Show UI (Activity/WindowManager) over lock screen & support in Oreo

Question

My main goal is to show UI (With EditText, so IME support) Over the lock screen (No matter if there's PIN/Code or simple lock screen).

I know that WhatsApp application is doing it (Settings > Notification > Always show popup) so there's a solution for that.

The UI must be initialized from Service.

The view is a simple textview:

    textview = new TextView(this);
    textview.setText("Hello There!");
    textview.setTextColor(ContextCompat.getColor(this, 
    android.R.color.white));
    textview.setTextSize(32f);

I've tried several ways so far: (In order to reproduce like whats app i'm doing everything when screen off receiver called)

• Using WindowManager

  WindowManager Params:

  params = new WindowManager.LayoutParams( WindowManager.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT, WindowManager.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT, WindowManager.LayoutParams.TYPE_APPLICATION_OVERLAY, WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_NOT_FOCUSABLE | WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_NOT_TOUCH_MODAL | WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_SHOW_WHEN_LOCKED | WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_KEEP_SCREEN_ON | WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_TURN_SCREEN_ON | WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_WATCH_OUTSIDE_TOUCH, PixelFormat.TRANSLUCENT); params.gravity = Gravity.BOTTOM; params.screenBrightness = 0;

  Result: TextView is shown only after we unlock the device
  

• Using Transparent activity Activity style:

  true @android:color/transparent @null true true false

  Also, has android:showOnLockScreen="true" attribute

  Result: TextView is shown only after we unlock the device
  

Any other suggestions?

Thanks.

Answer 1

Add this in onCreate() of your Activity:

@Override
protected void onCreate(@Nullable Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    getWindow().addFlags(WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_SHOW_WHEN_LOCKED);
}