P3A being re-enabled after upgrading even though it was disabled

[kjozwiak]

Description

P3A is being re-enabled whenever an upgrade occurs even though a user has disabled P3A via the on-boarding or under Brave shields & privacy via Settings.

Steps to reproduce

• install 1.31.90 Chromium: 95.0.4638.69 and disable P3A via on-boarding (installed using GPS)
• go into the Privacy/Security settings and ensure that Allow privacy-preserving product analytics (P3A) is disabled
• upgrade to 1.31.91 Chromium: 95.0.4638.69 and check the same setting (notice that Allow privacy-preserving product analytics (P3A) is enabled)

Actual result

P3A is being enabled whenever a user upgrades.

Expected result

P3A should stay disabled after upgrading. We should be respecting the users choice.

Issue reproduces how often

100% reproducible using the STR. @SergeyZhukovsky also reproduced/confirmed the issue.

Version/Channel Information:

• Can you reproduce this issue with the current Play Store version? Yes
• Can you reproduce this issue with the current Play Store Beta version? Yes
• Can you reproduce this issue with the current Play Store Nightly version? Yes

Device details

• Install type (ARM, x86): ARM
• Device type (Phone, Tablet, Phablet): Samsung S10+ (Phone)
• Android version: Android 11

Brave version

Basically any version after brave/brave-core#7765.

Website problems only

• Does the issue resolve itself when disabling Brave Shields? N/A
• Does the issue resolve itself when disabling Brave Rewards? N/A
• Is the issue reproducible on the latest version of Chrome? N/A

Additional information

CCing @aekeus @bsclifton @SergeyZhukovsky @diracdeltas @PrivacyMatters

[rillian]

@deeppandya Are you able to diagnose this? I'm not familiar with the android installer mechanism.

[bsclifton]

@rillian looks like this was unintentionally introduced with brave/brave-core#7765

Problem is in the logic here:
https://github.com/brave/brave-core/blob/877a6dbf1346f0a0327b11355ed69d4d1515232e/android/java/org/chromium/chrome/browser/app/BraveActivity.java#L480-L481

This is always evaluating to true basically

[rillian]

@bsclifton I figured it was something like that, but I'm still having trouble following. I didn't find any documentation on what p3a_enabled_for_existing_users means. Are the shared prefs not preserved across the update?

[GeetaSarvadnya]

Verification passed on Vivo X70 Pro version Android 11 running Bravemonoarm.64_apk_1.32.111

Case 1: Upgrade from GPS version 1.32.106 to 1.32.11

• Install GPS version 1.32.106 and disable P3A via onboarding flow
• Ensured P3A is disabled via Hamburger Menu -> Settings -> Brave shields & privacy
• Open a few websites and add bookmarks and change the default search engine and enable rewards
• Open the brave://local-state file and confirm P3A logs array is empty, P3A stats are not collected for the metrics above
• Upgrade the profile to 1.32.111
• Ensured P3A is disabled via Hamburger Menu -> Settings -> Brave shields & privacy
• Ensured that P3A entries are appearing under brave://local-state but "sent:" false
• Enable P3A via Hamburger Menu -> Settings -> Brave shields & privacy
• Ensure that some of the data is eventually sent by making sure that "sent:" true

Case 2: Upgrade from 1.31.90 to 1.32.11

• Install GPS version 1.31.90 and disable P3A via onboarding flow
• Ensured P3A is disabled via Hamburger Menu -> Settings -> Brave shields & privacy
• Open a few websites and add bookmarks and change the default search engine and enable rewards
• Upgrade the profile to 1.32.111
• Ensured P3A is disabled via Hamburger Menu -> Settings -> Brave shields & privacy
• Ensured that P3A entries are appearing under brave://local-state but "sent:" false
• Enable P3A via Hamburger Menu -> Settings -> Brave shields & privacy
• Ensure that some of the data is eventually sent by making sure that "sent:" true

Case 3: Upgrade from 1.31.91 to 1.32.11

• Install GPS version 1.31.91 and disable P3A via onboarding flow
• Ensured P3A is disabled via Hamburger Menu -> Settings -> Brave shields & privacy
• Open a few websites and add bookmarks and change the default search engine and enable rewards
• Upgrade the profile to 1.32.111
• Ensured P3A is disabled via Hamburger Menu -> Settings -> Brave shields & privacy
• Ensured that P3A entries are appearing under brave://local-state but "sent:" false
• Enable P3A via Hamburger Menu -> Settings -> Brave shields & privacy
• Ensure that some of the data is eventually sent by making sure that "sent:" true

Case 4: Upgrade from 1.30.89 to 1.32.11

• Install GPS version 1.30.89 and disable P3A via onboarding flow
• Ensured P3A is disabled via Hamburger Menu -> Settings -> Brave shields & privacy
• Open a few websites and add bookmarks and change the default search engine and enable rewards
• Upgrade the profile to 1.32.111
• Ensured P3A is disabled via Hamburger Menu -> Settings -> Brave shields & privacy
• Ensured that P3A entries are appearing under brave://local-state but "sent:" false
• Enable P3A via Hamburger Menu -> Settings -> Brave shields & privacy
• Ensure that some of the data is eventually sent by making sure that "sent:" true

---

Verification PASSED on Samsung Galaxy Tab A (2019) running Android 11 using the following build:

1.32.112 Chromium: 96.0.4664.45

Test Case #1 (Upgrading 1.32.106 -> 1.32.112):

• downloaded/installed 1.32.106 Chromium: 96.0.4664.45 and disabled P3A via on-boarding
• double checked that P3A was disabled via Hamburger Menu -> Settings -> Brave shields & privacy
• upgraded from 1.32.106 Chromium: 96.0.4664.45->1.32.112 Chromium: 96.0.4664.45`
• ensured that P3A was still disabled via Hamburger Menu -> Settings -> Brave shields & privacy
• ensured that P3A entries are appearing under brave://local-state but "sent:" false (shouldn't be sending data is it's disabled)
• enable P3A via Hamburger Menu -> Settings -> Brave shields & privacy
• ensure that some of the data is eventually sent by making sure that "sent:" true

Test Case #2 (Upgrading 1.31.91 -> 1.32.112):

• downloaded/installed 1.31.91 Chromium: 95.0.4638.69 and disabled P3A via on-boarding
• double checked that P3A was disabled via Hamburger Menu -> Settings -> Brave shields & privacy
• upgraded from 1.31.91 Chromium: 95.0.4638.69 -> 1.32.112 Chromium: 96.0.4664.45
• ensured that P3A was still disabled via Hamburger Menu -> Settings -> Brave shields & privacy
• ensured that P3A entries are appearing under brave://local-state but "sent:" false (shouldn't be sending data is it's disabled)
• enable P3A via Hamburger Menu -> Settings -> Brave shields & privacy
• ensure that some of the data is eventually sent by making sure that "sent:" true

Test Case #3 (Upgrading 1.31.90 -> 1.32.112):

• downloaded/installed 1.31.90 Chromium: 95.0.4638.69 and disabled P3A via on-boarding
• double checked that P3A was disabled via Hamburger Menu -> Settings -> Brave shields & privacy
• upgraded from 1.31.90 Chromium: 95.0.4638.69 -> 1.32.112 Chromium: 96.0.4664.45
• ensured that P3A was still disabled via Hamburger Menu -> Settings -> Brave shields & privacy
• ensured that P3A entries are appearing under brave://local-state but "sent:" false (shouldn't be sending data is it's disabled)
• enable P3A via Hamburger Menu -> Settings -> Brave shields & privacy
• ensure that some of the data is eventually sent by making sure that "sent:" true