I had implemented one launcher app for tab. This app is working good in normal mode but issue in safe mode. I am not able to set my app as launcher app in safe mode. Can anyone tell me how i can run my app as launcher app in safe mode.
Possible solutions is
Run my app as Launcher app.
Disable safe mode feature of android.
If device will go in safe mode, then ask password first to open this device.
If anyone knows better solution from above,please mention in comment. but i need this launcher app to be run in safe mode.
Thanks in advance.
Basically, you can't. The safe mode is designed to load built-in apps only
Only system apps run in safe mode. All the apps installed by the user doest not work..and there is a reason for that.
I think your ultimate goal is to create a kiosk mode. Where you want to restrict the user. You can two things:
If you are providing the mobile device you can use COSU from android 6.0 and above where there are APIs to disable safe mode. To access these apis your app needs to be the device owner.
You can access APIs to read UI contents of other apps and enforce clicks on them. To read other apps and enforce click you need to get special permission(Accessibility). Using this you can auto install apps, disable dialogs..
Related
I'd like to know if there's a way to disable going into safe mode on Android.
As an example, on a Samsung Galaxy S21, Google's Family Link app (used for parental supervision) does exactly this - when the app is running a user can no longer hold down on the power button in the UI to reboot in safe mode.
I have experience writing in Xamarin, and would appreciate any guidance - haven't been able to find anything on this yet!
Thanks!
I am learning about Kiosk devices. I am going through the docs but stumbled across this thing.
As per docs-
Kiosk Apps are Chrome Apps that are designed to always run fullscreen using Single App Kiosk Mode on Chrome OS and do not allow the user to exit the app. They're great for a purpose-built Chrome device, such as a guest registration desk, a library catalog station, or a point-of-sale system in a store.
There is also a mention of Kiosk Mode
It is an Android kiosk app that replaces the default Home Screen or Launcher and restricts user to accessonly one application or a few allowed applications. ... It has become common to use off-the-shelf mobile devices to run business applications or self-service kiosks.
Though I am unable to understand as to how to develop a Kiosk app for Android.
Yes, you can build kiosk apps in android.
In addition to Morrison Chang's link in their comment I suggest you to read this article for more practical approach.
Note: This article has a point on making layer that catches user drag events and such. On newer Android versions(8.0) this no longer works.
You can create Kiosk application. From Lolipop 5.0 google is providing api for that.
https://developer.android.com/work/cosu
You can use Pinning or LockTask to achieve the Kiosk application feature.
Some like of sample git application
Git Link
Git Link2
You can make kiosk device by making your application owner of the device and then pinning the app on the device.
Please follow the below link it gives the detailed concept of making an application an owner device and then you can pin it using the code for pinning
https://medium.com/#ashubansal.ashishbansal/make-your-android-device-a-kiosk-device-so-that-no-one-can-open-anything-in-your-device-except-the-3bb42a0db8ea
If you are using a dedicated device for your kiosk app you can use the Android For Work APIs to have a single application or multi application kiosk.
Lock task mode API from the android allows you to lock the specific app to run on the device and always on the foreground. This will disable the Home button and Overview button as well making a true kiosk mode experience.
In order to use the API, you need to use the DevicePolicyManager and run your application as Device owner.
You can also refer here for details on how to create a Kiosk app
https://blog.esper.io/best-way-to-build-android-apps-in-kiosk-mode
Since the process of applying for EMM integration takes an unjustifiably big amount of time and the whole process is described as "incredibly painful" by those lucky ones that went through it, I want to know whether is it absolutely needed to become an EMM in order to have a working Device Policy Controller app (DPC).
If you faced this problem, please share the experience.
I am developing for COSU devices and want to go into a kiosk mode. I am aware of existence of ways of how to do it, but they all implement a bunch of workarounds - this is not an option - I want a controllable, safe and robust way of doing this. I don't care about not having the ability for remote managing also.
You can use Google's new Android Management API to manage Android devices without building a DPC or registering as an EMM.
You just want to write an app that uses Device Policy Owner? That's fairly simple, assuming you own the devices. Just install your app, adb shell in, and run the dpm command to set your app as owner. If you're buying in bulk from a manufacturer you can get them to do it for you in the custom image you install (although you may need to explain what you want, it isn't a common usecase).
Of course everything has its limits. This will work, unless the user manages to do a factory reset. Which you can prevent via the UI, but can generally be reached from recovery modes or from unlocking the bootloader. So its safe from casual intrusion, but if someone really wants to get at your device and they have physical access and time, they can.
It is definitely possible to write your own DPC without registering with the EMM community.
The most convenient option for provisioning the devices is via NFC. for example using a second device, as it is quite simple to write a provisioning application.
See Implementing Kiosk Mode in Android (part 3 and 4)
for a good example.
I had a few problems with some Android 5 devices, but since 6.0 it works quite well.
I'm planning to deploy an app on my android smartphone which is supposed to be used by multiple other persons. Now of course I do not want them to do things with the device they are not supposed to do so I informed myself about several different ways to make it as safe as possible (Lock-down apps, Kiosk mode, Mobile-device-management, Code-tweaks and so on).
I found some solutions that look really promising but they all share the same problem that a user could just restart the device and boot it in safe-mode where those helpful apps won't be started. However, there is one exception: I've installed a MDM app called maas360 which somehow manages to apply the restrictions that I defined even in safe-mode, for example by blocking access to the menu settings. How is that even possible? The thing is just that this is not a free app and it offers a huge variety of functions - overall it seems to be a bit excessive for my goals.
So my general question would be: is it somehow possible to restrict access to the safe-mode somehow? Maybe like a password? From what I understand it is not even possible to set a system password for Android devices that you'd have to enter once it boots (except if you set up a password for unlocking the screen first which would then be the same one... very redundant).
Disabling physical switch of volume down (in case of samsung devices) will stop access to safe mode on device. I dont find any other way to do so.
I'm making an app for my school. This app needs to disable the phone for a certain amount of time (one hour). This means that I have to disable all hardware keys.
It only has to be able to run on one phone, which is running on android Jelly Bean. After some research, I found out that it I'm unable to accomplish this without making a Home Screen app. But I was wondering if it is able to accomplish this with root? I have rooted my device. If yes, how am I able to do this?
Thanks in advance.
Well you need to study about Kiosk Mode. Kiosk mode applications are applications that lock the device and do not allow the user to run any other application other than the kiosk application.