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I have a phone running Android 4.0 and I wish to know if it is possible to turn this phone into a dedicated calculator? When I say dedicated I mean - once the phone is turned on, it boots directly to a calculator GUI? Whereby the user can immediately starting using the calculator, just like any stock standard Android calculator app would look like.

I do not wish it to boot to a home screen in between, but directly to the calculator itself. I am using a very simple example here, in anycase, would this be possible?

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  • This is surely possible. You could first flash a custom recovery like TWRP, then make a Big cut in the stock firmware, removing any unneeded features, and then making the Calculator boot. However I am not sure about how difficult it might be. After wiping System partition and flashing the complete zip file, then it should boot to calculator
    – John K
    Commented Dec 24, 2015 at 1:07
  • I edited the title to reflect the issue, but if it's not correct, feel free to edit it again. The alternative is to launch calculator on boot using automation apps like tasker. It's certainly possible, but the phone still need to boot the Android and do the initialization (which may take some time depends on your phone and apps installed).
    – Andrew T. ♦
    Commented Dec 24, 2015 at 1:19
  • Tasker might be the way to go, but if you want the device to be a on-go calculator I think you'll have to look at a dedicated calculator. Android simply doesn't have that on-go boot process. It'll take some time to turn on
    – Tamoghna Chowdhury
    Commented Dec 24, 2015 at 4:20
  • Use kiosk-mode. It would save you the trouble of booting into your typical home screen first and then to Calculator.
    – Firelord ♦
    Commented Dec 24, 2015 at 10:24

2 Answers 2

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First, I'd like to point out that turning on is different than booting. That said, I have a suggestion that will work if you are talking about turning the device on and off:

Use the Pin Screen feature of Android 5.0 (Lollipop). To do this, screen pinning must be enabled in Settings->Security. Once enabled, start Calculator (or any app) and then hit the "app switcher" button. This is done differently depending on what phone you have and tweaks you may have applied. On my device, it's done by double-tapping the home key. When you are in app switcher view, touch the push pin icon on whatever app you want pinned.

Once pinned, Calculator will be the only app that can be used. If you turn the device off and on again, you will be right back at Calculator.

Note that the pin will not persist across reboots, hence the caveat.

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  • OP is using Android 4.0 however.
    – Firelord ♦
    Commented Dec 24, 2015 at 16:38
  • Oops. Not sure how I missed that.
    – Paul Ratazzi
    Commented Dec 24, 2015 at 16:41
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It is very much possible to turn an Android phone into a dedicated device, or kiosk, and allow access to only one application, e.g. a Calculator. There are many commercial applications available on google play like SureLock which provides lockdown solution. Such a lockdown will ensure that the user cannot access any other applications, device settings, and even the hardware keys can be disabled. Whenever the phone is turned on or restarted, it will boot directly to a calculator rather than the regular device home screen.

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