ImageCell not displaying image only on Android - xamarin

Question

I've been trying to get an ImageCell to show an image in a very basic ListView for some time now using the Shared library. The problem ONLY appears on Android, the iOS version is working as intended.
PS: I am having issues loading images from the internet as well, again only for Android. I'm certain the problem is the same. I have already added the Internet permission in the manifest, and have tried all of the different HttpClientImplementation and SSL/TLS implementation options.
My XAML is as follows:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<ContentPage
xmlns="http://xamarin.com/schemas/2014/forms"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2009/xaml"
x:Class="TestXamarin.GreetPage">
<ListView x:Name="listView">
<ListView.ItemTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<ImageCell Text="{Binding Name}" Detail="{Binding Status}" ImageSource="{Binding ImageUrl}" />
</DataTemplate>
</ListView.ItemTemplate>
</ListView>
</ContentPage>
The code behind class is like this :
public partial class GreetPage : ContentPage
{
public GreetPage()
{
On<iOS>().SetUseSafeArea(true);
InitializeComponent();
listView.ItemsSource = new List<Contact>
{
new Contact { Name="John", ImageUrl = "http://lorempixel.com/100/100/people/1" },
new Contact { Name="Jack", ImageUrl = "http://lorempixel.com/100/100/people/2", Status="Hello guys" },
new Contact { Name="Jill", ImageUrl = "http://lorempixel.com/100/100/people/3" }
};
}
}
The Contact.cs class is this:
public class Contact
{
public string Name { get; set; }
public string Status { get; set; }
public string ImageUrl { get; set; }
}

Answer 1

Your issue is related with the restrictions on later Android versions with non secure (http) connections.
If you debug the app and look at the Output you will see a message like this:
Image Loading: Error getting stream for
http://lorempixel.com/100/100/people/1: Java.IO.IOException: Cleartext
HTTP traffic to lorempixel.com not permitted at
Java.Interop.JniEnvironment+InstanceMethods.CallVoidMethod
(Java.Interop.JniObjectReference instance, Java.Interop.JniMethodInfo
method, Java.Interop.JniArgumentValue* args) [0x00069] in
:0 at
Java.Interop.JniPeerMembers+JniInstanceMethods.InvokeAbstractVoidMethod
(System.String encodedMember, Java.Interop.IJavaPeerable self,
Java.Interop.JniArgumentValue* parameters) [0x00014] in
:0 at
Java.Net.HttpURLConnectionInvoker.Connect () [0x0000a] in
:0 at
Xamarin.Android.Net.AndroidClientHandler+<>c__DisplayClass44_0.b__0
() [0x0005a] in :0 at
System.Threading.Tasks.Task.InnerInvoke () [0x0000f] in
:0 at
System.Threading.Tasks.Task.Execute () [0x00000] in
:0
--- End of stack trace from previous location where exception was thrown ---
As you can read there a message saying Cleartext HTTP traffic to lorempixel.com not permitted at
The quickest solution is to add the android:usesCleartextTraffic="true" at the application level in the Manifest.xml file:
<application android:label="MyApp.Android" android:usesCleartextTraffic="true">
...
</application>
But the above is not the recomended as it open a breach in terms of security. The best solution would be to use https in your Urls.
Hope this helps