CODEWITHSUNDEEP
androidsystem-alert-window
android developer
android developer

Reputation: 116010

How do apps detect that SAW permission is currently being used?

Background

I've noticed many times, that when I use an app that uses SAW (system-alert-window, AKA "display over other apps) permission (example here), and I open Chrome web browser and reach some website that requires a permission (example here, taken from here), it won't let me grant/deny the permission:

enter image description here

The problem

I can't find how they did it, and from which Android version it's possible to check it.

What I've found

Sadly as much as I've searched, I actually had more questions.

For example, how come the web browser can't detect which app is showing on top, and tell us to disable it?

Or, now that Android 12 might arrive, there seem to be a new permission to block SAW (here) :

HIDE_OVERLAY_WINDOWS Added in Android S

public static final String HIDE_OVERLAY_WINDOWS Allows an app to prevent non-system-overlay windows from being drawn on top of it

Constant Value: "android.permission.HIDE_OVERLAY_WINDOWS"

Perhaps for this case there aren't many that have asked about it, or for some reason I didn't choose the correct things to write in order to search for an answer.

The questions

  1. How can I detect if some app is using SAW permission while I show something?

  2. Is there a way to detect which app does that?

  3. What can the API offer for this, and from which version is it available?

  4. I remember I was told that accessibility can be used to draw on top. Sadly I failed to find a tutorial on how to do this, and also of an example of such apps. Would this API be able to detect them too? Or this isn't considered as SAW? Where can I find a tutorial on how to do it, so that I could check it out?

  5. Bonus: how on Android S do you use the new permission to hide SAW?

Upvotes: 3

Views: 3969

Answers (3)

android developer
android developer

Reputation: 116010

OK I've made a sample to show all ways to detect it, including what happens when you use the new API (setHideOverlayWindows) to hide apps that are shown on top:

  1. https://developer.android.com/reference/android/app/Activity#dispatchTouchEvent(android.view.MotionEvent)
  2. https://developer.android.com/reference/android/view/View#setOnTouchListener(android.view.View.OnTouchListener)
  3. https://developer.android.com/reference/android/view/View#onFilterTouchEventForSecurity(android.view.MotionEvent)

manifest

<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" package="com.lb.detect_floating_app">
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.HIDE_OVERLAY_WINDOWS" />
    <application
        android:allowBackup="true" android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher" android:label="@string/app_name"
        android:roundIcon="@mipmap/ic_launcher_round" android:supportsRtl="true"
        android:theme="@style/Theme.DetectFloatingApp">
        <activity
            android:name=".MainActivity" android:exported="true">
            <intent-filter>
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />

                <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
            </intent-filter>
        </activity>
    </application>
</manifest>

MainActivity.kt

class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity() {
    var isObscured: Boolean? = null
    var isPartiallyObscured: Boolean? = null
    var isHidingFloatingApp = false

    @SuppressLint("ClickableViewAccessibility")
    override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main)
        findViewById<View>(R.id.textView).setOnTouchListener(object : View.OnTouchListener {
            var isObscured: Boolean? = null
            var isPartiallyObscured: Boolean? = null

            override fun onTouch(p0: View?, ev: MotionEvent): Boolean {
                val checkIsObscured = ev.flags and MotionEvent.FLAG_WINDOW_IS_OBSCURED != 0
                val checkIsPartiallyObscured = ev.flags and MotionEvent.FLAG_WINDOW_IS_PARTIALLY_OBSCURED != 0
                if (checkIsObscured != isObscured || checkIsPartiallyObscured != isPartiallyObscured) {
                    isObscured = checkIsObscured
                    isPartiallyObscured = checkIsPartiallyObscured
                    Log.d("AppLog", "${System.currentTimeMillis()} setOnTouchListener isObscured:$isObscured isPartiallyObscured:$isPartiallyObscured")
                }
                return false
            }
        })
        findViewById<View>(R.id.toggleHideFloatingAppButton).setOnClickListener {
            if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.S) {
                isHidingFloatingApp = !isHidingFloatingApp
                window.setHideOverlayWindows(isHidingFloatingApp)
            } else
                Toast.makeText(this, "need Android API 31", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show()
        }
    }

    override fun dispatchTouchEvent(ev: MotionEvent): Boolean {
        val checkIsObscured = ev.flags and MotionEvent.FLAG_WINDOW_IS_OBSCURED != 0
        val checkIsPartiallyObscured = ev.flags and MotionEvent.FLAG_WINDOW_IS_PARTIALLY_OBSCURED != 0
        if (checkIsObscured != isObscured || checkIsPartiallyObscured != isPartiallyObscured) {
            isObscured = checkIsObscured
            isPartiallyObscured = checkIsPartiallyObscured
            Log.d("AppLog", "${System.currentTimeMillis()} dispatchTouchEvent isObscured:$isObscured isPartiallyObscured:$isPartiallyObscured")
        }
        return super.dispatchTouchEvent(ev)
    }
}

FloatingDetectorFrameLayout.kt

class FloatingDetectorFrameLayout : FrameLayout {
    var isObscured: Boolean? = null
    var isPartiallyObscured: Boolean? = null

    constructor(context: Context) : super(context)
    constructor(context: Context, attrs: AttributeSet?) : super(context, attrs)
    constructor(context: Context, attrs: AttributeSet?, defStyleAttr: Int) : super(context, attrs, defStyleAttr)
    constructor(context: Context, attrs: AttributeSet?, defStyleAttr: Int, defStyleRes: Int) : super(context, attrs, defStyleAttr, defStyleRes)

    override fun onFilterTouchEventForSecurity(ev: MotionEvent): Boolean {
        val checkIsObscured = ev.flags and MotionEvent.FLAG_WINDOW_IS_OBSCURED != 0
        val checkIsPartiallyObscured = ev.flags and MotionEvent.FLAG_WINDOW_IS_PARTIALLY_OBSCURED != 0
        if (checkIsObscured != isObscured || checkIsPartiallyObscured != isPartiallyObscured) {
            isObscured = checkIsObscured
            isPartiallyObscured = checkIsPartiallyObscured
            Log.d("AppLog", "${System.currentTimeMillis()} onFilterTouchEventForSecurity isObscured:$isObscured isPartiallyObscured:$isPartiallyObscured")
        }
        return super.onFilterTouchEventForSecurity(ev)
    }
}

activity_main.xml

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto" xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent" android:layout_height="match_parent" android:gravity="center"
    android:orientation="vertical" tools:context=".MainActivity">


    <com.lb.detect_floating_app.FloatingDetectorFrameLayout
        android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:background="#f00"
        android:padding="100dp">

        <Button
            android:id="@+id/textView" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:text="Hello World!" app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
            app:layout_constraintLeft_toLeftOf="parent" app:layout_constraintRight_toRightOf="parent"
            app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent" />

    </com.lb.detect_floating_app.FloatingDetectorFrameLayout>

    <Button android:id="@+id/toggleHideFloatingAppButton"
        android:text="toggle hide floating app"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content"/>
</LinearLayout>

Upvotes: 1

sdex
sdex

Reputation: 3871

  1. There is a common approach to detect a window overlay using FLAG_WINDOW_IS_OBSCURED (or FLAG_WINDOW_IS_PARTIALLY_OBSCURED for API 29+):
    https://stackoverflow.com/search?q=FLAG_WINDOW_IS_OBSCURED \
  2. There is no API to detect a particular app.

Regarding Chrome, you can find the implementation in the source code: ModalDialogView.java#L203

Upvotes: 2

Amin
Amin

Reputation: 3186

Actually you can ask MotionEvents if the window is obscured (an alert is being shown over them) so you can tell that you're obscured, but you cannot tell which app is doing it

There are some similar questions that has required explanations How to detect when my Activity has been obscured?

Android detect or block floating/overlaying apps

I'm not sure about item 4, but usually application who use accessibility to reas the screen and show you something magical (like that banned Voodoo app) also require SAW permission and as much as I can remember, Accessibility services are just some callbacks.

  1. You put the permission in manifest and when you want to hide SAWs simply call setHideOverlayWindows(true)

https://developer.android.google.cn/about/versions/12/features#hide-application-overlay-windows

Upvotes: 0

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