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.
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.
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”
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.
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 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.
Plug your tablet into your PC and open an ADB window.
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
In the ADB window, once connected to your tablet, enter the following:
adb shell pm grant by4a.setedit22 android.permission.WRITE_SECURE_SETTINGS
Navigate to the Settings Database Editor on your tablet.
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!
@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.