How to disable touch input for Android Smartphone

Ever messed up your phone settings due to accidental taps from children or seniors? Ever pocket dialed/texted your contacts without having the slightest clue? Technology has advanced and so has display technologies. Since almost all mobile devices use touch screen instead of physical keys, they are more prone to accidental taps.

We have researched on built-in settings and apps for Android smartphone which allows you to lock the touchscreen and keep your screen awake at the same time. This way, your kids will be able to enjoy videos and calls without access over the touchscreen or soft keys and even the hardware buttons like the power button, the home key, or the volume keys. So let’s get started.

Also Read: How to disable touch input for iPhone & iPad

Lock your phone to a single app

If you find yourself with those problems, disabling the touch screen temporarily can help.

However, there’s a better solution rather than having to disable the touchscreen entirely. Screen Pinning, a feature introduced in Android Lollipop, lets you lock your phone to a single app. For instance, you can “pin” the YouTube Kids app. Your kids will be able to navigate around inside the app, but they won’t be able to switch to or access other apps.

This is how you can enable the Screen Pinning feature in Android.

1. Open Settings > Security > Screen Pinning.
2. Turn on Screen Pinning.
3. Enable Ask for unlock pattern before unpinning. While turning it on is not compulsory, it’ll make sure that only you can unpin a particular app.

Once enabled, here’s how to use it.

1. Open the app you want to pin.
2. Tap Overview/Recent apps button.
3. Swipe up the Recent card and tap the “Pin icon” on the bottom right.

To unpin an app, just hold the Back button on your device for about five seconds. You’ll be asked to enter your unlock pattern, after which the app will be unpinned.

While this feature works fine for a few cases, it’s not the solution to other problems like the ghost touch problem. For such problems, you’ll need to actually disable your touchscreen. And this is how you can do it.

Disable Touchscreen Input on Android

Touch Lock

Touch Lock is a free Android app that lets you disable the touchscreen and soft keys/hardware keys temporarily. This touch lock app comes with parental control and can lock fingerprint sensor on smartphones that have such a security system. Once you download the app, here’s how to enable it.

1. Swipe left to advance to the next step in the setup wizard.
2. Tap on Enable Now. This will open Accessibility Settings. Here, find Touch Lock and enable it. Press the Back button to return to the setup wizard.
3. Swipe to the final screen. Tap on Enable Now. Here, find Touch Lock and enable it. This step is required to enable locking of special apps such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.

Once enabled, pull down the notification panel and tap on the lock icon. Now, the touchscreen and buttons should be locked.

To unlock it, double-tap on the translucent icon on the top-right of the screen.

You can configure the number of taps required to unlock the touchscreen in the app settings. Along with it, there are also options to automatically unlock when receiving a call, show a hint of the unlock method, and keep the screen on. The app shows a five-second advertisement after every unlock, which can be done away with a $1.99 in-app purchase.

This app can be downloaded from Google Play Store or the official Kidscrape website at http://www.kidscrape.com.

Another great app includes UnTouch – Baby Touch Blocker. This app is a bit advanced when compared to the previous one and unlocking the controls can be a bit complex. You also get the option to lock the screen orientation and volume.

So this is how you can control the touch screen input via built-in settings and apps. Now you can sit at ease, knowing that no accidental taps can cause mishaps on your handy phone.