How to prevent Screen Capture in Android
AndroidSecurityScreenshotSnapshotScreen CaptureAndroid Problem Overview
Is it possible to prevent the screen recording in Android Application?
I would like to develop an Android Secure Application. In that I need to detect screen recording software which are running background and kill them. I have used SECURE FLAG for prevent screenshots. But I dont know is it possible to prevent Video capturing of Android Screen also. Let me know how to prevent screen capturing (video / screenshots).
Android Solutions
Solution 1 - Android
I'm going to say that it is not possible to completely prevent screen/video capture of any android app through supported means. But if you only want to block it for normal android devices, the SECURE FLAG is substantial.
1) The secure flag does block both normal screenshot and video capture.
>Also documentation at this link says that > >>Window flag: treat the content of the window as secure, preventing it from appearing in screenshots or from being viewed on non-secure displays. > >Above solution will surely prevent applications from capturing Video of your app
See the answer here.
2) There are alternative means of capturing screen content.
It may be possible to capture the screen of another app on a rooted device or through using the SDK, >which both offer little to no chance of you either blocking it or receiving notification of it.
For example: there exists software to mirror your phone screen to your computer via the SDK and so screen capture software could be used there, undiscoverable by your app.
See the answer here.
getWindow().setFlags(LayoutParams.FLAG_SECURE, LayoutParams.FLAG_SECURE);
Solution 2 - Android
Just add this line:
getWindow().setFlags(LayoutParams.FLAG_SECURE, LayoutParams.FLAG_SECURE);
Before your setContentView() method.
Solution 3 - Android
To disable Screen Capture:
Add following line of code in onCreate() method:
getWindow().setFlags(WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_SECURE,
WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_SECURE);
To enable Screen Capture:
Find for LayoutParams.FLAG_SECURE and remove the line of code.
Solution 4 - Android
I saw all of the answers which are appropriate only for a single activity but there is my solution which will block screenshot for all of the activities without adding any code to the activity. First of all make an Custom Application class and add a registerActivityLifecycleCallbacks.Then register it in your manifest.
MyApplicationContext.class
public class MyApplicationContext extends Application {
private Context context;
public void onCreate() {
super.onCreate();
context = getApplicationContext();
setupActivityListener();
}
private void setupActivityListener() {
registerActivityLifecycleCallbacks(new ActivityLifecycleCallbacks() {
@Override
public void onActivityCreated(Activity activity, Bundle savedInstanceState) {
activity.getWindow().setFlags(WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_SECURE, WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_SECURE); }
@Override
public void onActivityStarted(Activity activity) {
}
@Override
public void onActivityResumed(Activity activity) {
}
@Override
public void onActivityPaused(Activity activity) {
}
@Override
public void onActivityStopped(Activity activity) {
}
@Override
public void onActivitySaveInstanceState(Activity activity, Bundle outState) {
}
@Override
public void onActivityDestroyed(Activity activity) {
}
});
}
}
Manifest
<application
android:name=".MyApplicationContext"
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/AppTheme">
Solution 5 - Android
For Java users
write this line above your setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
getWindow().setFlags(WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_SECURE, WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_SECURE);
For kotlin users
window.setFlags(WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_SECURE, WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_SECURE)
Solution 6 - Android
You can make your app as device/profile owner and call setScreenCaptureDisabled(). From the docs, this api does the following:
> public void setScreenCaptureDisabled (ComponentName admin, boolean disabled) Added in API level 21 > > Called by a device/profile owner to set whether the screen capture is > disabled. Disabling screen capture also prevents the content from > being shown on display devices that do not have a secure video output. > See FLAG_SECURE for more details about secure surfaces and secure > displays. > > The calling device admin must be a device or profile owner. If it is > not, a security exception will be thrown. Parameters admin Which > DeviceAdminReceiver this request is associated with. disabled Whether > screen capture is disabled or not.
Alternatively you can become an MDM(Mobile Device Management) partner app.OEMs provides additional APIs to their MDM partner apps to control the device.For example samsung provides api to control screen recording on the device to their MDM partners.
Currently this is the only way you can enforce screen capture restrictions.
Solution 7 - Android
Try this:
getWindow().setFlags(LayoutParams.FLAG_SECURE, LayoutParams.FLAG_SECURE);
Solution 8 - Android
I used this solution to allow manual snapshot in app while disallowing screen capture when the app goes in background, hope it helps.
@Override
protected void onResume() {
getWindow().clearFlags(WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_SECURE);
super.onResume();
}
@Override
protected void onPause() {
getWindow().setFlags(WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_SECURE, WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_SECURE);
super.onPause();
}
Solution 9 - Android
According to this official guide, you can add WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_SECURE to your window layout and it will disallow screenshots.
Solution 10 - Android
Ad this line inside the OnCreate event on MainActivity (Xamarin)
Window.SetFlags(WindowManagerFlags.Secure, WindowManagerFlags.Secure);
Solution 11 - Android
Regarding to blocking the possibility of taking a screenshot in the application:
Window window = requireActivity().getWindow();
window.addFlag(WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_SECURE);
remember to clean this flag (f.e. in onDestroy) - to enable screenshots in other safe places of the app:
window.clearFlags(WWindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_SECURE);
Solution 12 - Android
about photo screenshot,
FLAG_SECURE not working rooted device.
but if you monitor the screenshot file, you can prevent from getting original file.
try this one.
- monitoring screenshot(file monitor) with android remote service
- delete original screenshot image.
- deliver the bitmap instance so you can modify.
Solution 13 - Android
public class InShotApp extends Application {
@Override
public void onCreate() {
super.onCreate();
registerActivityLifecycle();
}
private void registerActivityLifecycle() {
registerActivityLifecycleCallbacks(new ActivityLifecycleCallbacks() {
@Override
public void onActivityCreated(@NonNull Activity activity, @Nullable Bundle savedInstanceState) {
activity.getWindow().setFlags(WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_SECURE, WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_SECURE); }
@Override
public void onActivityStarted(@NonNull Activity activity) {
}
@Override
public void onActivityResumed(@NonNull Activity activity) {
}
@Override
public void onActivityPaused(@NonNull Activity activity) {
}
@Override
public void onActivityStopped(@NonNull Activity activity) {
}
@Override
public void onActivitySaveInstanceState(@NonNull Activity activity, @NonNull Bundle outState) {
}
@Override
public void onActivityDestroyed(@NonNull Activity activity) {
}
});
}
}