Develop Reference

How to prevent users from turning off GPS, Wifi and Bluetooth?

I'm developing a tracking application and I need to prevent users from turning off the basic sensors used to determine the location. I can not modify the devices ROM or have root access (or at least it would be very desirable to had not), but I thought of using the Device Administration API to perform these functions through the Profile Owner or Device Owner modes. I'm basically looking for a method to block these functions in Android settings.
I'm unsure about whether this is possible and how to do it, I have not found examples in GitHub for applications that have implemented this. Could anyone give me a light, some example or specific documentation?
I tried to follow these three documentations, without success in finding a solution to this specific feature:
https://source.android.com/devices/tech/admin
https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/admin/device-admin
https://developers.google.com/android/management/introduction
This is an excerpt from what I've been trying:
setUserRestriction(UserManager.DISALLOW_CONFIG_WIFI, true);
setUserRestriction(UserManager.DISALLOW_CONFIG_MOBILE_NETWORKS, active);
setUserRestriction(UserManager.DISALLOW_CONFIG_BLUETOOTH, active);
private void setUserRestriction(String restriction, boolean disallow){
if (disallow) {
mDevicePolicyManager.addUserRestriction(mAdminComponentName, restriction);
} else {
mDevicePolicyManager.clearUserRestriction(mAdminComponentName,
restriction);
}
}
DISALLOW_CONFIG_BLUETOOTH
Added in API level 18
public static final String DISALLOW_CONFIG_BLUETOOTH
Specifies if a user is disallowed from configuring bluetooth. This does not restrict the user from turning bluetooth on or off. The default value is false.
This restriction doesn't prevent the user from using bluetooth. For disallowing usage of bluetooth completely on the device, use DISALLOW_BLUETOOTH.
This restriction has no effect in a managed profile.
Key for user restrictions.
Type: Boolean

You cannot prevent them from turning GPS, WIFI and Bluetooth off. What you can do is have an implementation as below or use this library.
https://github.com/KI-labs/gps-permission-checks-livedata

You can't, obviously for security reasons. If you want to achive something like that you'll probably need to modify the devices ROM. You should create a BroadcastReceiver and keep tracking Internet and Bluetooth connection changes, than you can properly handle it when user disconnect them pausing the service, showing a dialog, finishing the application or whatever you need to do.
It would be pretty weird if an app could have some control of user settings, imagine if you install an app, then suddently you can't disable wi-fi anymore until you unistall it. You can't do that for a good reason

Preventing bluetooth/wifi disconnection will also prevent usage of aircraft mode, that is a security issue bounded in the ROM and not overridable.
As suggested above your option is to monitor for wifi/bluetooth/gps deactivations and prompt the user with an alert.
By the way, GPS is not affected by aircraft mode, as it's a pure receiver and doesn't make active transmissions. In that case GPS will be always active and collecting informations (if active and the phone is not in power save mode, aka relying on wifi location). I suggest you to check if the user activated aircraft mode, in order to be less annoying with your alerts (air mode is mandatory in same situations, and should be considered "legal" by your application, and maybe less critical than an user voluntary disconnection

In simple words, You cannot, but you can listen to when wifi is enabled/connected, and you can prompt a dialog stating the reason.
This way it gives the user a more concise grip on what needs to be done.
Just a suggestion

Android: Error Resolving hostname to IP

I have been doing some low-level hacking on Android.
I'm trying to enable wifi i.e. establish Internet Connectivity through terminal (adb shell). I have written a C program to achieve this by hacking into android's bionic library and libnetutils library to get things working.
Everything works fine. I'm able to acquire an IP address via dhcp request. The problem is that whenever I try to open any site for ex. google.com via browser, it does not opens. But when I enter the IP address of the site "74.125.228.66" (google.com), the page gets loaded.
I have tried several options, like modifying the dns entries in file "resolv.conf" (present in /system/etc) and in file "20-dns.conf" (in /system/etc/dhcpcd/dhcpcd-hooks).
I also tried using "setprop" call to set dns values manually for "dhcp.eth0.dns*" and "dhcp.wlan0.dns*".
But nothing seems to work. There's also an interesting behavior I noticed. If I turn on wifi manually from "settings" menu and then turn it off and then run my program, I don't face this issue anymore. Looks like it uses some settings that I could not figure out.
My guess is that this is DNS issue, but it may be something else. Let me know if anyone has faced this issue before.
Here's is what I do to enable wifi:
Enable wpa_supplicant daemon using set_prop().
Send a dhcp request to acquire IP (code from dhcpclient.c in libnetutils).
Enable dhcpcd daemon using set_prop(). (Even without this, everything works. I ran this so that IP lease gets renewed automatically. ( Although I'm not sure about this, if dhcpcd daemon would take care of lease renewal or not) ).

In order to enable WIFI on Android via command line through a C program, you'll need to do the following:
1) Enable wpa_supplicant daemon. (Make sure you have the wpa_supplicant.conf file at /data/misc/wifi with AP (access point) information in it.). wpa_supplicant internally takes care of loading the driver and then establishes connectivity to the specified networks in its configuration file based on availability and strength.
2) Issue a dhcp request. ( To fetch IP, lease, dns1, dns2 etc.)
3) Start dhcpcd daemon. (For Lease renewal)
4) Set net.dns* properties. (Without this, DNS service would not work for any application)
In order to enable daemons (wpa_supplicant and dhcpcd) and set net.dns* properties , you'll need to use Android property system (property_set() and property_get() functions). To learn more about Android Property System, follow this link:
http://rxwen.blogspot.com/2010/01/android-property-system.html
In order to use above 2 functions, you'll need to hack into bionic and core libcutils library.
Location:
/bionic/libc/bionic/system_properties.c
/system/core/libcutils/properties.c
For issuing dhcp request, you need to hack some of the implementation of libnetutils
Location:
/system/core/libnetutils/*
Disabling Wifi:
1) Unload the driver manually.
2) Stop wpa_supplicant daemon.
3) Stop dhcpcd daemon.
4) Unset net.dns* properties.
In this case, driver needs to be unloaded manually unlike loading. If this step is not done, then any of the existing connections will not be torn apart even after 2, 3, and 4. To manually unload the driver, you need to issue "DRIVER STOP" request to wpa_supplicant which will take care of interacting with kernel to unload the driver.
In order to communicate with wpa_supplicant, you'll need to hack into wpa_cli implementation to see how it works. It basically uses UNIX Domain Sockets to interact with the supplicant. You basically need to have a look at wpa_ctrl.c and wpa_cli.c
To learn more about wpa_supplicant, wpa_cli, follow below link:
http://hostap.epitest.fi/wpa_supplicant/devel/
All above that I explained to you is done in Android at HAL layer.
Location:
/hardware/libhardware_legacy/wifi/wifi.c
So, basically whenever you toggle wifi switch from settings menu, control passes from wifi_app code to wifi_frameworks layer (WifiManager and WifiServices) which passes control to wifi.c (HAL layer) through JNI implementation (WifiNative).
A good starting point would be to look at wifi.c if you want to know things that are done at low level to enable wifi.
PS - All above is what I learned after several attempts trying to figure out stuff on my own. There are no documents or blogs (atleast I didn't find any!) that would specify what needs to be done and order of events that should be followed to enable/disable WIFI. So, it may be possible you might find a better way of doing things. This worked for me, something else might work for you!

Android Bluetooth IOException:connection refused

Alright here's the deal. I got two Galaxy Nexus phones both with bluetooth enabled.
I've written a bluetooth connection management app that I use for device discovery and connectivity. It also outputs all the available UUIDs the devices can support.
Looking from http://www.bluetooth.org/Technical/AssignedNumbers/service_discovery.htm the following standard UUIDs are exposed from Galaxy Nexus devices.
0x1116 - NAP
0x112f - PBAP (Phonebook Access Profile)
0x111f - HFP (Hands free)
0x1105 - OPP (Object Push Profile)
0x1112 - HSP (Headset Profile)
0x110c - AVRCP
0x110a - A2DP
I am trying to connect via the OPP profile (UUID 00001105-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB) and push objects (files) between the devices. I've gone though the entire Android API documentation on how to discover, pair/bond (threading etc.) and manage all bluetooth connections. I've managed to successfully connect and talk to a legacy board device via the SPP (0x1101) profile.
However, when I try to use socket.connect() between the two galaxy nexus phones, the pairing dialog shows up and I click Pair button on both devices. After that, I immediately get a Connection Refused IOException. Note that after pairing has occurred once I never get asked again which makes sense since the secure link is cached.
If I can't connect to these standard profiles using these standard UUIDs why are they exposed? How can I connect from my app to any of these profiles and interact with them? Is it because my app is not somehow trusted? What's weird is that even the Share functionality on Android does not work at all either. Is this something completely broken on Android?
Please avoid giving me hints to use the "well known UUID SPP one 0x1101" like the docs say. This is not what I want. I have a fairly good understanding of how this stuff works and I am looking for a real solution or explanation of the problem.
I've seen the typical "reflection" solution but I do not understand why is this still a problem on Android? Why do people use reflection to make this work? Can we file a bug on Android to fix this?
If those UUIDs are standard any app should be able to connect and interact with them. Why is this an issue and why do I get this exception?
Thanks in advance.
UPDATE
So for some reason the object push in the Android system started working. I actually attempted to connect via my app and it was not working. Then, I went to the Contacts app and tried to share a contact which magically worked. Then, I went back to my app and it now it works...wow. That is very weird and there must be an explanation to this.

I ran into this same issue and managed to find a solution that worked for me.
In my case I using three different test devices (Nexus 5, Galaxy S4, Note 2) and for some reason, the Note 2 wouldn't connect to my Bluetooth module yet the other two would.
The reasoning I've found is that Bluetooth drivers vary, and slightly different connection methods are needed to create a connection between different devices.
The three methods I use are called 'Secure', 'Insecure' and 'Reflection method'/'hax'.
switch(connType)
{
case Secure:
tmpSocket = device.createRfcommSocketToServiceRecord(_uuid);
break;
case Insecure:
tmpSocket = device.createInsecureRfcommSocketToServiceRecord(_uuid);
break;
case Hax:
Method createSocket = device.getClass().getMethod("createRfcommSocket", new Class[] {int.class});
tmpSocket = (BluetoothSocket)createSocket.invoke(device, Integer.valueOf(1));
break;
}
In my case, the Secure mode worked for both the Nexus 5 and Galaxy S4 however it didn't work for the Note 2.
After some testing I discovered the Note 2 only works using 'Insecure' mode, so to cater to this, I basically attempt a connection and cycle through the different modes if necessary. When attempting a different connection mode I simply prompt 'retrying connection'. So, if the connection fails using secure, then I will attempt using Insecure and then using the reflection method.
I haven't run into the case where one of these three methods haven't worked.

Have you tried using a nonstandard profile? i.e. a custom UUID just for your app. This will also help you know your are (most likely) only connecting to your own app rather than some other app that is registered with the same profile.
From my experience, Bluetooth pairing is very buggy for the first pair attempt. However, using a custom UUID helps this somewhat.
The reflection method (I think) was originally an attempt to fix a bug with a specific device, however I think some people found success in using it elsewhere as well. The device was called the Spica or something similar.
As one of the comments also posted, I would also try connecting again after failing.
Basically write code that plans to fail the first attempt, but then the code tries to connect again in 5 seconds if there was a failure.
These are imperfect solutions but Bluetooth implementation on Android is also imperfect (IMHO). Hope that helps
EDIT
Based on the question update and comments:
I agree something is definitely buggy. Part of the problem I think is the BT drivers vary and each has a different BT stack with different quirks. I also found a question that makes use of both the reflection method AND custom UUID, AND other standard methods. This seems extreme to me but it does cover the most ground. Unfortunately as app developers we have no control over the low level stack/code/drivers.
I have found with my two Bluetooth sharing apps that the first pairing is always tricky.
I'm glad to know it's not just me.

Android WiFi Direct Demo Issues

im testing the new technology wifi direct and im having some issues using
the wifi direct demo from the samples that come with the android-sdk.
So, I have two devices A and B, both with android 4.0.3.
First, from device A, I send a file to B. Nothing wrong here, B
receives the file.
Then A disconnects from B.
Now, from device B I try to send a file to A.
But the device that receives the file is B, instead of A.
To fix, i need to turn off and on both devices...
Also, sometimes when i click disconnect and try to
connect again, connection fails and i have to disable and
enable wifi direct...
Anyone else experiencing this?
Is it because the new technology is not mature yet or maybe
something wrong with my build/driver/etc or maybe this demoapp
doesnt support two-way sharing.
Any ideas and/or explanations would be apreciated.

When providing a WifiP2pConfig instance to the connect() function, you can set the groupOwnerIntent property of this configuration object as follows:
WifiP2pConfig config = new WifiP2pConfig();
config.deviceAddress = "..."; // insert ip here
config.groupOwnerIntent = 0;
config.wps.setup = WpsInfo.PBC;
manager.connect(..., config, ...);
From the android reference:
This (the groupOwnerIntent) is an integer value between 0 and 15 where
0 indicates the least inclination to be a group owner and 15 indicates
the highest inclination to be a group owner.
Furthermore, the demo probably repeatedly sends the file to the same device because there is always made a socket connection to the ip-address obtained from:
WifiP2pInfo.groupOwnerAddress
If you would like to support bidirectional communication, the first step in setting this up would be sending the ip-address of the non group owner to the group owner.
As far as the disconnect/reconnect problem goes, I seem to have the same inconsistencies with Android 4.0.2 devices.

I have been trying for a while to transfer files between two devices using wifi direct. I have use the Android SDK WifiDirectDemo as base. My experience:
GO address is always the same (at least in Samsung Nexus), but this is not really a problem, because you can use this to know who is the server (or client).
Another strange thing was that MAC address of devices were different when you got it from Android WifiManager and when you read it from "/proc/net/arp" file.
At the end I did it, and you can see the code here.
I hope it helps you!

I have been struggling with the same problem lately. I suppose this is an OS issue. To give you a brief background, I have installed Wi-Fi Direct application to both devices with different OS versions, one with OS 4.0.1 and one with OS 4.0.2. The connection fails from time to time when I disconnect and reconnect the devices. It goes same while searching for devices too. But the thing is, this only happens on the device with OS 4.0.2. Other device does not crash or disconnect.
While searching for that problem, I have found the links below. People discussed about that and they share the same idea. Apparently this is an OS 4.0.2 issue. I am not sure if it is the same for OS 4.0.3 but there is no problem with the previous version OS 4.0.1 for sure.
Here are the links:
http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=24402
http://osdir.com/ml/android-platform/2012-01/msg00226.html

Make Bluetooth on Android 2.1 discoverable indefinitely

I'm working on a research project which involves Bluetooth and the Android OS. I need to make Bluetooth discoverable indefinitely in order for the project to continue.
The Problem:
Android limits discoverability to 300 seconds.
I cannot ask the user every 300 seconds to turn discoverability back on as my application is designed to run in the background without disturbing the user.
As far as I am aware, there is no way to increase the time though Android's GUI. Some sources have called this a safety feature, others have called this a bug. There may be a bit of truth in both...
What I'm Trying / Have Tried:
I'm trying to edit a stable release of cyanogenmod to turn the discoverability timer off (it's possible; there's a configuration file that needs to have a single number changed). This isn't working because I'm having verification problems with the resulting package.
During the past week, I downloaded the cyanogenmod source code, changed a relevant class in the hope that it would make Bluetooth discoverable indefinitely, and tried to recompile. This did not work because (a) the repo is frequently changed, leading to an unstable code base which fails to compile (OR, it could be that I'm using it incorrectly; just because it looked like it was the code's fault in many instances doesn't mean I should blame it for all the problems I encountered!) and (b) the repo decides to periodically "ignore" me (but not always, as I have gotten the code base before!), replying to my synchronization/connection attempts with:
fatal: The remote end hung up unexpectedly
As you might imagine, the above two issues are problematic and very frustrating to deal with.
More Info:
I'm running Android 2.1 via cyanogenmod (v5 I believe). This means the phone is also rooted.
I have a developer phone, which means that the bootloader is unlocked.
My phone is an HTC Magic (32B).
The Big Question:
How can I make Bluetooth indefinitely discoverable on Android?

See the following link:
http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/wireless/bluetooth.html#ConnectingDevices
Specifically, the last sentence in the paragraph below:
Enabling discoverability
If you would like to make the local device discoverable to other devices, call startActivityForResult(Intent, int) with the ACTION_REQUEST_DISCOVERABLE action Intent. This will issue a request to enable discoverable mode through the system settings (without stopping your application). By default, the device will become discoverable for 120 seconds. You can define a different duration by adding the EXTRA_DISCOVERABLE_DURATION Intent extra. The maximum duration an app can set is 3600 seconds, and a value of 0 means the device is always discoverable.
So, this should work:
Intent discoverableIntent = new Intent(BluetoothAdapter.ACTION_REQUEST_DISCOVERABLE);
discoverableIntent.putExtra(BluetoothAdapter.EXTRA_DISCOVERABLE_DURATION, 0);
startActivity(discoverableIntent);

If you check out the BluetoothAdapter class
you will find the hidden method:
public void setDiscoverableTimeout(int timeout)
Now you only have to find out how to use it. You have to do a method invocation to do so.