I’m brainstorming ways to disable video playback via the eGate accessibility filter. Do any of you have examples of apps with a builtin video player that you would like disabled? If so, please post a screenshot here.
How is that even possible since every file explorer has a different video app and the video activity name is different in every app
That is the big question here, and the reason it might not be possible to have a single video block option for all apps.
Here is an idea I got from ai
To create a Mobile Device Management (MDM) app that can block videos on any Android device, you can follow these steps:
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Identify the video package name: Different Android devices may use different package names for the video player app. You’ll need to identify the package name(s) used by popular video player apps on different devices. You can find these package names by researching device-specific information or by using Android package management APIs.
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Implement package detection: In your MDM app, implement a mechanism to detect the installed video player app’s package name on each device. You can use the PackageManager class in Android to retrieve a list of installed packages and check for the presence of known video player package names.
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Block video playback: Once you have identified the video player package name, you can programmatically block video playback by leveraging Android’s accessibility features. You can use the AccessibilityService class to monitor and intercept events related to video playback. By detecting video playback events, you can prevent the video player app from displaying videos or interrupt the playback process.
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Handle unknown video player apps: In case a device uses a video player app with an unknown package name, you can provide a fallback mechanism in your MDM app. For example, you can display a warning message to the user or prompt them to install a video player app that is compatible with your MDM system.
So basically somehow putting into your app that all videos should play from one package name that will by default be blocked in any other video package will not work.
this is an idea I’m not exactly sure what I’m talking about
This is what I’m thinking
Currently, I block on the video player control, since the accessibility service can observe names of every part of every app.
Which doesn’t really work
Just remove the native codec
I suppose to do that you need a rooted phone?
Possibly. I’m not sure how your MDM is built, maybe try restricting access to the common codecs (e.x. H.264, VP8). Just note that this may mess other things up like audio. You’d have to test it out and it might be very device specific.
I don’t know of any android admin capabilities that would provide the ability to manage buitling codecs. If you have specific knowledge of how it could be done, I’d be glad to hear.
If any additional apps can be installed, you cannot block video. Except if you need to mess with the framework like - fps, limit it to 1. So nothing moving can happen - something that’s not a good idea.
Yes and no. Most android apps use the same underlying video player control surface, which a working accessibility filter can detect.
And there’s no way to improve that in your filter so it should work on other phones besides for the tiq?
It works well on all phones except the Qin f21, which we have to do weird things to support.
It didn’t work on a few other devices I tried it on
most android apps.
most doesn’t help.
simply installing file explorer plus or vlc will render the video filter useless.
also, you cannot except every app name out there…
what you should do is disable package installer, google play store and create a costom playstore.
theres a app updater that can work.
see qin f21 kosher ROM i provided. that one looks great.
Glad to have your feedback. I’ll test it with vlc and file explorer.
Is there a way to block by video format ex block .mp4 and.avi and so on?