CODEWITHSUNDEEP
androidsecurityandroid-lifecycle
StingRay5
StingRay5

Reputation: 2428

How do I prevent Android taking a screenshot when my app goes to the background?

The app I'm currently building has the requirement that the app has to prevent the OS to take a screenshot of the app when it's being pushed into the background for security reasons. This way it won't be able to see the last active screen when switching between apps.

I'm planning to put this functionality in the application class's onPause method, but first I need to find out how I can achieve this functionality.

So is there anybody out there, that has a clue how to fix this?

Upvotes: 170

Views: 126126

Answers (8)

Lee Kang
Lee Kang

Reputation: 748

As of Android 13, there is a new way to prevent a screenshot being taken for the recent apps list, while still allowing the user to take screenshots while using the app. In your main activity, call setRecentsScreenshotEnabled(false).

Upvotes: 5

Gaurav
Gaurav

Reputation: 140

In case if someone is looking for a solution in which the app must secure (screen overlay) when the app is background or stick of all running app and the in-app app should allow screenshot. Try Below:-

@Override
    protected void onResume() {
        super.onResume();
        getWindow().clearFlags(WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_SECURE);
    }

    @Override
    protected void onPause() {
        super.onPause();
        getWindow().setFlags(WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_SECURE, WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_SECURE);
    }

Upvotes: 7

Arun Prajapati
Arun Prajapati

Reputation: 281

This is work for me after adding these line into the onCreate before setContentView of every activity.

getWindow().setFlags(WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_SECURE,     
WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_SECURE);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_notification);

Upvotes: 1

Harsh Barnwal
Harsh Barnwal

Reputation: 111

getWindow().setFlags(WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_SECURE,
            WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_SECURE);

this worked for me, it prevents from taking screenshot and also any inbuilt or third party recording application from recording screen.

Upvotes: 2

D. Maul
D. Maul

Reputation: 351

Here is a solution for hiding content of an app by covering it with a splash screen when the app is put into the background. This is not using the FLAG_SECURE technique, I simply override the onPause and onResume methods of the screens and modify the view to show one that covers everything in the back.

https://stackoverflow.com/a/52976001/6686912

Upvotes: 3

CommonsWare
CommonsWare

Reputation: 1006839

Try FLAG_SECURE:

public class FlagSecureTestActivity extends Activity {
  @Override
  public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

    getWindow().setFlags(WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_SECURE,
                         WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_SECURE);

    setContentView(R.layout.main);
  }
}

This definitely secures against manual screenshots and automatic screenshots from the ICS recent-tasks history. It also secures against screen recording (e.g., apps using the media projection APIs).

UPDATE: it also secures against Now On Tap or other assistants on Android 6.0; they will not get access to the details of widgets and containers in your UI if the user brings up the assistant.

UPDATE #2: however, not everything in the activity will be protected. Any pop-up windows — Dialog, Spinner, AutoCompleteTextView, action bar overflow, etc. — will be insecure. You can fix the Dialog problem by calling getWindow() on it and setting FLAG_SECURE. The rest... gets tricky. See this blog post for more.

Upvotes: 304

gardarh
gardarh

Reputation: 3224

Be careful about using WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_SECURE, on some devices (verified on Samsung Galaxy ACE, e.g. GT-S5830) this will make the view scrambled. Looks like a Samsung specific bug. I recommend the following: 

if(android.os.Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= android.os.Build.VERSION_CODES.HONEYCOMB) {
    getWindow().setFlags(WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_SECURE, WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_SECURE);
}

This is what a scrambled screen looks like:

Scrambled Screen Image

This is working properly on ICS Samsung phones though, so I'm assuming problem is isolated to Gingerbread devices (or older).

Upvotes: 81

Davideas
Davideas

Reputation: 3276

The solution provided by CommonsWare continues to be valid also in Lollipop.

Just a note, if you want to continue to not see snapshots in recent list for the entire app, ALL the implemented activities should specify in the onCreate() method the flag getWindow().addFlags(WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_SECURE); before setContentView();

Otherwise a snapshot in the recent list will show the first activity without the flag if the user navigated through it.

Upvotes: 13

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