I needed to have toddler lock in a new app, and did not want to use a launcher.
Here is what I did, you can see the app at https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.justforkids.animalsounds
- When lock is activated, start a service, and stop it when lock is deactivated
- The service checks the top running app, and if it is not my activity, the service launches my activity
- There was still an issue that when the user clicks “home”, it takes about 6 seconds before my activity is launched again. I assume this is a security feature in Android but not sure. To bypass this, when the service detects that another app is visible, it adds a top view (as an alert window) that covers the home screen for the few seconds it takes the app to re-launch.
For step 3, here are more details:
Create the overlay layout, for example file locked_overlay.xml:
<FrameLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:background="#d0000000"
android:orientation="vertical" >
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_gravity="center"
android:gravity="center_horizontal"
android:orientation="vertical" >
<TextView
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginBottom="12dp"
android:text="@string/app_name"
android:textColor="#fff"
android:textSize="18sp"
android:textStyle="bold" />
<TextView
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Locked mode is on"
android:textColor="#fff"
android:textSize="18sp" />
</LinearLayout>
</FrameLayout>
In your service to show or hide the overlay use:
private View lockedOverlay = null;
private void hideLockedOverlay() {
if (lockedOverlay != null) {
WindowManager windowManager = (WindowManager) getSystemService(WINDOW_SERVICE);
windowManager.removeView(lockedOverlay);
lockedOverlay = null;
}
}
private void showLockedOverlay() {
if (lockedOverlay != null) {
return;
}
WindowManager windowManager = (WindowManager) getSystemService(WINDOW_SERVICE);
WindowManager.LayoutParams viewLayoutParams = new WindowManager.LayoutParams(
LayoutParams.MATCH_PARENT, LayoutParams.MATCH_PARENT,
WindowManager.LayoutParams.TYPE_SYSTEM_ALERT,
WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_NOT_FOCUSABLE
| WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_NOT_TOUCH_MODAL,
PixelFormat.TRANSLUCENT);
viewLayoutParams.gravity = Gravity.TOP | Gravity.LEFT;
LayoutInflater inflater = LayoutInflater.from(this);
lockedOverlay = inflater.inflate(R.layout.locked_overlay, null);
windowManager.addView(lockedOverlay, viewLayoutParams);
}
You will need the permission
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.SYSTEM_ALERT_WINDOW" />