🛡️ InputBlocker

Intelligent ghost-tap filtering for failing Android touchscreens

Quick Start • Features • How It Works • Downloads • Docs • FAQ

---

📋 Table of Contents

• Why InputBlocker?
• Quick Start
• Features
• How It Works
• Components
• Downloads
• Configuration
• Comparison
• Documentation
• FAQ
• Testing & Reporting
• Building from Source
• Contributing
• License

---

🤔 Why InputBlocker?

The problem: Failing digitizers cause ghost taps — phantom touches from electrical noise. These random touches can:

• Interrupt your typing with random taps
• Click things you never intended to touch
• Drain battery by keeping the screen active
• Make your device nearly unusable

Existing solutions block entire chunks of the screen unconditionally, turning usable displays into wastelands.

InputBlocker filters touches at the OS input level based on physical properties (pressure, duration). Your screen stays usable. Ghosts get blocked. No blind screen blocks.

---

⚡ Quick Start

Requirements

Dependency	Details
Root access	Magisk (≥20400), KernelSU, or APatch
Xposed framework	LSPosed or Vector installed in your root manager
Android	6.0+ (API 23)
ADB	For PC tool — USB Debugging enabled (optional)

Installation

# 1. Download the latest module from Releases
# 2. Flash in your root manager (Magisk / KernelSU / APatch)
# 3. Reboot
# 4. Enable InputBlocker in LSPosed Manager for "System Framework"
# 5. Reboot again
# 6. Open the InputBlocker companion app to verify

First time? See Getting Started Guide for a full walkthrough.

Emergency Recovery

Situation	Action
Overlay blocks everything	Press Volume Down × 3 → Volume Up × 3
Boot loop	Boot Safe Mode → disable module in LSPosed
Crash detected	adb shell rm /data/adb/modules/inputblocker/config/crash_detected
Hard disable	echo "1" > /data/adb/modules/inputblocker/config/kill_switch

---

✨ Features

Core Engine

Feature	Description
System-level filtering	Hooks InputDispatcher.dispatchMotionLocked in system_server — touches blocked before apps see them
Surgical blocking	Filter by touch contact area (ghost taps have tiny contact patches, reported as low "pressure" by Android) + duration (stuck pixels long-press)
Shape support	Rectangle, Circle, and Ellipse regions — not just squares
Exclude zones	Create "holes" in blocked regions for buttons you need
Per-app profiles	Different blocking configs for different applications
Kill switch	Emergency file-based disable — no UI needed

Companion App

Feature	Description
Visual editor	Draw regions directly on a screen preview
Live overlay	See active blocking regions rendered on screen
4 themes	System, Light, Dark, AMOLED (battery-saving pure black)
Auto-detection	Captures ghost tap samples, suggests optimized regions
Preset system	Export/import .ibpreset files for sharing configs
Block log viewer	Review every filtered touch with full metadata
Community gallery	Browse and download presets from other users
Update checker	In-app notification when new releases are available
Quick Settings tile	Toggle blocking from the notification shade
Emergency gesture	Configurable button combo to disable blocking instantly

PC Designer Tool

Feature	Description
Visual region editor	Drag, resize shapes on a screen preview
DBSCAN auto-tuning	Clusters ghost tap data to suggest optimal regions
ADB bridge	Push configs and pull logs wirelessly
Cross-platform	Windows (EXE), Linux (DEB), macOS (DMG)

Safety & Reliability

Feature	Description
Crash-safe design	Hot-path try/catch + boot-time detection prevents lockouts
Safe mode	Auto-disables blocking after abnormal shutdown
Async logging	Dedicated logger thread prevents I/O from blocking touch dispatch
Resolution-independent	Normalized coordinates (0.0–1.0) — one config works across screen sizes
Low overhead	Sub-millisecond filtering with two-tier caching

---

🔧 How It Works

Ghost taps from failing digitizers have three telltale characteristics:

Signal	Ghost Tap	Real Finger
Contact Area	Tiny electrical spike → very low "pressure" (< 0.10)	Full finger pad → normal "pressure" (0.15 – 1.00)
Duration	Instant spike OR stuck hold	Brief, natural tap
Location	Clusters in dead zones	Anywhere on screen

Note on "Pressure": Capacitive touchscreens don't measure physical force. Android's MotionEvent.getPressure() reports touch contact area — how many capacitive nodes the finger covers. A larger contact patch = higher value. Electrical noise from a failing digitizer produces a minimal contact signature, so the value is very low. This still makes it an effective filter signal.

The Filter Formula

BLOCK if (ContactArea < MinPressure) OR (Duration > MaxDuration)

            Touch Event
                │
                ▼
        ┌───────────────┐
        │ In exclude     │──YES──> PASS THROUGH
        │ zone?          │
        └───────┬───────┘
                │ NO
                ▼
        ┌───────────────┐
        │ In blocked     │──NO──> PASS THROUGH
        │ zone?          │
        └───────┬───────┘
                │ YES
                ▼
        ┌───────────────┐
        │ Contact area   │
        │ < threshold?   │──YES──> BLOCK (ghost)
        │ OR             │
        │ Duration >     │
        │ max?           │
        └───────┬───────┘
                │ NO (real touch)
                ▼
            PASS THROUGH

Architecture

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│              PC Designer                      │
│        Visual config editor + DBSCAN          │
└──────┬───────────────────────────────┬───────┘
       │ ADB push config               │ ADB pull logs
       ▼                               ▼
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│         Companion App (Overlay + UI)          │
│    On-device management, visual editor        │
└──────┬───────────────────────────────┬───────┘
       │ Write config                   │ Read crash flag
       ▼                               ▼
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│      Module Config (on-device storage)        │
│  /data/adb/modules/inputblocker/config/       │
└──────┬───────────────────────────────┬───────┘
       │ Read                          │ Write flag
       ▼                               ▼
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│    Xposed Hook (InputDispatcher hook)         │
│  Intercepts all touch events in system_server │
│  → Blocks ghosts → Apps never see them       │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────┘

---

📦 Components

Component	Description	Tech Stack
Xposed Hook	System-level touch filter engine	Legacy Xposed API, Kotlin
Companion App	On-device management UI + overlay	Jetpack, Material 3, Kotlin
PC Designer	Desktop visual region editor	Compose Desktop, Kotlin
Shared Core	Normalized coordinate math, Region model	Kotlin Multiplatform
Module Scripts	Root installation, service, health-check	Shell (POSIX)

---

📥 Downloads

Platform	Format	Get It
Android module	.zip	Releases page
PC Designer (Windows)	.exe	Releases page
PC Designer (Linux)	.deb	Releases page
PC Designer (macOS)	.dmg	Releases page

The companion APK is bundled inside the module ZIP and installs automatically on first boot.

---

⚙️ Configuration

Config file (/data/adb/modules/inputblocker/config/profiles/default.conf):

enabled=1
lsposed_mode=1

# Format: isExclude,type,x1,y1,x2,y2,minPressure,maxDuration
# isExclude: 0=block, 1=exclude; type: 0=rect, 1=circle, 2=ellipse
# x1,y1,x2,y2: normalized 0.0-1.0; minPressure: 0.0-1.0; maxDuration: ms

0,0,0.65,0.0,1.0,1.0,0.15,300
1,2,0.88,0.92,0.06,0.08,0.0,0

Per-app profiles: Place at config/profiles/<package_name>.conf — engine auto-switches when the app is in the foreground.

Special flags: See Configuration Reference.

---

📊 Comparison

Feature	InputBlocker	TouchBlocker	Screen Block	Manual ADB hack
Filtering level	Input dispatcher	Overlay-only	Overlay	Overlay
Pressure filtering	✅	❌	❌	❌
Duration filtering	✅	❌	❌	❌
Shape support	Rect, Circle, Ellipse	Rect only	Rect only	Rect only
Exclude zones	✅	❌	❌	❌
Per-app profiles	✅	❌	❌	❌
PC visual designer	✅	❌	❌	❌
Auto-detection	✅ (DBSCAN)	❌	❌	❌
Crash safety	✅	❌	✅	❌
Emergency gesture	✅	❌	❌	❌
Resolution-independent	✅ (normalized)	❌	❌	❌
Open source	✅ (MIT)	❌	❌	❌

---

📚 Documentation

Document	What's Covered
📖 Getting Started	Full walkthrough with screenshots for new users
📘 Technical Docs	Architecture, engine internals, configuration reference
🔧 Troubleshooting	Common issues, solutions, and recovery
❓ FAQ	Frequently asked questions
🔬 Advanced	DBSCAN tuning, custom scripts, power user tips
🏗️ Build Guide	Building from source, CI/CD, outputs
🤝 Contributing	How to contribute code and report issues
🔒 Security	Vulnerability reporting and disclosure policy
📋 Changelog	Release history

---

❓ FAQ

Q: Does this work with any Android device?
A: Any device running Android 6.0+ with root access and LSPosed/Vector installed.

Q: Will this affect my battery?
A: Minimal. The filtering overhead is sub-millisecond with aggressive caching. Async logging prevents I/O on the dispatch thread.

Q: Can I use this without LSPosed/Vector?
A: Yes — use "Overlay Mode" in the companion app. Less precise than the Xposed hook, but works without a framework module.

Q: I found ghost taps — how do I configure it?
A: Run Auto-Detection in the companion app to capture samples, then review and save the suggested regions. Or use the PC Designer for manual control.

Q: Will an Android update break this?
A: The hook targets InputDispatcher.dispatchMotionLocked, a stable internal API. Major Android versions rarely change this, but test after OS updates.

Q: Can I share configs?
A: Yes — export as .ibpreset files. Normalized coordinates make them cross-device compatible.

---

🧪 Testing & Reporting

InputBlocker is in active testing and needs real-world data.

What to test:

• Filter tuning (minPressure / maxDuration values)
• Region layering (exclude zones inside blocking zones)
• Emergency reset gesture
• Per-app profile switching
• Performance (input lag, battery drain)

How to report: Open a GitHub Issue with device model, Android version, logs (Share Log button), and your config file.

---

🏗️ Building from Source

git clone https://github.com/Laviesss/InputBlocker.git
cd InputBlocker
./gradlew buildAll -PVERSION_NAME="0.1.0" -PVERSION_CODE=1

Requirements: JDK 17, Android SDK (API 34). See BUILD.md for details.

---

🤝 Contributing

Contributions welcome! See CONTRIBUTING.md.

• 🐛 Bugs → Open an issue
• 💡 Ideas → Feature request
• 🔧 Fixes → PRs gladly accepted

---

📄 License

MIT License — see LICENSE.

---

⭐ If InputBlocker saved your device, give it a star! ⭐

Back to Top ↑