Tablet Solution

Difficulty:

Medium-Advanced

What You'll Need:

1. Fire HD 8 (7th Generation) Tablet and Accessories: see "Rental Tablet Solution" on our parts page.
2. 5 apps: LauncherHijack, LockdownLauncher, TVs4JesusApp, unifiedsharefacebook.apk, firelauncher.apk
3. Amazon Fire HD 8 7th Generation 5.6.2 Update (851MB)
4. Wallpaper: background.jpg (you can customize this if you'd like just make it 1200x800)
5. Other app's APKs that you want to run in addition to TVs4Jesus.  See notes at bottom regarding app setup.
6. Google's ADB - Windows/Linux/Mac
7. Amazon Kindle Fire ADB Driver
8. Micro USB Cable (Type A to micro USB Type B--the usual cable for charging the Fire)
9. A Wifi signal (doesn't actually need Internet connection)

Procedure as of 12.19.2018 for Fire HD 8 (7th Generation) with FireOS: 5.6.2 or less

***DO NOT CONNECT YOUR TABLET TO INTERNET EVER-it could auto-update and break the setup***

1. Perform a factory reset if your Amazon Fire is not brand new.  This will assure all the settings are correct.
   1. Swipe down from the top of the screen and tap Settings.
   2. Tap Device Options, and then tap Reset to Factory Defaults.
   3. Tap Reset to confirm.  This takes about 10 minutes to complete.  You can start the next steps while you wait.
2. Install Google's ADB platform on your PC/Linux/Mac.
3. Download the 5 apps, any additional apps APKs, 5.6.2 Update and wallpaper to your local computer from the links above.
4. For Windows users, install the Amazon Kindle Fire ADB Driver.  See here for more details and for Mac instructions.
5. Back on the tablet, on the "Welcome to Fire" screen, choose "English (United States)". Then "Continue".
6. On the "Connect to Wi-Fi" screen, select any Wi-Fi signal that is password protected.  Before entering a password click "Cancel".  Now click "Not Now".  A "Skip Fire Setup" screen will pop up.  Click "Skip".
7. Connect your tablet to your computer via the USB cable.
8. You should now see the normal Amazon icon's screen.
9. Tap on "Settings", "Device Options", then "System Updates".  Verify your device is running FireOS 5.6.2 or earlier.  If not this solution will most likely not work for you.  You can try but do not do the following sub steps as downgrading has been known to brick devices.  If FireOS version is less than 5.6.2 do the following sub steps.  If it is 5.6.2 skip the following sub steps.
   1. Power off the device by holding the power button for a few seconds.  Select "OK".  Then hold down the volume down button and the power button until it boots to a text screen.
   2. Hit the volume up key until you get to "Apply update from ADB" and hit the power button.
   3. You should see a "Now send the package you want to apply to the device with..."
   4. Assure you have the USB cable connected from your computer to the tablet.
   5. On your computer open a command prompt window and navigate to the location where your 5.6.2 bin file was downloaded to.
   6. type: adb sideload update-kindle-50.6.1.2_user_612496320.bin
   7. Wait about 10 minutes for the file to upload.
   8. You should see a "patching system image unconditionally..." message about half way through.
   9. You should then see a "script succeeded: result was []" "Install from ADB complete".
   10. Hit the power button with "reboot system" now highlighted
   11. It should then reboot and may take a few more minutes to optimize.
10. Tap on "Settings".  Tap on "Device Options".  Tap atop of "Serial Number" 7 times to enable "Developer Options".  Tap on "Developer Options".  Turn on "Enable ADB". Tap "Enable".
11. An "Allow USB debugging?" dialog will pop up (if you have the USB cable attached and drivers loaded properly).  Tap "Always allow from this computer" and select "OK".
12. Click the rectangle icon at the bottom right of the screen and click the X on "Settings".
13. On your computer, open the link to your Fire.  On Windows this is under "My Computer" when the fire is attached.  Tap "Internal Storage".
14. Drag and drop the 5 apps and wallpaper file to the root directory as well as any APKs of apps you want to run alongside of TVs4Jesus.  Do not copy the .bin file.
15. Click "Settings" again, then "Display", then "Wallpaper".  In the bottom left click "Pick Image" then tap on the TVs4Jesus image.  Adjust the image so it is centered then click "Set".  Click the rectangle in the bottom right corner and click the X next to "Settings".
16. Open a command prompt/terminal on the computer and type:
    1. adb shell
    2. pm install -r -d /sdcard/com.amazon.unifiedsharefacebook.apk
       1. You should see a "Success" message after typing this.  If you see a "Failure" message, your tablet is either an incompatible generation of Fire HD, or an incompatible FireOS version.  Do not proceed without a "Success" message.
    3. run-as com.amazon.unifiedsharefacebook
    4. pm hide com.amazon.kindle.kso
    5. pm hide com.amazon.camera
    6. exit
    7. exit
    8. (you should be returned to a command prompt, now type)
    9. adb shell settings put global LOCKSCREEN_AD_ENABLED 0
    10. adb shell settings put global ksoHash 0
    11. adb shell reboot
    12. (Allow it to reboot again then type)
    13. adb shell
    14. pm install /sdcard/LauncherHijackV402.apk
    15. pm install /sdcard/TVs4JesusV1.0.apk
    16. pm install /sdcard/LockdownLauncher_v1.03.apk
    17. pm install /sdcard/xxx.apk (where xxx is the name of your app you want to load in addition to TVs4Jesus)
    18. exit
17. On the tablet, drag up to unlock the main screen.  You should be back at the main screen.  Click on the "Launcher Hijack" icon.  It may appear as just "Launcher..." with a green android icon.  It will bring up a message saying "Accessibility Service Disabled".  Tap on "Open Settings".  At the bottom of this menu you should see "To detect home button press".  Tap it and enable "To detect home button press".  Say "OK" to the warning.  You will be returned to the Launcher Hijack app.  Select the only option there "Lockdown Launcher".  It will ask "Set Launcher..." tap "OK" .  Tap the square and close "Laucher Hijack"
18. Your device is now locked to using the "Lockdown Launcher".  It should come up straight away.
19. You will see "Lockdown Launcher - Usage", tap "Okay, got it!".  You will now see "Set as default homepage" tap "Okay, got it!".
20. Click "Settings" then tick "Enable App Password".  Tap "Password".  Enter a memorable password but DO NOT LOSE IT or FORGET IT as you'll have to do a factory reset to recover.
21. Tap "Permitted Apps" and select "TVs4Jesus".  You can also select other apps that you want your patients to use including the ones you manually loaded its APK.  Click "OK".
22. Click the back arrow to return to the locked down menu.
23. Back on the computer type:
    1. adb shell
    2. pm install -r -d /sdcard/com.amazon.firelauncher.apk
    3. pm install -r -d /sdcard/com.amazon.unifiedsharefacebook.apk
    4. run-as com.amazon.unifiedsharefacebook
    5. pm hide com.android.settings
    6. pm hide com.amazon.cloud9.systembrowserprovider
    7. pm hide com.amazon.cloud9
    8. pm hide com.amazon.kindle.otter.oobe
    9. pm hide com.amazon.kindle.otter.oobe.forced.ota
    10. pm hide com.amazon.ags.app
    11. pm hide com.amazon.csapp
    12. pm hide com.amazon.client.metrics
    13. pm hide com.amazon.media.session.monitor
    14. pm hide com.amazon.knight.ecs
    15. pm hide com.amazon.kindle.unifiedSearch
    16. pm hide com.amazon.device.software.ota
    17. pm hide com.amazon.imp
    18. pm hide com.amazon.kcp.tutorial
    19. pm hide com.amazon.settings.systemupdates
    20. pm hide com.amazon.tcomm
    21. pm hide com.amazon.whisperlink.core.android
    22. pm hide com.here.odnp.service
    23. exit
    24. reboot
24. Unplug the USB cable.  You will see a message saying "OnlineTaxi Home: Service Started".  This is OK.
25. Unlock the tablet by dragging up on the lock.
26. Click on TVs4Jesus.  The program will endlessly try to automatically find your TVs4Jesus Wifi network.  If it can't, a button will pop up that says "CONFIGURE TVS4JESUS WIFI NETWORK".  Tap it.  Tap "ENABLE/DISABLE AUTOCONNECT".  Enter the ssid (name of your Wi-Fi network) and password (if any) in the space provided. Click the "Save" button.  If the network you typed in is within range and working properly, the next thing you should see is "Welcome to Our Free Media Server" (or whatever you set your welcome message to).  Each time TVs4Jesus opens it will attempt to connect to this network.  This is necessary because Amazon tablets will not automatically reconnect to networks that don't have Internet, so the program has to force it each time it opens.  From now on, you should not have to do any configuration.  On bootup, you should be able to unlock, then tap to go straight into TVs4Jesus and begin browsing the media content stored there.
27. You may notice that there are still settings buttons that can be changed from the unlock screen.  None of the settings changed here will affect if TVs4Jesus app works or connects properly, even if you disable wifi.

Adding Your Own Apps

If your app needs a wifi network*, you will need to add the network connection on step 8.  Because TVs4Jesus controls the wifi connection, it will change the connection over to its network when it loads.  Once you've completed step 22, you will no longer be able to configure wifi.  You will have to manually select this other wifi network whenever you want to run your custom app.  This can only be done from the lock screen by pulling down from the top over the user circle icon.  When TVs4Jesus is loaded it will automatically reconnect to its network.  Also note that your app can lead to security vulnerabilities so best to open your custom app and see if you can change settings that could prevent it from working correctly.

*It is not recommended to connect your tablet to the Internet as it is possible for Amazon to make changes to your configuration that could break your setup.

Returning to Regular Amazon Tablet

Should you want to return to the normal Amazon managed tablet, perform a factory reset from the bios. This can be done by first powering off the device then holding down the volume down button and the power button until it boots.  Select factory reset then reboot.

**We are not responsible for any device challenges or legalities of modifying your tablet from following this procedure.  We recommend buying Amazon tablets that do not have "Special Offers" on them.  If you did buy a model with this option we recommend purchasing the opt-out option for $10-$20 which removes these ads.  Here is another legitimate method if you are in a foreign country since apparently special offers cannot be claimed outside of America.