Hi all,
I'm in the process of preparing a number of Acer Iconia 210a tablets (JB) for use in the school where I work.
They're going to be 'shared' devices used by up to 5 different users each day, from a user base of about 800. This presents some issues, some of which I have addressed already.
I started trialling the tablets this week and have realised that just using an AppLock-style app to keep the users away from the settings isn't enough: they can set the wallpaper from within the Gallery app (I had a wonderful array of inappropriate images to remove yesterday afternoon!)
I was hoping there might be some bright ideas from this forum as to what might be the best way to prevent the wallpaper being changed. I have root on the devices and already have a shell script that runs on boot that could be added to, if that helps. I am also using ADW launcher, in case that makes a difference.
I have contemplated a couple of approaches:
If I knew where the 'current wallpaper' file or setting was stored, I could just copy this to a read-only filesystem and copy it back into the correct location on a scheduled basis or on the device booting. I did wonder if it was stored within ADW and copied /data/data/org.adw.launcher to another location and overwrote it back after changing the wallpaper. This just reset ADW to default settings, except for the unwanted wallpaper!
There are a couple of threads on the forum that state the location of the wallpaper and suggest that changing the permissions of the file would solve this but they must be for older versions of the OS because the file in question does not exist.
I think Tasker can change the wallpaper, so I could go down that route and get Tasker to 'reset' the wallpaper every 5 mins but it might be expensive with the number of tablets we have. (If Tasker can set the wallpaper, surely I can find a command/simple app to do so??)
I was using a live wallpaper and my first thought was that I might be able to just start that process using the 'am start' command but I couldn't find the correct syntax/activity name to test that idea..
There are apps out there that will cycle through random wallpapers on a timer. I could use one of these and just have a 'pool' of one wallpaper for it to select from. I could then just hide the config for that app behind AppLock or similar. However, most of the similar apps I've looked at have a feature whereby you can 'easily add to your random wallpapers direct from the gallery app' - the exact thing I want to prevent. Maybe there is a similar app without this feature that would suit my needs better..?
Which route do you think might be best for me to investigate? Is there another direction that would be better?
Thanks for your toughts,
Tim
Related
Hello,
I've seen a couple of threads regarding WL on here and also through general Google search, but I'm still not able to do what I want with this, nor to determine if it's possible.
I'm using the rooted version of the latest NC system, so I believe I have Froyo, but I'm not sure about the Android names. Anyway, I want to have a lock screen where I have access to a couple of frequently-used, non-threatening applications, and then require entry of the lock code to get general access to the normal launcher (I'm using Launcher Pro). For example, I go to a lot of foreign language conversation groups. I'd like to be able to access the off-line dictionary directly from the start up screen without entering a code, but - obviously - keep contacts, etc behind the security screen.
So ... I installed WidgetLocker and put some of those apps on the screen, but - despite having fiddled with the settings for hours - I can't get it to not ask for the security code for my apps (like offline dictionary) on the WidgetLocker screen. The ONE exception to this is Owner Info. That one app will launch from the WidgetLocker screen and display my personal info without requesting a security code. But I can't get that to work for the others where I want that (like offline dictionary, but also a radio station and some other selected apps).
Can anyone help me to either:
a) Tell me which settings I need to do this?
or
b) Let me know that this isn't possible?
Thanks much.
Hi guys, I’m new to the forum and fairly new to Android devices in general. I’ve googled a good bit before posting, and searched this forum for some keywords, but haven’t come up with a solution to what I need to do.
I have what seems like a fairly simple need: Set up an android device the way I want it, and then clone this image to multiple other devices.
I work with an organization that conducts a lot of epidemiology surveillance in foreign countries. The surveys are done on android based devices with a collection of off-the-shelf apps, plus one we had custom built for our purpose. Data is sent to us via whatever mobile networks happen to be available in the country being surveyed (we buy our phones unlocked, and get the SIM cards in-country).
As we continue to expand, installing all those apps and getting all of the settings just right becomes a very tedious, repetitive task, when you consider doing 100+ phones a month. .
Ideally I would like to stick with the factory rom, just add/remove some apps and configure settings. The cloning process needs to be fairly straight-forward, and not require a bunch of apps to be installed on the target phones first, because that kind of defeats the purpose.
For the time being, we’re using Motorola Atrix and Atrix 2. We also have some XT720s but we’re phasing those out.
Not sure if this is relevant, but below is roughly what provisioning currently looks like:
1. We receive a batch of phones, say 100 at a time
2. First, do a factory reset, and go through the initial setup
3. Remove as many of the factory installed apps as possible
4. Set up WiFi
5. Log into Google Play account and install the 6 apps we actually use
6. Make LauncherPro the default desktop, set it to only use 1 dock and 1 desktop, set a plain boring background, hide all except the app drawer icon, and have and icon for our app, and an airplane mode widget on the desktop.
7. Finally, enter the server connection settings in our survey app (this part we’ve gotten to a point where all we do is drop a config file to the SD Card, and it picks up the settings for this particular app)
8. Turn off the phone, and do it all again on the other 99 devices…
Any thoughts on how to automate this?
The Lenovo Yoga Tab 3 does not come with multi-user, so I've been trying to set it up so my family can actually share the tablet without kid-adult conflicts. I'm running Android 5.1.1
As suggested in a number of forums, I've rooted the device and modified build.prop to include:
fw.show_multiuserui=1
fw.max_users=8
The two lines of code are in the build.prop file after rebooting the tablet and "pm get-max-users" in adb shell returns 8, so the two lines of code are in there. However, there is no multi-user icon either next to the settings on the lock screen or the swipe-down menu (next to settings icon, where I hoped it would be). So I cannot add or switch users.
I've tried manually adding users through the adb shell using "pm create-user [username]" with no luck...they may exist in the back-end somewhere, but as a tablet user I can't see them.
I've tried rebooting several times, removed screen lock, and eaten a bunch of chocolate but nothing seems to work.
Any help would be much appreciated!
same issue for S8-50 running 5.0.1. actually the profile section can be found in settings if search for 'profile' . from there the user can also be switched but that's about it - no ability to switch between users in lockscreen
I bought two tab3 10" 16GB for the kids for xmas, and they had a "Users" entry in the settings, but no user avatar in the quick settings.
It seemed pretty good, so I bought another of the 32 GB version for myself and my wife and that has neither. However, I was able to set up user accounts for us by searching for users in the settings menu, so it appears to be there. Unfortunately, it doesn't allow any sane way of switching users, since one has to be logged in as a user to do it... It cannot possibly be considered a good idea to do this, it has to be a bug...
I'd be very interested in a solution to this problem too.
any findings an that so far? How to "search for 'profile'" Am on tab 2 a8-50f, with mentioned changed in build.prop but no options in settings
It is actually as simple as kjekje suggests.
Open the settings tab. Instead of scrolling up and down and looking in every submenu for a "users" section like i did, just click the magnifying glass icon and search for "users". Seems like Lenovo have just hidden it from the menu.
Further broken in 6.0.1
I just upgraded the tablet to 6.0.1 yesterday, as it was pushed by the usual channels. Figured it couldn't make it any worse. It did
Now, if I search for users, I can switch to a restricted user, but I cannot switch back, because there's no option for it when I search for it in restricted mode.
So, I would still be very interested in a better solution to this problem? The only good solution is to be able to switch users when the screen is locked. Anybody found anything by further digging?
I don't know why on earth Lenovo is doing this to us. Perhaps they figure we will buy another tablet if there's no multiuser...? But it surely won't be a Lenovo, they ought to understand that.
Hello, I've been volunteering at a local community centre helping with their IT stuff, one of the programs that we run is setting up and providing tablets to elderly folks who live far away or are otherwise isolated from family, and the tablets we provide come with skype and a sim card/plan so that they can talk to their family more often and actually see them and not just hear them over a phone.
the most time consuming aspect of the whole process is setting up each tablet individually, increasing font size, increasing touch delay, replacing the default launcher with nova launcher and setting up nova launcher to maximise icon size etc. etc.
we are currently exploring cloning the tablets but that presents its own issues
I was wondering if there was an app, or maybe I could code an app(wondering if its even possible for one app to change the settings in another app) that could automate the set up process,
if it helps all the current tablets we are using are Galaxy Tab S's
any help would be greatly appreciated.
I downloaded and started using "terminal-launcher" as my homescreen (available from Google Play Store); it's amazing, simple, and has super-low-memory usage, but...
If you have multiple apps with the same name (I have two called Calendar and two called Messenger) it can only launch one of them (due to being text based and the names sharing text). I asked the developer if he could remedy but he (very politely) said he'd moved on and I should develop it if I wanted to. I have enough knowledge of java to know roughly what is going on in his script (roughly!), but not enough knowledge to make the change required, recompile, or pretty much anything really useful.
His script is on github.com/mattpvaughn/terminal-launcher but I can't post the link as I'm a newbie (but that basically was the link).
My theory is that either:
it appends app names (where multiples exist) with ~1, ~2, etc
it lists app ids next to the names (it lists app names when you type "apps" on your homescreen) and allows launch via app id
it does something more clever than I can come up with (this is the more likely option
To be honest, this is a great launcher that just needs a final polish (TUI console launcher crashes too much as it's script is too involved, this launcher has tried to keep script to a bare minimum); unfortunately there aren't enough comment lines to guide an inept idiot like me through adjusting the script.
Any ideas?