[APP][XPOSED] MaxLock, an AppLock alternative

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Antho02

Senior Member
Dec 19, 2010
319
51
Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite
hi
this module is the one i miss the more since i changed phone.
i had sony z5c with xposed and no magisk, now im using xiaomi mi a2 lite, stock Pie rom, magisk, thaichi.
i found it in taichi modules, installed, it correctly ask for fingerprint when i open maxlock itself but i cant manage to get asked for fingerprint when i open the apps i selected.
does anyone have a solution or a clue of why?

thanks in advance to helpers
 

wolfsister

Member
Jun 25, 2019
15
2
For anyone having maxlock locking issues where it stops locking apps randomly, remove Maxlock from battery optimisation settings and it should work 100% of the time.
 

Amazing_Panda

New member
Feb 24, 2019
4
0
Hi All.

How could I lock the whole entries "Apps" and "Develpment Options" of the Android Settings Menu, using MaxLock ? Note that I don't want to lock the other entries of this menu (e.g. Audio, Mobile Data, ...).

Thank you in advance!

---------- Post added at 01:32 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:32 PM ----------

Hi All.

How could I lock the whole entries "Apps" and "Develpment Options" of the Android Settings Menu, using MaxLock ? Note that I don't want to lock the other entries of this menu (e.g. Audio, Mobile Data, ...).

Thank you in advance!
 

JaggedPill

Senior Member
Jun 4, 2017
208
58
Hi @Maxr1998 I've been using the module on pie lately. I don't know if it's been optimised for pie, but still using it with accessibility on. It does the job wonderfully, but on minimising locked apps, the thumbnails are not getting masked in pie recents. If I'm not wrong, this can be achieved thru root. My request is to provide a root option in pie. Thank you.
 

beeshyams

Senior Member
Dec 29, 2014
1,881
799
Bangalore
Hi @Maxr1998 I've been using the module on pie lately. I don't know if it's been optimised for pie, but still using it with accessibility on. It does the job wonderfully, but on minimising locked apps, the thumbnails are not getting masked in pie recents. If I'm not wrong, this can be achieved thru root. My request is to provide a root option in pie. Thank you.

This has been asked before (by me) and answered by developer. To summarize -

A) Not possible with root or even with EdXposed since Pie treats recent apps differently.

B) Developer is not working on root /EdXposed combo. He is planning different approach altogether
 
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JaggedPill

Senior Member
Jun 4, 2017
208
58
This has been asked before (by me) and answered by developer. To summarize -

A) Not possible with root or even with EdXposed since Pie treats recent apps differently.

B) Developer is not working on root /EdXposed combo. He is planning different approach altogether
Great. Xposed breaks other sensitive apps. Thanks@Maxr1998 for adopting non xposed approach.
 

beeshyams

Senior Member
Dec 29, 2014
1,881
799
Bangalore
Works on Android 10 too, with the same limitations as on Pie but does create quite a few errors in EdXposed logs

I hope the developer is on track to release a non Xposed version soon enough

Thanks
 

Maxr1998

Recognized Developer
Apr 15, 2013
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Nexus 7
On the current state of MaxLock

As you might have noticed, there wasn't a lot of activity on the app in the last 1-2 years. In fact, I didn't even look into the source apart from a small maintainance release back in June. That means, there was no progress on meaningful changes this year at all.

What are the reasons for that?

First of all, it's lack of motivation. The code in it's current form (with the new locking algorithm partly implemented) is a huge mess, and always when I tried to get into it again, it kinda drove me away again. Also, to put it bluntly, there were just more interesting projects to work on - I spent a lot of time this year contributing to Niagara Launcher, but I also had many other small projects that were more interesting to me. Additionally, University is taking a huge cut of my free time as well.

What next?

I still want to get into and work on MaxLock again, because I know the huge potential and usefulness it has, and I don't want to let you down. The thing is, I want to make my work as painless as possible - that my motivation doesn't get instantly killed again because of weird framework bugs and having to support exotic configurations.

That means:
  • Dropping support for Android 6 and below - that makes testing much easier and removes a lot of compatibility code
  • Completely remove all Xposed-related code, as the locking implementation will be replaced anyway - unfortunately, that also means the recents thumbnail hiding will be gone. It was way too complicated to support throughout the different Android versions and OEM skins, so it's probably for the best.
  • Slim down the UI customizations - I know some of you love customization, but I think that I've gone too far with MaxLock - it has way too many toggles, and the sheer amount of options was always intimidating to new/inexperienced users. After working a long time with @8bitpit on Niagara, I've learned that it's better to have less, but meaningful options, to result in an all-in-all better product.

On the other hand, I plan to add a lot of improvements to MaxLock:
  • First of all, the new locking implementation - only requires root (preferring Magisk, because that also supports startup scripts)
  • Redesigned lockscreen, supporting in-screen FP readers and other biometric authentication methods
  • A much less confusing configuration experience
  • Hopefully better support for multiwindow, I need to do some tests on that though
  • Potentially digital wellbeing features, if I find enough time
  • Performance improvements

So, what do you think? I'm looking forward to hearing your feedback on my thoughts, as well as other feature requests or ideas for improving the app-experience.

By the way, there is also a Telegram group that I created way back, if you want, you can join and discuss with me there: https://t.me/MaxLock
 
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beeshyams

Senior Member
Dec 29, 2014
1,881
799
Bangalore
On the current state of MaxLock

As you might have noticed, there wasn't a lot of activity on the app in the last 1-2 years. In fact, I didn't even look into the source apart from a small maintainance release back in June. That means, there was no progress on meaningful changes this year at all.

What are the reasons for that?

First of all, it's lack of motivation. The code in it's current form (with the new locking algorithm partly implemented) is a huge mess, and always when I tried to get into it again, it kinda drove me away again. Also, to put it bluntly, there were just more interesting projects to work on - I spent a lot of time this year contributing to Niagara Launcher, but I also had many other small projects that were more interesting to me. Additionally, University is taking a huge cut of my free time as well.

What next?

I still want to get into and work on MaxLock again, because I know the huge potential and usefulness it has, and I don't want to let you down. The thing is, I want to make my work as painless as possible - that my motivation doesn't get instantly killed again because of weird framework bugs and having to support exotic configurations.

That means:
Dropping support for Android 6 and below - that makes testing much easier and removes a lot of compatibility code
Completely remove all Xposed-related code, as the locking implementation will be replaced anyway - unfortunately, that also means the recents thumbnail hiding will be gone. It was way too complicated to support throughout the different Android versions and OEM skins, so it's probably for the best.
Slim down the UI customizations - I know some of you love customization, but I think that I've gone too far with MaxLock - it has way too many toggles, and the sheer amount of options was always intimidating to new/inexperienced users. After working a long time with @8bitpit on Niagara, I've learned that it's better to have less, but meaningful options, to result in an all-in-all better product.


On the other hand, I plan to add a lot of improvements to MaxLock:
First of all, the new locking implementation - only requires root (preferring Magisk, because that also supports startup scripts)
Redesigned lockscreen, supporting in-screen FP readers and other biometric authentication methods
A much less confusing configuration experience
Hopefully better support for multiwindow, I need to do some tests on that though
Potentially digital wellbeing features, if I find enough time
Performance improvements


So, what do you think? I'm looking forward to hearing your feedback on my thoughts, as well as other feature requests or ideas for improving the app-experience.

By the way, there is also a Telegram group that I created way back, if you want, you can join and discuss with me there: https://t.me/MaxLock

Thanks for the update. I am subscribed to this thread though not using MaxLock any more because it's isn't supported though it works on 10. Right now I am using built in feature of Oxygen OS.

My thoughts (non developer). Putting it bluntly with no offense meant

1. The customization, toggles, these are unique and make MaxLock stand out. There are other plain and simple apps that lock too. I want to use MaxLock precisely for the customization it offers.

2. Dropping support below Marshmallow is OK provided module is available for others to use as is.

3. Dropping support for xposed is clear but why not use EdXposed? Fear that this may also get dumped or totally be free of X/EdXposed? That's fine but it won't have the power and like I said one may use any other locking app too

I think you have a niche module that is endearing because of it's customization and appeals to those who take the trouble to learn. Fantastic UI too (Big fan of those rolling cog wheels on choosing apps)

So you have to decide whether you want to target the savvy audience or create an app that would surely be good but one among many. I think you have chosen the latter. Our loss

All the best in your endeavors, irrespective of the choices and would appreciate updating thread too, telegram group aside
 

Maxr1998

Recognized Developer
Apr 15, 2013
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Google Nexus 4
Nexus 7
Thanks for the update. I am subscribed to this thread though not using MaxLock any more because it's isn't supported though it works on 10. Right now I am using built in feature of Oxygen OS.

My thoughts (non developer). Putting it bluntly with no offense meant

1. The customization, toggles, these are unique and make MaxLock stand out. There are other plain and simple apps that lock too. I want to use MaxLock precisely for the customization it offers.

2. Dropping support below Marshmallow is OK provided module is available for others to use as is.

3. Dropping support for xposed is clear but why not use EdXposed? Fear that this may also get dumped or totally be free of X/EdXposed? That's fine but it won't have the power and like I said one may use any other locking app too

I think you have a niche module that is endearing because of it's customization and appeals to those who take the trouble to learn. Fantastic UI too (Big fan of those rolling cog wheels on choosing apps)

So you have to decide whether you want to target the savvy audience or create an app that would surely be good but one among many. I think you have chosen the latter. Our loss

All the best in your endeavors, irrespective of the choices and would appreciate updating thread too, telegram group aside

Thank you so much for your feedback! These are some very good points.

I think you may be right, killing too much of the customization could also hurt the experience, and drive people away who came for exactly that. My thought was mostly to make it more accessible to people who are not as tech-savvy - because that's what I also got a lot of feedback about. Additionally, I wanted to simplify the code a bit - every toggle is another "application state" I have to handle/keep in mind.

So, I didn't plan to kill all of the customization anyway (far from it), but I still want to streamline some of the options, to make them easier to use, and easier for me to support. Maybe an "advanced" tab for the tech-savvy users might be the right solution, I actually already thought about something like that this morning. Anyway, I don't know yet how everything will turn out, but I'll try to balance it between making MaxLock more accessible while also keeping the pro-appeal that others appreciate. Thanks again giving me a bit of contra, that's exactly what I needed to better think this all through :highfive:

I will obviously keep the old version around (and have it downloadable here or on XDA Labs/GitHub), so that people with MM or earlier can still re-download it when needed.

Xposed already was a bit of a hack (and obviously MaxLock as well), and EdExposed didn't change any of that - also afaik device compatibility and stability isn't perfect and doesn't get better with every new Android release, and I don't want to depend on a framework that might eventually die as well.
I think my custom system daemon implementation will be the better choice, the only thing we'll (very likely) loose is the thumbnail hiding, which is unfortunate, but as I already said, supporting that across custom roms and OEM skins was and will always be a pain (with (EdE)Xposed).

Regarding the UI: I just want to modernize it a bit, probably won't be thaaat obvious in the first few versions.
Btw, the cogwheels will always stay, I also really love them as well :D

The Telegram chat is mostly for additional/quick discussion, I will post any announcements here as well. And yikes, I need to be way more active on XDA again. Last login/post was a looong time ago.
 

beeshyams

Senior Member
Dec 29, 2014
1,881
799
Bangalore
Thank you so much for your feedback! These are some very good points.

I think you may be right, killing too much of the customization could also hurt the experience, and drive people away who came for exactly that. My thought was mostly to make it more accessible to people who are not as tech-savvy - because that's what I also got a lot of feedback about. Additionally, I wanted to simplify the code a bit - every toggle is another "application state" I have to handle/keep in mind.

So, I didn't plan to kill all of the customization anyway (far from it), but I still want to streamline some of the options, to make them easier to use, and easier for me to support. Maybe an "advanced" tab for the tech-savvy users might be the right solution, I actually already thought about something like that this morning. Anyway, I don't know yet how everything will turn out, but I'll try to balance it between making MaxLock more accessible while also keeping the pro-appeal that others appreciate. Thanks again giving me a bit of contra, that's exactly what I needed to better think this all through :highfive:

I will obviously keep the old version around (and have it downloadable here or on XDA Labs/GitHub), so that people with MM or earlier can still re-download it when needed.

Xposed already was a bit of a hack (and obviously MaxLock as well), and EdExposed didn't change any of that - also afaik device compatibility and stability isn't perfect and doesn't get better with every new Android release, and I don't want to depend on a framework that might eventually die as well.
I think my custom system daemon implementation will be the better choice, the only thing we'll (very likely) loose is the thumbnail hiding, which is unfortunate, but as I already said, supporting that across custom roms and OEM skins was and will always be a pain (with (EdE)Xposed).

Regarding the UI: I just want to modernize it a bit, probably won't be thaaat obvious in the first few versions.
Btw, the cogwheels will always stay, I also really love them as well :D

The Telegram chat is mostly for additional/quick discussion, I will post any announcements here as well. And yikes, I need to be way more active on XDA again. Last login/post was a looong time ago.

Glad you found merit in some points.

A suggestion--make the app simple but provide deep customization options a paid version with a trial period (it does take time to learn, if you haven't used it before). In the pro version you can bundle other things like automation support etc.

I wouldn't mind paying for it and would like to think same of others - if they value customization

Edit : Thumb mail hiding seems to be baked into lot of Chinese OEMs so people would probably expect that. If it can work with pure Android or skin's that aren't tweaked much it would be great

All the best and looking forward:cowboy:
 
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wannaskoo

Senior Member
May 10, 2017
51
8
Hi, thanks for coming back to work on this project.
Here's some quick thoughts.

1) I agree on too many unneeded customization options. I don't personally use a lot of them (my lock screen is just plain black with the name of the locked app displayed).

2) Aaaaand also agree on switching from Xposed to Magisk. After all if you can achieve the same near-instant locking performance without all that heavy xposed hacking and support more devices and android skins, it shouldn't matter to the user.
 

Jquaidark

Member
Aug 2, 2017
43
6
Thanks

Thanks Man for your interesting
But please don't do that xposed is very necesary
without xposed it will consume a lot of memory, which differentiates it from any app in the play store, what I would like is that it had support for fingerprint scanner on the screen, why the current version does not support that
 
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s1m0n

Member
May 15, 2016
40
2
@Maxr1998,
thank you for the Wonderful app.

Sorry if that was answered before but i'm Looking for a lock app to lock the playstore access on my parents phone, as well as remove the delete feature on all the apps. My parents used to remove the apps they have "troubles" using and then reinstall scammy alternatives from the playstore. I installed MaxLock to test it out and i have 2 issues:

1. I put a lock on Instagram for test purposes. After a while lock wasn't showing and i could access the app until i rebooted. Then the lock appeared again.

2. If put a lock on playstore, i'm not sure if the apps are able to update. I Let's say, i have playstore locked and i don't know the PIN. I have the notification saying there are updates pending. Will apps be updated automatically when the phone is on WiFi and charging or do i need to unlock the playstore app for it to function?

Using the playstore version, not the xposed.

Cheers
 
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Maxr1998

Recognized Developer
Apr 15, 2013
2,161
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Germany
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Google Nexus 4
Nexus 7
@Maxr1998,
thank you for the Wonderful app.

Sorry if that was answered before but i'm Looking for a lock app to lock the playstore access on my parents phone, as well as remove the delete feature on all the apps. My parents used to remove the apps they have "troubles" using and then reinstall scammy alternatives from the playstore. I installed MaxLock to test it out and i have 2 issues:

1. I put a lock on Instagram for test purposes. After a while lock wasn't showing and i could access the app until i rebooted. Then the lock appeared again.

2. If put a lock on playstore, i'm not sure if the apps are able to update. I Let's say, i have playstore locked and i don't know the PIN. I have the notification saying there are updates pending. Will apps be updated automatically when the phone is on WiFi and charging or do i need to unlock the playstore app for it to function?

Using the playstore version, not the xposed.

Cheers
Regarding 1: this is kinda weird, it seems the locking service is getting killed. What device are you on?

For 2: if you have auto-update enabled inside the Store, apps will update even if the app is locked. MaxLock only blocks access of the UI, it doesn't stop the app itself from working.
 

Maxr1998

Recognized Developer
Apr 15, 2013
2,161
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25
Germany
maxr1998.de
Google Nexus 4
Nexus 7
PSA: Google, for no apparent reason, removed MaxLock from the Play Store this morning, stating it has "high risk of abuse". Since there weren't any changes to the app or the Play Store page within the last months, I have no clue why this could have happened, especially with such a vague reason. I'll try to get the app back into the store, but I'm not optimistic I'll succeed, given Google's track history on this.

EDIT: Pushed a small update (7.0.6) which hopefully resolves this. Wish me luck, guys!


UPDATE: We're back! ?
You can download/update MaxLock normally from Google Play again.
 
Last edited:

s1m0n

Member
May 15, 2016
40
2
Regarding 1: this is kinda weird, it seems the locking service is getting killed. What device are you on?

For 2: if you have auto-update enabled inside the Store, apps will update even if the app is locked. MaxLock only blocks access of the UI, it doesn't stop the app itself from working.

I'm on OnePlus 3T, latest stock firmware, Oxygen 9.0.6., non rooted.

Regarding the removal of your app from the play store, could you please attach the latest stable apk here? Herzlichen Dank!
 
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  • 178


    This is the continuation of the MinMinLock module developed by @FatMinMin. All original credits belong to him!

    Features
    Conventional applock softwares use polling to detect current running process, which drains your battery and slowers your device. This is why I have created MinMinLock. With the help of Xposed framework, MinMinLock uses an event-driven method to detect app launch and lock it, which results in better performance.

    Visit MaxLock website!

    • Multiple lock types: Password, PIN, Knock code
    • SHA-256-encrypted passwords
    • Nice design
    • Many UI personalization options
    • Fake die: app force closes on start, click on "Report" in dialog, then enter "start"
    • Compatibility from Android™ JellyBean to Lollipop
    Tips and special features are located in About screen in-app

    Screenshots
    On Google Play™

    Downloads

    Xposed Repo

    Changelog
    Look here

    Source code
    https://github.com/Maxr1998/MaxLock
    The code is licensed under GNU GPL v3 license.

    Translations
    Thanks to all the voluntary translators! Visit about section in app to see their names.
    If you also want to translate module to your language or improve the existing translation, head over to source code, fork, translate and send pull-request!

    Android, Google Play and the Google Play logo are trademarks of Google Inc.
    29
    We're finally there: MaxLock 7.0-RC1 has just been released to the Beta channel on Google Play!

    Today is exactly (*) one year after I published the previous version, 6.4.1, to the Play Store. Additionally, this is my 2000th post on XDA. Yay!
    I'll do a write-up of the full changelog tomorrow, because I'm just too tired now to do anything anymore. Also, even though this build is pretty polished and all, expect some bugs - not because I didn't test it thoroughly, but because this is Android after all - there will be a weird configuration which I couldn't reproduce breaking the whole functionality ^^
    So, please report any issues through the respective button in-app.
    Thanks for all the support, ideas, donations and motivation. I couldn't do all that without you. So, thanks! :)


    (*) It's past 2am here, so it's technically already the next day/a day later, but psst!
    26
    Why do not you tell us whether you plan to continue supporting your product or not? If so, what are the terms, how long should we wait?
    Really, what's so complicated about reading the last pages?
    I already fixed the bugs that specifically affected support for Nougat, but some parts aren't finished yet. I could push out a release right now, but with usability issues and potential bugs keeping you away from using the app properly. Would you rather have an unfinished app now or wait a little more and get an awesome update?
    Also, your attitude towards myself and my "product", which I basically develop in my free time, without real payment apart from some small donations, doesn't help finishing the update faster..
    I didn't do nothing in the last weeks, if you just took a look at my GitHub you'd see quite some activity..
    People like you though, being impatient, rude and asking for ETAs, decrease my motivation quite heavily, so your impression of me abandoning the app might come true if it continues like that.

    So, please, just stay patient, all I can say you now is that it'll be worth the wait.
    17
    Great app and thanks for it. But I have one question: Is it possible to hide notification that is "content hidden by maxlock"? Because if I want to make something really hidden then I don't want it to be declared as hidden by any other app. So, how to lock any app without any notification on the bar but with notifications as sound and vibration?

    I asked similar question about ten days ago and still waiting for an answer. Am I missing something or just being ignored intentionally?
    Thank you spaceman but as far as I could see dev can answer questions, and he can indicate the situation. According to you I must be patient because I'm using non-Nougat version, right? Is this a rightful approach?
    I think you all have to be equally patient, as Nougat support and the notification feature will likely come out on the same day :D
    And no, I didn't intentionally ignore you, I read your request (as I read all requests and messages in here), but I was too busy to reply at that moment (likely because that "about 10 days ago" was 11 days ago, which was my birthday..), and it kind of got lost in between the other posts.

    Also, that request is actually pretty old, as I have it on my to-do list for months already (see proof in attachments), so fear not, it'll likely be included in the next version.
    Cheers!
    15
    So, I'm happy to finally announce that RC5 is now available on the Play Store! I'll push it to Xposed repo later today if everything works smoothly. Thanks for the patience!

    Sent from my PH-1 using XDA Labs