I researched this briefly but didn’t find a solution that can be applied on a non-rooted Fire tablet directly. If your router has advanced settings that can disable internet access to a specific device, then that should work.
I once followed some tutorial, probably on www.aftvnews.com, to use openDNS and block Amazon’s updates. I think it worked, because it definitely blocked updates to my Amazon Echo. I ended up calling Amazon support trying to figure out why my Echo wasn’t updating, when I eventually realized I caused the issue in the first place.
Thanks for the ideas. I’ll keep researching. I’m used to apple devices where they ask permission for everything so getting a kindle has been an eye opener on what the Amazon OS is like. I won’t bore you with the details, but I need to find a solution to prevent the OS update within the device itself if I can. (I may be giving these as gifts and want them to just be plug and play for people.) If I find a way to do it, I’ll post it here. @dwinn, thanks for the tip. And thanks again @bphillips921
When I first turned it on, it did ask me if I wanted to install an OS update. Does it always ask or do they update automatically? I should have asked that first!
Actually, I was playing around with a new Fire HD 8 and found in the Developer Options a toggle called ‘Automatic System Updates’. I never noticed that option before, so I switched it off. Haven’t confirmed if it will disable OS updates as I’m on Fire OS 6.3.0.1 right now
Here are the steps to reach that toggle.
Settings>>Device Options>>About Fire Tablet>> Tap on the ‘Serial Number’ eight times to enable Developer Options
Settings>>Device Options>>Developer Options>>Automatic System Updates
I was afraid that “loosing notifications” and not being able to “update apps” would mean “Services are not running anymore”, but they are! Automagic is running at startup and opening the shortcut to the HADashboard. Just beautiful
Confirmed working on a Fire Tablet 7 (7 Gen) with “Fire OS” 5.3.6.4.
I know that Amazon didn’t want that. They wan’t that device only to show us ads and that thing was crammed full of ads. Every single spot of it. But hey, I would’ve returned that tablet if it didn’t worked and simply bought another tablet from another store (mwahaha).
After one sleepless night I managed to install Nova Launcher and hack it to my default launcher somehow. Lockscreen is now also gone and Automagic runs everything just fine.
EDIT: Ads came back. Tossed that tablet in a corner and bought a cheap noname and it works far better without ads.
@dwinnn Hmm, I just bought another Fire 7 and it came with OS 5.6.0.0. Unfortunately, there’s no option under Developer Options called “Automatic System Updates.” I’m curious though, has the disabling in 6.3 prevented updates from happening?
Like you guys, I was also looking for how to unlock the fire tablet and just found a unexpected way to do that. I was evaluating fully kiosk browser but also found the wallpanel app. Fully kiosk has more features, but wallpanel has a couple of other features and the main one is that while running it you dont need to swipe to unlock anymore! The funny thing is if you run wallpanel AND fully kiosk you dont need to swipe even if wallpanel is running in the background!
Thanks for the WallPanel tip for Fire tablet! The lock screen has been driving me crazy ever since I bought the Fire HD 8 with the charging dock. I use it as a mostly dedicated Roon controller and for Show Mode (flipping back and forth with my voice), and most times it would always go to the lock screen when I would exit Show Mode on the tablet. I installed WallPanel with a URL for actiontiles as an added side benefit in using this tablet, and it works! No more lock screens! Thanks very much…very glad I didn’t have to root the tablet or install the Google Play store to try and get around this.
I paid Amazon to remove the ads thinking that would have done it, but it did not as you say.
In addition to Wallpanel, I also installed the ActionTiles app from the Amazon App Store and I think that has the same/similar effect of keeping the lock screen from appearing. I just keep them both running for now as persistent apps (I’m not noticing any performance issues with them running in the background).
Are you guys aware that the HD8 (2018) can be rooted? The process can be found at XDA Developers and I can confirm it works. They also have a working LineageOS ROM for that devices.
I’ve noticed both Wallpanel and Fully supports MQTT. I wonder if it would be possible to send a push message or instruction to “wakeup”, not from sleep but from screensaver mode, before the lock screen kicks in. I’ve just successfully removed the adds, but wonder if the FireTablet will still go on lockscreen.
Even with ads removed, FireOS still forces the lock screen when the screen wakes up. The best bet is to root the device and flash a custom ROM if you’re able. I rooted and flashed my 8" Fires with LineageOS and they are so much faster and more reliable.
I believe MQTT in Fully Kiosk is informational-only right now, there doesn’t appear to be a way to send commands to Fully over MQTT, but it has a pretty good REST interface, and I started putting together a quick custom component for HA to control Fully over the REST interface: Fully Kiosk Browser Custom Component
