify, find and resolve active threats on the personal mobile devices.
    2. Initiate the build command either by clicking Build My App at the bottom of the Build Workflow (shown in Figure 4) or via your CI/CD as described in Section 2.1.4.
    Congratulations!  The Smart Media Sharing protection is now added to the mobile app
  3. Certify the Smart Media Sharing feature in Android Apps

    After building Smart Media Sharing, Appdome generates a Certified Secure™ certificate to guarantee that the Smart Media Sharing protection has been added and is protecting the app. To verify that the Smart Media Sharing protection has been added to the mobile app, locate the protection in the Certified Secure™ certificate as shown below: Smart Media Sharing shown in Certificate secure

    Figure 6: Certified Secure™ certificate

    Each Certified Secure™ certificate provides DevOps and DevSecOps organizations the entire workflow summary, audit trail of each build, and proof of protection that Smart Media Sharing has been added to each Android app. Certified Secure provides instant and in-line DevSecOps compliance certification that Smart Media Sharing and other mobile app security features are in each build of the mobile app.

Using Threat-Events™ for Secured media files Intelligence and Control in Android Apps

Appdome Threat-Events™ provides consumable in-app mobile app attack intelligence and defense control when Secured media files is detected. To consume and use Threat-Events™ for Secured media files in Android Apps, use registerReceiver in the Application OnCreate, and the code samples for Threat-Events™ for Secured media files shown below.

The specifications and options for Threat-Events™ for Secured media files are:

Threat-Event™ Elements Encrypt Secured media files Method Detail
Appdome Feature Name Smart Media Sharing
Threat-Event Mode
OFF, IN-APP DEFENSE Appdome detects, defends and notifies user (standard OS dialog) using customizable messaging.
ON, IN-APP DETECTION Appdome detects the attack or threat and passes the event in a standard format to the app for processing (app chooses how and when to enforce).
ON, IN-APP DEFENSE Uses Appdome Enforce mode for any attack or threat and passes the event in a standard format to the app for processing (gather intel on attacks and threats without losing any protection).
Certified Secure™ Threat Event Check x
Visible in ThreatScope™ x
Developer Parameters for Encrypting Secured media files Threat-Event™
Threat-Event NAME
Threat-Event DATA reasonData
Threat-Event CODE reasonCode
Threat-Event REF
Threat-Event SCORE
currentThreatEventScore Current Threat-Event score
threatEventsScore Total Threat-events score
Threat-Event Context Keys
message Message displayed for the user on event
failSafeEnforce Timed enforcement against the identified threat
externalID The external ID of the event which can be listened via Threat Events
osVersion OS version of the current device
deviceModel Current device model
deviceManufacturer The manufacturer of the current device
fusedAppToken The task ID of the Appdome fusion of the currently running app
kernelInfo Info about the kernel: system name, node name, release, version and machine.
carrierPlmn PLMN of the device. Only available for Android devices.
deviceID Current device ID
reasonCode Reason code of the occurred event
buildDate Appdome fusion date of the current application
devicePlatform OS name of the current device
carrierName Carrier name of the current device. Only available for Android.
updatedOSVersion Is the OS version up to date
deviceBrand Brand of the device
deviceBoard Board of the device
buildUser Build user
buildHost Build host
sdkVersion Sdk version
timeZone Time zone
deviceFaceDown Is the device face down
locationLong Location longitude conditioned by location permission
locationLat Location latitude conditioned by location permission
locationState Location state conditioned by location permission
wifiSsid Wifi SSID
wifiSsidPermissionStatus Wifi SSID permission status
threatCode The last six characters of the threat code specify the OS, allowing the Threat Resolution Center to address the attack on the affected device.

With Threat-Events™ enabled (turned ON), Android developers can get detailed attack intelligence and granular defense control in Android applications and create amazing user experiences for all mobile end users when Secured media files is detected.


The following is a code sample for native Android apps, which uses all values in the specification above for Smart Media Sharing:


Important! Replace all placeholder instances of <Context Key> with the specific name of your threat event context key across all language examples. This is crucial to ensure your code functions correctly with the intended event data. For example, The <Context Key> could be the message, externalID, OS Version, reason code, etc.



Using Appdome, there are no development or coding prerequisites to build secured Android Apps by using Smart Media Sharing. There is no SDK and no library to code or implement in the app and no gateway to deploy in your network. All protections are built into each app and the resulting app is self-defending and self-protecting.

Releasing and Publishing Mobile Apps with Smart Media Sharing

After successfully securing your app by using Appdome, there are several available options to complete your project, depending on your app lifecycle or workflow. These include:

Related Articles:

Check out Appdome’s Mobile App Security Suite or request a demo at any time.

How Do I Learn More?

If you have any questions, please send them our way at support.appdome.com or via the chat window on the Appdome platform.

Thank you!

Thanks for visiting Appdome! Our mission is to secure every app on the planet by making mobile app security easy. We hope we’re living up to the mission with your project.

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