How do I allow two apps on Android to open the same file type? i.e. Not have to choose a default

We have two applications that run on the Android platform that both use XML files to transfer data. (Android v8.0.0)

However when we open either app, the OS always asks "Which one of these two apps to you want to open this file with by default?". We don't want to set a default as we need both apps to be able to open XML files as required by their individual function.

Is there a way to tell Android "This file type can be opened by any app that wants to do so"?

At the moment we need to go into App settings and Clear Default on each app after we have run it in order for the other app to "take over" as default when we run that. Once we have set default to either app, then the other one throws an error when it tries to open files because it is not the default app

That's not really a viable way forward.

Is Android even capable of this file type handling duality? Is there a setting we can change to allow files to be opened by "non-default" apps.

Changing the app code is not a short term solution, but if Android truly cannot handle the situation then we may need to, but that will not solve the problem for our users right now. Changing a setting in Android to allow what we want to have happen would be quicker and cleaner.

Thanks for your help.