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[@capacitor/share] Android: sharing several images with text to WhatsApp only sends the text (intent type forced to */*)

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Assessment

Difficulty
3/5
Estimated time
1-2 days
Newbie friendliness
78/100
Issue type
Bug
Clarity
Clearly specified
Activity status
Active
Tech stack
android, java
Domain
mobile

Research direction

Start at the SharePlugin.shareFiles entry point and inspect how MIME types and ACTION_SEND_MULTIPLE intents are built. Reproduce the issue with several JPEG URIs and text, then verify that WhatsApp receives every image and the text while mixed or unknown types retain the documented fallback behavior.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Description

platform: android

Bug Report

Plugin(s)

@capacitor/share 8.0.2

Capacitor Version
Latest Dependencies:
  @capacitor/cli: 8.5.2
  @capacitor/core: 8.5.2
  @capacitor/android: 8.5.2
  @capacitor/ios: 8.5.2
Installed Dependencies:
  @capacitor/ios: not installed
  @capacitor/cli: 8.5.2
  @capacitor/core: 8.5.2
  @capacitor/android: 8.5.2
Platform(s)

Android

Current Behavior

Sharing several image files together with a text to WhatsApp only delivers the text: WhatsApp drops all the images. Sharing a single image with the same text works.

In SharePlugin.shareFiles, the intent type is forced to */* as soon as more than one file is shared, even when every file has a known MIME type:

String type = getMimeType(file);
if (type == null || filesList.size() > 1) {
    type = "*/*";
}
intent.setType(type);

With three JPEG files, the ACTION_SEND_MULTIPLE intent is sent as */*, and WhatsApp treats it as a text-only share.

We confirmed it on a physical Android phone. Our logs showed the three files written to the cache and passed to Share.share, the plugin resolving with activityType: com.whatsapp, and still only the text reaching the conversation.

Expected Behavior

The intent should carry the common MIME type of the shared files, as Chrome's Web Share does: image/jpeg when all files are JPEG, image/* when they are mixed image types, and */* only when the types differ or are unknown. WhatsApp then receives all the images with the text.

Code Reproduction
import { Directory, Filesystem } from '@capacitor/filesystem'
import { Share } from '@capacitor/share'

// three small JPEGs written to the cache
const uris = []
for (const name of ['a.jpg', 'b.jpg', 'c.jpg']) {
  const { uri } = await Filesystem.writeFile({ path: `share/${name}`, data: JPEG_BASE64, directory: Directory.Cache, recursive: true })
  uris.push(uri)
}
await Share.share({ text: 'Three photos', files: uris })
// choose WhatsApp → only "Three photos" is sent
// with files: [uris[0]] → the photo and the text are sent
Other Technical Details

The following change fixes it for us. We apply it with patch-package, and three images plus the text now reach WhatsApp:

-                    String type = getMimeType(file);
-                    if (type == null || filesList.size() > 1) {
-                        type = "*/*";
-                    }
-                    intent.setType(type);
+                    String type = getMimeType(file);
+                    if (type == null) {
+                        sharedType = "*/*";
+                    } else if (sharedType == null) {
+                        sharedType = type;
+                    } else if (!sharedType.equals(type)) {
+                        boolean bothImages = sharedType.startsWith("image/") && type.startsWith("image/");
+                        sharedType = bothImages ? "image/*" : "*/*";
+                    }
+                    intent.setType(sharedType);

(sharedType is a String declared as null before the loop.)

We also set a ClipData covering every URI for ACTION_SEND_MULTIPLE, since the plugin currently only does it for a single file. That was not enough on its own: the MIME type was the deciding factor.

if (fileUris.size() > 1) {
    ClipData clipData = ClipData.newRawUri("", fileUris.get(0));
    for (int i = 1; i < fileUris.size(); i++) {
        clipData.addItem(new ClipData.Item(fileUris.get(i)));
    }
    intent.setClipData(clipData);
    intent.putParcelableArrayListExtra(Intent.EXTRA_STREAM, fileUris);
}

Related: #2474 (unknown extensions also fall back to */*, which WhatsApp likewise discards).

Dominant language
Java
Stars
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Forks
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Avg merge
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Merged PRs (30d)
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