System overlay android 4.0

Question

Before android 4.0 you could create and overlay over any app with TYPE_SYSTEM_OVERLAY and get touches with FLAG_WATCH_OUTSIDE_TOUCH... Now with android 4 you cant receive th

Answer 1

I found a full sample app here that works for Android 4.0

Here is the highlight:

To create an overlay view, when setting up the LayoutParams DON'T set the type to TYPE_SYSTEM_OVERLAY.

Instead set it to TYPE_PHONE.

Use the following flags:

FLAG_NOT_TOUCH_MODAL

FLAG_WATCH_OUTSIDE_TOUCH

FLAG_NOT_TOUCH_MODAL << This one is quite important. Without it, focus is given to the overlay and soft-key (home, menu, etc.) presses are not passed to the activity below.

Also make sure you add the SYSTEM_ALERT_WINDOW permission to the mainifest file.