How to remove button bar at the bottom screen

Question

I am building custom image.I going through android source, i want to get rid off bottom softkey button bar in android, Can some one please direct me to source file to change ? enter image description here

@DjHacktoReborn How did you come to the conclusion that it's not possible? Several applications at least hide this bar at different times. — jwir3, Sep 22 '14 at 16:49

score 32 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 27 '13 at 11:42

32

To enable / disable them, as far as I know you simply have to edit the build.prop:

qemu.hw.mainkeys=0 (show on screen buttons)

or

qemu.hw.mainkeys=1 (disable on screen buttons)

If the line does not exist in your build.prop, add it at the bottom.

answered Sep 27 '13 at 11:42

damian

2,001
20
38

Does this build.prop always exist on all Android-devices that use soft buttons, or can it vary from manufacturer to manufacturer? – JohnyTex Apr 13 '15 at 11:47
2

qemu.hw.mainkeys=yes – vihkat Mar 14 '18 at 08:39
When I do this and reboot, my device doesn't start. – Matt Oct 22 '18 at 17:25

score 19 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 13 '16 at 02:31

19

The easiest way to take a screen shot without the bottom navigation bar is to use an emulator (AVD) and edit its config file.

Go to .android/avd/virtual-device.avd

Then edit the config.ini:

hw.mainKeys=yes
hw.keyboard=yes

Both should be set to "yes"

In order to be able to see the bar again, set them back to "no".

answered Nov 13 '16 at 02:31

Dimitar Darazhanski

2,188
20
22

This works perfectly for taking promo pictures for the newer Android Studio emulators in combination with the status bar demo mode. The new emulators are not rooted, so you can't modify build.prop easily, but this is a very nice workaround. – Dima Mar 17 '17 at 18:19
Doesn't work for me, changing mainKeys to yes cause emulator hang at boot time. Changing back to no makes it boot again. Nexus 5X API 26 – thanhbinh84 Jun 23 '17 at 02:00
2

@thanhbinh84 got the same problem, but works well with Pixel API 23 – Luidgi Gromat Aug 17 '17 at 10:16
Working after close and open AVD again to get effect of this changes. – user9453341 Jun 09 '20 at 20:49

score 9 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 24 '14 at 13:54

getWindow().getDecorView().setSystemUiVisibility(
                View.SYSTEM_UI_FLAG_LAYOUT_STABLE
                | View.SYSTEM_UI_FLAG_LAYOUT_HIDE_NAVIGATION
                | View.SYSTEM_UI_FLAG_LAYOUT_FULLSCREEN
                | View.SYSTEM_UI_FLAG_HIDE_NAVIGATION
                | View.SYSTEM_UI_FLAG_FULLSCREEN
                | View.SYSTEM_UI_FLAG_IMMERSIVE_STICKY);

use this code in onCreate. But this requires api lv over 19.

score 8 · Answer 4 · answered Sep 27 '13 at 11:43

8

You cannot hide it permanently, however:

getWindow().getDecorView().setSystemUiVisibility(View.SYSTEM_UI_FLAG_HIDE_NAVIGATION);

this code hides the soft keys until the user interacts with your app. This is intentionally designed this way, just imagine, you don't provide any mean to exit from the current screen and hide theese keys, the user would be "trapped" in a one-way dead end.

You can find more here.

answered Sep 27 '13 at 11:43

hundeva

1,058
14
30

This is a temporary solution, but this is very useful solution for normal circumstances – Shri Sep 30 '13 at 09:43
Welp, I failed to notice you are building an image, and thought you need an in-app solution. So obviously, this isn't your exact use-case. :) – hundeva Sep 30 '13 at 11:56
Thanks, this has helped me take screenshots. To hide the bottom bar even after interacting with the app, I call this method in a loop that runs every second (again, just temporarily as I take screenshots). – VinceFior Mar 21 '16 at 23:48

score 6 · Answer 5 · edited Feb 23 '16 at 18:49

In addition to Aykut Burak SAFAK's answer above, you can put his code in onWindowFocusChanged event to make sure that whenever the Activity gets focus (e.g. after unlocking) it retains fullscreen without soft keys state.

@Override
public void onWindowFocusChanged(boolean hasFocus){
    super.onWindowFocusChanged(hasFocus);
    getWindow().getDecorView().setSystemUiVisibility(
            View.SYSTEM_UI_FLAG_LAYOUT_STABLE
                    | View.SYSTEM_UI_FLAG_LAYOUT_HIDE_NAVIGATION
                    | View.SYSTEM_UI_FLAG_LAYOUT_FULLSCREEN
                    | View.SYSTEM_UI_FLAG_HIDE_NAVIGATION
                    | View.SYSTEM_UI_FLAG_FULLSCREEN
                    | View.SYSTEM_UI_FLAG_IMMERSIVE_STICKY);
}

score 3 · Answer 6 · answered Sep 27 '13 at 11:45

With introduction of new SureLock for Samsung, Bottom Bar can be disabled or hidden without rooting of the device. All you have to do is to install SureLock Lockdown for Samsung and follow procedures mentioned in the following site,

http://www.42gears.com/blog/2013/07/disablehide-android-bottom-bar-without-rooting-samsung-galaxy-tablets/

Check out the following link.It may help you understanding it.

http://www.42gears.com/blog/2012/02/disable-bottom-bar-in-android-honeycomb-tablets-with-surelock/

score 3 · Answer 7 · answered Jun 26 '22 at 07:22

3

for API 32 android studio emulator you can change "Gesture Navigation" to "3 Button Navigation" or "2 Button Navigation", because it's sometimes has problems with scrolling drawerLayout

Settings -> System -> Gestures -> System Navigation

answered Jun 26 '22 at 07:22

Mohammad Hossein Ahmadi

73
8

score 1 · Answer 8 · answered Jan 10 '14 at 19:17

1

If you only want to make the navigation bar (the button bar) less distracting, try youractivity.getWindow().getDecorView().setSystemUiVisibility(View.SYSTEM_UI_FLAG_LOW_PROFILE)

answered Jan 10 '14 at 19:17

Corona Luo

731
1
5
5

score 1 · Answer 9 · answered Nov 29 '21 at 10:44

1

Just change hw.mainKeys to yes in config.ini file.

1- Open config.ini file (To find file in your system follow steps below).

2- Don't forget to restart your emulator.

answered Nov 29 '21 at 10:44

Houssin Boulla

2,687
1
16
22

score 0 · Answer 10 · answered Sep 27 '13 at 11:44

0

I think this is possible

To hide the softkey Try getWindow().getDecorView().setSystemUiVisibility(View.SYSTEM_UI_FLAG_HIDE_NAVIGATION); but it is not working on tablet 4+.

answered Sep 27 '13 at 11:44

RussVirtuoso

900
1
9
20

score 0 · Answer 11 · answered May 30 '16 at 02:50

Yes you can by using this in your activity :

@Override
public void onWindowFocusChanged(boolean hasFocus) {
        super.onWindowFocusChanged(hasFocus);
    if (hasFocus) {
        decorView.setSystemUiVisibility(
                View.SYSTEM_UI_FLAG_LAYOUT_STABLE
                | View.SYSTEM_UI_FLAG_LAYOUT_HIDE_NAVIGATION
                | View.SYSTEM_UI_FLAG_LAYOUT_FULLSCREEN
                | View.SYSTEM_UI_FLAG_HIDE_NAVIGATION
                | View.SYSTEM_UI_FLAG_FULLSCREEN
                | View.SYSTEM_UI_FLAG_IMMERSIVE_STICKY);}
}

score 0 · Answer 12 · answered Sep 04 '18 at 19:10

0

Is there a way to stretch the controls to the bottom of the screen if I hide my navigation bar? I have an ImageView with the height set to match_parent but the absent navigation bar leaves a black rectangle.

answered Sep 04 '18 at 19:10

David Kachlon

201
3
14

score 0 · Answer 13 · answered Jul 21 '21 at 11:03

0

For lvl 30

window.decorView.windowInsetsController?.hide(android.view.WindowInsets.Type.statusBars())

Below 30

window.decorView.systemUiVisibility = View.SYSTEM_UI_FLAG_HIDE_NAVIGATION or View.SYSTEM_UI_FLAG_FULLSCREEN

answered Jul 21 '21 at 11:03

Magdalena Rowicka

142
1
10

How to remove button bar at the bottom screen

13 Answers13

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