I have a Fire Tablet that is always on running sharptools. What I’d like to do is have it only turn the screen on when someone approaches it. I’ve looked at all of the ways to root this device and none of them will work because of the Release it is on. Is there anyway to turn on the device screen using motion from a HE motion sensor which does require rooting it?
As you’ve probably figured out, the Amazon Fire Tablets can have the screen turned on when the screen is off, but then you are stuck at the lockscreen and would have to manually unlock the screen.
The typical workaround is to use Fully Kiosk Browser along with a few of its features.
- Use the Screensaver feature of Fully
- Set the screensaver to a black screen
- Set the screensaver to dim the screen all the way down to 0
- Use the built-in motion detection feature to exit the screensaver when motion is detected
This will effectively keep the tablet awake at all times and instead of actually turning off the screen (which would require the lockscreen to be manuallly unlocked), it gets the screen as dark as possible. This allows Fully or other apps to then ‘wake’ the tablet from the screensaver and go back to the dashboard.
Alternatively, some people pair this approach up with something like Dakboard as their screensaver which has some nice options for displaying photos along with weather/calendar as a screensaver.
And if you want to use an external Hubitat motion sensor, you could use the built-in HTTP/REST commands of Fully Kiosk Browser along with the HTTP GET feature of Hubitat’s Rule Machine.
Here are some sample REST commands for Fully Kiosk Browser which might be helpful:
/?cmd=triggerMotion&password=[pass]
/?cmd=startScreensaver&password=[pass]
/?cmd=stopScreensaver&password=[pass]
// and some other helpful commands
/?cmd=loadStartURL&password=[pass]
/?cmd=loadURL&url=[url]&password=[pass]
/?cmd=startApplication&package=[pkg]&password=[pass]
/?cmd=textToSpeech&text=[text]&password=[pass]
Just make sure to set a fixed IP address (static DHCP reservation) on the tablet and use the full address when making the HTTP call from Rule Machine.
eg. http://192.168.1.50/?cmd=stopScreensaver&password=myCoolPassword123
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i thought the motion detection only worked on certain firmware versions because it required root access. Did I completely read that wrong?
As far as I’m aware, the motion detection is not restricted by firmware version. I use it on several different Fire Tablets and Android Tablets.
It’s just that apps can’t unlock the screen on Fire Tablets like they can on normal Android tablets. Hence the workaround with dimming the screen via screensaver.
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I am totally missing what darkboard is? Is that in the google app store?
Dakboard is a webapp. A number of people use it as a screensaver as it lets you show nice photos along with the weather, calendar, etc.
By the way, somehow I haven’t seen much talk of this in the home automation boards, but the fire 7 (5th and 7th gen) and 8 tablets are 100% unlockable/rootable now. I just finished installing a custom Android ROM on both of my 2017 fire 7s, and it’s perfection. No more black screensaver for me. They turn off in darkness and wake on motion, no lock screen.
Only catch is, you have to have access to a Linux computer (raspberry pi will do great) and you have to pry the back off the tablet to short a pin on the mb during part of the process. Lol it sounds worse than it is, really. 
My second one literally took 5 minutes, most of which was just watching the 2 scripts run.
I now have TWRP and can load any ROM I choose just by holding volume down+power and installing from sd. Wouldn’t hesitate one minute if people are interested in getting the best auto-off-on experience possible.
In my case, the black screensaver was a no-go for the bedroom. Even that amount of light was too much, and not being able to trigger it with darkness meant having to wait until the timer set the screensaver… Not good enough for me. I decided to check again in the hopes that someone had figured out a hack, and lo and behold! They have indeed!
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This would be great. Any instructions on how to do this?
The instructions and files needed, etc. are all available at XDA Developers
(Admin, please let me know if posting this is in any way violating a rule–it’s not in any way advocating piracy or breaking any law or anything, but I do want to be respectful of the forum)
As I mentioned, and as it mentions: You will need a Linux computer (or a RasPi) and you will most likely have to open the tablet. But it’s simple to do. The 8 is also unlocked, but that’s another thread elsewhere on the XDA forums, easy enough to find. I can say that, as for me, it’s working absolutely beautifully. Good luck!
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Found this it might be helpful.
https://community.home-assistant.io/t/how-to-automate-fire-tablet-unlock/63629/7
I have tried everything and keep getting the lock screen on my 4 9th gen fire tablets. I found this earlier today and just tried it on one of my tablets. Keeping my fingers crossed that it works. After testing for 4 hours finally the lock screen is gone.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/hd8-hd10/development/official-amazon-fire-toolbox-v1-0-t3889604
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I’m a little disappointed that I bought 7th gen tablets as everyone’s says there useless without root.
Mine has been running pretty flawless without root. Only problem is the not so black screensaver of fully. Hate that with a passion.
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