[Feature Request] Model download with own Network Connection.

[my-garbage]

As a privacy Notes app please don't use download Manager of Android.

If you don't lock this out every app can get all the Data outside without any possibility of blocking it.
This inherently unsafe.

All the download don't work Bugs relate to this.

If you can't download the model your download manager app needs permission for Network. But don't leave this on because its a free ticket for everyone to connect to the Internet.

For what does the App need a Network permission anyway if the download is via Download manager?

[Harshil783]

Hmm... I am quite confused on what you are trying convey here. From what I can understand from your words it seems that you are questioning that why app needs internet connection permission to download models, is that what you are asking?

[my-garbage]

No. The App can have network permission for Download.

But it doesn't download until you give that permission for the Download Manager of Android too.

The problem is that the App needs for downloading the Download Manager of Android wich many people with privacy concerns will have revoked.

The model downloads only will happen if the System Apps Download / Download Manager have network permission.

[Harshil783]

we need @tosinonikute here, problem seems to be related to file handling, and how models are handled.

[tosinonikute]

thanks for raising this!

The Download Manager is actually Google's recommended approach for large file downloads like this, which is why it was used here. It handles a lot of the heavy lifting like surviving app backgrounding, retries, and system-level download management out of the box.

I totally understand the concern around privacy. Just to clarify though, the network permission here is only ever used for the one-time model download during setup. Once the model is on your device, the app works completely offline and your notes never touch the internet.

I am considering switching to a custom download implementation using OkHttp or similar as it would give more control, but it also means rebuilding everything the Download Manager handles for free: progress tracking, resume support, process death handling, corruption checks, foreground service management, etc. That's a fair amount of work and testing, so it's not something that can be done quickly.

[Harshil783]

Hmm... looking at the amount of work needed to replace the system download manager, building a custom OkHttp implementation from scratch definitely seems like too much friction.

instead of reinventing the wheel, we could look into using WorkManager for this. there are existing modern libraries like Ketch (which is built directly on Android's WorkManager) or Fetch that already handle the heavy lifting like process death, retries, and backgrounding out of the box.

it keeps the development overhead low while keeping the network requests strictly internal to the app to solve the privacy issue. might be worth checking those out before committing to a massive rewrite @tosinonikute, thoughts?

[tosinonikute]

Thanks @Harshil783 I think I'll go with Fetch, It's also interesting because I learnt Android development directly from the creator of Fetch some years ago working in the same organisation.

[my-garbage]

The Ketch/Fetch Idea seems to be better for stock Android users in ways of privacy.
Sounds like a solution to this problem.

[Harshil783]

We have a potential solution on our hands now.

Now we have a lore to listen to from @tosinonikute , haha!