You can make the CAMERA permission optional, so the app continues to function even if the user denies it. The key is to:

✅ 1. Declare the Permission in the Manifest (but don’t make it required):

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.CAMERA" />

This only informs the system that your app might request the camera—it doesn’t force the app to crash if not granted.

✅ 2. Request the Permission at Runtime (for Android 6.0+):

You must check and request the permission at runtime before accessing the camera.

Example in Kotlin:

if (ContextCompat.checkSelfPermission(this, Manifest.permission.CAMERA)
    != PackageManager.PERMISSION_GRANTED) {
    
    ActivityCompat.requestPermissions(this,
        arrayOf(Manifest.permission.CAMERA),
        CAMERA_PERMISSION_REQUEST_CODE)
} else {
    // Permission already granted, proceed with camera
}

✅ 3. Handle Denial Gracefully:

If the user denies access, don’t crash or force close the app. Instead, show a message or disable camera features:

override fun onRequestPermissionsResult(requestCode: Int, permissions: Array<out String>, grantResults: IntArray) {
    if (requestCode == CAMERA_PERMISSION_REQUEST_CODE) {
        if ((grantResults.isNotEmpty() && grantResults[0] == PackageManager.PERMISSION_GRANTED)) {
            // Permission granted — open camera
        } else {
            // Permission denied — disable camera feature or show explanation
            Toast.makeText(this, "Camera permission denied. Some features may not work.", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show()
        }
    }
}

✅ 4. (Optional) Use `<uses-feature>` if You Want to Make It Optional for Play Store Filtering

In your AndroidManifest.xml, add:

<uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.camera" android:required="false" />

This tells Google Play that your app can still run on devices without a camera.

📌 Summary:

Feature	Required?	Notes
	Declared, but not enforced	Needed to allow requesting at runtime
Runtime Permission	Yes (API 23+)	Request manually and handle denial
	Optional (set required=”false”)	Ensures Play Store doesn’t filter out devices without a camera

I have but the store still complains. what to do with uses-permission

✅ Problem:

You set:

<uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.camera" android:required="false" />

…but you’re still getting Google Play warnings like:

Your app uses the camera hardware feature but does not declare it as optional.

❗ Why?

Google Play automatically infers that your app requires the camera if:

You use <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.CAMERA" />, and
You don’t clearly make the permission optional in both features and permissions.

✅ Solution:

To make Google Play understand that the camera is optional and your app supports devices without a camera:

✔️ 1. Keep this in your `AndroidManifest.xml`:

<uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.camera" android:required="false" />

✔️ 2. Do NOT remove `<uses-permission>`, but that’s NOT enough — so:

Use a conditional permission request (already good).

✔️ 3. Add a comment or metadata if using libraries like CameraX

If you’re using CameraX, it might be triggering extra feature detection. To avoid this, also exclude unnecessary features using:

<uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.camera.autofocus" android:required="false" />

OR explicitly exclude all advanced camera features as optional:

<uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.camera.front" android:required="false" />
<uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.camera.any" android:required="false" />

✔️ 4. Final `AndroidManifest.xml` example:

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.CAMERA" />

<uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.camera" android:required="false" />
<uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.camera.front" android:required="false" />
<uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.camera.any" android:required="false" />
<uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.camera.autofocus" android:required="false" />

✅ Summary

Element	Action
`<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.CAMERA" />`	✅ Keep it
`<uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.camera" android:required="false" />`	✅ Required
Additional `<uses-feature>` entries for front camera, autofocus, etc.	✅ Optional but recommended to stop Play Store warnings
✅ Required for Android 6.0+

✅ Your app can still work if you remove:

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.CAMERA" />

But only if:

Your app doesn’t access the camera directly via Camera, Camera2, or CameraX APIs, or
You only launch the system camera app using an Intent, like:

val intent = Intent(MediaStore.ACTION_IMAGE_CAPTURE)
startActivityForResult(intent, REQUEST_IMAGE_CAPTURE)

🔸 In this case, the system camera app handles the permission, not your app. So you don’t need the CAMERA permission.

❌ NO, your app will NOT work properly without the permission if:

You use APIs like:
- Camera.open()
- CameraManager
- CameraX
- Any library that accesses the camera stream directly
You expect to access the camera feed inside your app

In these cases, removing the permission will cause:

SecurityException
Blank camera preview
Or outright crashes

✅ Recommended: If You Want Optional Camera Use

If your app can run without a camera, but has optional features using it:

Keep the permission:

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.CAMERA" />

Declare camera features as not required:

<uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.camera" android:required="false" />

At runtime:
- Check for camera availability
- Request permission dynamically
- Gracefully degrade if camera isn’t available or permission is denied

(Update) Last minute Camera Permission Fix

There is newer tag that fixes the requirement of the permission:

<uses-permission-sdk-23 android:name="android.permission.CAMERA"  />

https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/manifest/uses-permission-sdk-23-element It takes care of targeting the requirement of the permission – according the the version of the underlying OS.