Enable Disable System UI on AOSP Build programmatically

Question

I have built my AOSP custom ROM using Android 4.4.4 sources. I want to do a kiosk mode app (always full screen - impossible for the user to leave it or to switch to another app).

In order to have a full immersive mode, I followed this SO post Enabling KioskMode in Android 4.4.2 with Root

I dit exactly as they say but it's not working. System UI is not disabled and I have no error.

So I decided to create a .sh file that I run from Android SDK code:

Process proc = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(new String[] { "su", "-c", "/etc/stop-ui.sh" });

It works perfectly. But when I want to start the System UI again : Process proc = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(new String[] { "su", "-c", "/etc/start-ui.sh" }); it returns error 1.

When I run /etc/start-ui.sh from adb shell it works.

Here is my stop.sh (with permission 555) file :

#!/system/bin/sh
service call activity 42 s16 com.android.systemui

Here is my start.sh (with permission 555) file :

#!/system/bin/sh
am startservice -n com.android.systemui/.SystemUIService

My app is a system app (I signed it with the platform signature)

Conclusion: I can restart system UI from shell but not from app programmatically

score 5 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 18 '15 at 09:20

I had this 2 methods (on rooted phone) and they worked perfectly:

public static void hideSystemUi(){
    try {
        Build.VERSION_CODES vc = new Build.VERSION_CODES();
        Build.VERSION vr = new Build.VERSION();
        String ProcID = "79"; //HONEYCOMB AND OLDER

        //v.RELEASE  //4.0.3
        if(vr.SDK_INT >= vc.ICE_CREAM_SANDWICH){
            ProcID = "42"; //ICS AND NEWER
        }
        Process proc = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(new String[]{
                "su","-c","service call activity " + ProcID + " s16 com.android.systemui"});

        proc.waitFor();
    } catch (Exception e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
    }
}

public static void showSystemUi(){
    try {
        Process proc = Runtime.getRuntime().exec("am startservice --user 0 -n com.android.systemui/.SystemUIService");
        proc.waitFor();
    } catch (Exception e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
    }
}

Try to pass user id in am startservice -n com.android.systemui/.SystemUIService command. In my case it's 0 (root user id).

Wow thanks it works with adding `--user 0`. This is weird. Why isn't working without it? On many other SO posts people don't have the `--user 0` option and it works. Thanks BTW, you helped me a lot. — alexislg, Dec 19 '15 at 14:08
First method works, but second doesn't. It was not easy to return `systemUI` even manually :( — Sigmund, Oct 31 '16 at 02:43
If i run service call activity 42 s16 com.android.systemui the systemUi disappears but also the devices doesnt take any input anymore. am startservice -n com.android.systemui/.SystemUIService — maggocnx, Aug 21 '17 at 06:45

Enable Disable System UI on AOSP Build programmatically

1 Answers1