android - How to disable virtual home button in any activity?

Question

I need to disable 3 virtual buttons in any activity in my app. I disabled back button and multitask button somehow but I cannot dsable home button.

I tried onAttachedToWindow() style answers on stackoverflow but they didn't work for me.

I don't want to disable home button for entire app, I just want to disable it for a single activity window. Thanks for your helps!

Answer 1

NOTE : I highly encourage you not to do this in your app, if you want to deploy it. This is only to show how we can do it.

Since Android 4 there is no effective method to Disable the home button.It needs little hack. I think your need is KIOSK mode in app. In general the idea is to detect when a new application is in foreground and restart your Activity immediately. The processes are Below..

At first create a class called KioskService that extends Service and add the following snippet :

 public class KioskService extends Service {

  private static final long INTERVAL = TimeUnit.SECONDS.toMillis(2); // periodic interval to check in seconds -> 2 seconds
  private static final String TAG = KioskService.class.getSimpleName();
  private static final String PREF_KIOSK_MODE = "pref_kiosk_mode";

  private Thread t = null;
  private Context ctx = null;
  private boolean running = false;

  @Override
  public void onDestroy() {
    Log.i(TAG, "Stopping service 'KioskService'");
    running =false;
    super.onDestroy();
  }

  @Override
  public int onStartCommand(Intent intent, int flags, int startId) {
    Log.i(TAG, "Starting service 'KioskService'");
    running = true;
    ctx = this;

    // start a thread that periodically checks if your app is in the foreground
    t = new Thread(new Runnable() {
      @Override
      public void run() {
        do {
          handleKioskMode();
          try {
            Thread.sleep(INTERVAL);
          } catch (InterruptedException e) {
            Log.i(TAG, "Thread interrupted: 'KioskService'");
          }
        }while(running);
        stopSelf();
      }
    });

    t.start();
    return Service.START_NOT_STICKY;
  }

  private void handleKioskMode() {
    // is Kiosk Mode active? 
      if(isKioskModeActive()) {
        // is App in background?
      if(isInBackground()) {
        restoreApp(); // restore!
      }
    }
  }

  private boolean isInBackground() {
    ActivityManager am = (ActivityManager) ctx.getSystemService(Context.ACTIVITY_SERVICE);

    List<ActivityManager.RunningTaskInfo> taskInfo = am.getRunningTasks(1);
    ComponentName componentInfo = taskInfo.get(0).topActivity;
    return (!ctx.getApplicationContext().getPackageName().equals(componentInfo.getPackageName()));
  }

  private void restoreApp() {
    // Restart activity
    Intent i = new Intent(ctx, MyActivity.class);
    i.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
    ctx.startActivity(i);
  }

  public boolean isKioskModeActive(final Context context) {
    SharedPreferences sp = PreferenceManager.getDefaultSharedPreferences(context);
    return sp.getBoolean(PREF_KIOSK_MODE, false);
  }

  @Override
  public IBinder onBind(Intent intent) {
    return null;
  }
}

Add the following method in your AppContext class to start the service via application context creation.

@Override
public void onCreate() {
  super.onCreate();
  instance = this;
  registerKioskModeScreenOffReceiver();
  startKioskService();  // add this
}

private void startKioskService() { // ... and this method
  startService(new Intent(this, KioskService.class));
}

You AppContext class looks like this

  public class AppContext extends Application {

  private AppContext instance;
  private PowerManager.WakeLock wakeLock;
  private OnScreenOffReceiver onScreenOffReceiver;


  @Override
  public void onCreate() {
    super.onCreate();
    instance = this;
    registerKioskModeScreenOffReceiver();
  }

  private void registerKioskModeScreenOffReceiver() {
    // register screen off receiver
    final IntentFilter filter = new IntentFilter(Intent.ACTION_SCREEN_OFF);
    onScreenOffReceiver = new OnScreenOffReceiver();
    registerReceiver(onScreenOffReceiver, filter);
  }

  public PowerManager.WakeLock getWakeLock() {
    if(wakeLock == null) {
      // lazy loading: first call, create wakeLock via PowerManager.
      PowerManager pm = (PowerManager) getSystemService(Context.POWER_SERVICE);
      wakeLock = pm.newWakeLock(PowerManager.FULL_WAKE_LOCK | PowerManager.ACQUIRE_CAUSES_WAKEUP, "wakeup");
    }
    return wakeLock;
  }
}

Add the service declaration and the permission for retrieving the foreground process to the manifest:

<service android:name=".KioskService" android:exported="false"/>
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.GET_TASKS"/>
//Added permission Edit 1
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WAKE_LOCK" />

I've seen this all at one site but forgot the link, whatever I have is only contents and codes, so that I am posting all as an answer. As soon as I get the link, I will share that with you.