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I'm wondering if it's possible to develop an android app that will be run in sort of a kiosk mode. The idea is that the user should only be able to interact with the phone through this app.

I understand that an app can be auto-restarted, and things like avoiding incoming calls, could be implemented via a service that would subscribe to the telephony events and would hang up when an incoming call is received. The downside of this is that the usual "answer call screen" would pop up for a short period. The reason behind this is that the stock android app that receives the incoming calls will still be there.

I also understand that, by design, this custom app could be killed at any time by the OS if memory usage gets too low. Although this should only happen if there's a memory leak in any of the running apps.

I'm not sure either if it would be possible to disable the behavior of the physical buttons to access home or settings screens.

I understand that rooting the device and/or creating a custom ROM with modifications would be a safer approach, but also more complex. I'm wondering if a good-enough kiosk mode could be implemented with an android app.

P.S: I'm sorry for reposting these questions, but answers to similar questions are not clear enough.

foolano
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Make your application be a home screen. That can still be bypassed unless you make your own custom firmware where your application is the system default home screen. We cannot tell you whether being a home screen alone is "a good-enough kiosk mode".

CommonsWare
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    How could the home screen approach be bypassed? Thanks – foolano May 04 '11 at 10:20
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    @foolano: Most devices have a key combination that lets you do the equivalent of Windows "boot in safe mode". This will give you the firmware's home screen. – CommonsWare May 04 '11 at 10:23
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I've been searching for this for days now, nearly every answer is not a complete solution at all (and it's doing my head in)

This link though has the best answer so far http://thebitplague.wordpress.com/2013/04/05/kiosk-mode-on-the-nexus-7/

matt_lethargic
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  • Agreed! except for not being able to hide the top status bar(battery level icon, etc). I might resort to SureLock...have you tried it? – Bachalo Dec 24 '13 at 18:02
  • There is a way to get Android into Kiosk mode but its a super hack. Use the accessibility services to capture everything and only white list certain activities. I've not got the code in front of me so can't give examples. – matt_lethargic Feb 14 '14 at 16:17
  • While this link may answer the question, it is better to include the essential parts of the answer here and provide the link for reference. Link-only answers can become invalid if the linked page changes. Please take a look here: [Why and how are some answers deleted?](http://stackoverflow.com/help/deleted-answers) – bummi Mar 30 '15 at 09:14