How to automate Fire Tablet unlock

I’m using an Amazon Fire Tablet as a wall panel. I have the MQTT Alarm Panel installed to control the alarm I built in Home Assistant. I’m using Motion Detector and Tasker to turn on the screen when it sees motion. But I still can’t find a way to have the tablet unlock. There are no settings in the general settings of the tablet to completely get rid of the lock screen. I don’t have a password or a PIN on the lock screen but I still have to swipe to unlock (I know, first world problems). I’d prefer to have the tablet wake and unlock so I see the home screen when it senses motion (I already have it set to wake, but not unlock using motion sensor and tasker) and I’d like the MQTT Alarm panel to show up on the screen once the alarm is triggered. Currently, I have to swipe the unlock then I see the alarm panel.

Does anyone know of a way to do this?

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usually you can get rid of all lock settings under Settings > Security. With fire devices I’m not 100% sure. You may want to look into root and/or custom roms for the tablet. I’ve been looking at cheap fire tablets as ‘around the house’ devices for HA functions and quick web browsing but I really want a custom ROM and/or root.

The lowest security setting on the tablet is swipe to unlock.

From what I’ve read, these aren’t easily rooted.

For the $50 I spent it is definitely a great deal. Just download google play store and Nova Launcher and you pretty much have an android. There are just little things (like this lock screen) that can be frustrating to figure out.

With tasker look into autoinput… You should be able to mimic a swipe, i think… I don’t use it but it may be worth something to look in to

I looked into autoinput. It requires Android 7.0 or higher to do swipes. The Fire Tablets run on 5.0. I tried the unlock function in autoinput but couldn’t get around the error “requires DISABLE_KEYGUARD permission”

I think the only other way to do a swipe is with root and the command line.

Link This might help you?

I have a 7th gen, so rooting is not an option.

However, I did find a solution that works for me. There are a couple side effects, so it may not work for everyone. But, if anyone is looking to get rid of the lockscreen, check out this link. Read post 1 and post 28. Change the “device_provisioned” = 0 setting that is discussed in post 28. This got rid of my lock screen and solved my problem.

More on ADB if anyone needs it.

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Thanks for this. What side effects did you encounter?

I didn’t see any drastic side effects. The top pull down menu is now gone, but that’s easily accessible using the settings menu. I just added the settings button to my home screen. The post also says I’ll lose notifications. But I’m totally fine with that, and actually consider it an additional benefit.

I’m using the motion detector app and Tasker to turn on my tablet when I walk up to it. So far it works great. I walk up to the tablet and it turns on and takes me to the home screen. There is no lock screen to navigate.

Good to know. The lockscreen is also my current pet peeve with the Amazon Fire tablets. I just hope the OTA updates don’t break this fix.

Good point. I hadn’t thought about OTA updates. I wonder if those can be turned off…

I bought the fire HD tablet for about $70. It was my first attempt at a wall panel so I wanted to stay cheap. I think if I add others I’ll splurge and get a Samsung galaxy tab or similar that is stock android.

If you can manage to disable services you should be able to stop OTA updates. Usually it’s just a simple service that runs. If not you’ll need to block the actually update address by some means or another.

Didn’t know this was possible! Did you follow the steps in both posts or just #28? Hope It rids me of the lock screen! I guess blocking internet access will stop OTA updates.

Sorry, I should have been more specific. Here is what I did:

  1. Download and install Settings Database Editor on the Fire tablet.

  2. Plug your tablet into your PC and open an ADB window.

  3. If you need help with ADB, follow this guide. Complete steps 1-6 under Phone Setup and all the steps under the operating system you are using on your computer

  4. In the ADB window, once connected to your tablet, enter the following:

adb shell pm grant by4a.setedit22 android.permission.WRITE_SECURE_SETTINGS

  1. Navigate to the Settings Database Editor on your tablet.
  2. Select “Global table” from the top right menu
  3. Find “device_provisioned” = 1
  4. Change the value to “device_provisioned” = 0
  5. Reboot your tablet.

That should be it!

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Just done this on one of my tablets, popped back through to say thanks this works GREAT!

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just an FYI to anyone who attempts this. Make sure to disable auto-update of apps in the Google Play store. The tablet cannot update apps once the 'device_provisioned" setting is changed to 0. You have to use Settings Database Editor again and change the value back to 1, update the apps, and then change the value to 0.

I’m currently running into an issue where I can no longer access Settings Database Editor on my Fire tablet, so I can’t revert my changes. The app seems to have disappeared from the main screen. Maybe it was removed after a system update? I can see the app when I open Google Play and go to ‘My Apps’ section, but there is no option to open the app, only Update or Uninstall. I think my options are to do a factory reset or try to sideload the app, but who knows what side effects will happen because of these settings changes. Beware!

If it helps I never had Play Store installed I just installed the app from an APK.

https://m.apkpure.com/settings-database-editor/by4a.setedit22

Not had an update yet though so not sure how it will act.

@bphillips921 I don’t suppose you have a solution to auto/schedule reboot the Fire Tab? This is last issue i have with the FireTab everything is working excellently apart from them grinding a near stop.

I haven’t tried anything to schedule an auto reboot, but I’d assume tasker could handle that.

I wasn’t able to download apps from google play anymore. Had to reset the value to 1 to download an app.