Advanced Configuration & Power User Guide

Manual Config File Editing

Config files are stored at:

/data/adb/modules/inputblocker/config/profiles/default.conf
/data/adb/modules/inputblocker/config/profiles/<package_name>.conf

Format

enabled=1
lsposed_mode=1

# One region per line: isExclude,type,x1,y1,x2,y2,minPressure,maxDuration
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

Field Reference

Field	Values	Description
enabled	`0` or `1`	Master toggle for this profile
lsposed_mode	`0` or `1`	`1` = LSPosed hook mode (recommended), `0` = overlay mode
paused	`0` or `1`	`1` = blocking suspended until explicitly resumed. Synced across all blocking services via `com.inputblocker.PAUSE` / `com.inputblocker.RESUME` broadcasts.
isExclude	`0` or `1`	`0` = block zone, `1` = exclude zone (hole in a block)
type	`0`, `1`, `2`	`0` = rectangle, `1` = circle, `2` = ellipse
x1, y1	`0.0` – `1.0`	Top-left corner (normalized)
x2, y2	`0.0` – `1.0`	Bottom-right corner (normalized)
minPressure	`0.0` – `1.0`	Touch contact area threshold — ghosts with smaller contact patches (lower "pressure") are blocked. On capacitive screens Android's "pressure" is actually contact patch size, not physical force.
maxDuration	ms	Touch duration threshold — touches longer than this are blocked (`0` = disabled)

Example: Block a right-side strip, exclude a button in it

enabled=1
lsposed_mode=1

# Block the right 35%
0,0,0.65,0.0,1.0,1.0,0.15,300
# Exclude a small circle in the bottom-right (keep the power button usable)
1,1,0.90,0.92,0.05,0.05,0.0,0

DBSCAN Parameter Tuning

The auto-detection feature uses a DBSCAN-inspired clustering algorithm to identify ghost tap hotspots.

Parameters

Parameter	Default	Effect
eps	`0.03`	Maximum distance (in normalized coordinates) between points in the same cluster. Smaller values = more, smaller clusters.
minPts	`3`	Minimum points needed to form a cluster. Higher values ignore sparse ghost taps.

When to Tune

eps too small: Ghost taps that should be one region get split into many tiny regions
eps too large: Separate ghost tap zones merge into one oversized block
minPts too high: Sparse but real ghost taps get ignored
minPts too low: Noise gets classified as ghost taps

Tip: Start with defaults (eps=0.03, minPts=3). If auto-detection produces too many small regions, increase eps to 0.05. If it misses sparse ghost taps, decrease minPts to 2.

Adaptive Optimization Internals

The AdaptiveBlockingManager reads the block log (blocklog.txt) every 60 minutes and tightens region bounds when it detects ≥10 ghost taps at similar normalized coordinates.

How it works:

Scans blocklog.txt for clustered ghost tap locations
For each existing block zone, checks if there's a tighter sub-region containing ≥90% of the detected ghosts
If found, shrinks the zone to the tighter bounds
Logs the optimization to logcat (InputBlocker:Adaptive)

To force a re-optimization:

adb shell rm /data/adb/modules/inputblocker/config/blocklog.txt
adb shell pkill -f com.inputblocker.app  # triggers service restart

The optimization never enlarges zones — it only tightens them based on actual data.

Shell Scripting

All module operations are accessible via shell for automation.

Read Current Config

adb shell cat /data/adb/modules/inputblocker/config/profiles/default.conf

Push a New Config

adb push my_config.conf /data/adb/modules/inputblocker/config/profiles/default.conf

Toggle Blocking

# Enable blocking
adb shell sed -i 's/enabled=0/enabled=1/' /data/adb/modules/inputblocker/config/profiles/default.conf

# Disable blocking (kill switch)
adb sh -c 'echo "1" > /data/adb/modules/inputblocker/config/kill_switch'

View Filter Stats

adb shell cat /data/adb/modules/inputblocker/config/blocklog.txt | tail -50

Live Monitoring

adb shell logcat -s InputBlocker:XposedHook
# Output: "Blocked touch at (0.72, 0.34) pressure=0.03"

Remote Management Script Example

#!/system/bin/sh
# Quick-check ghost tap count
BLOCKLOG="/data/adb/modules/inputblocker/config/blocklog.txt"
COUNT=$(wc -l < "$BLOCKLOG")
echo "Ghost taps blocked since last reset: $COUNT"

Crash Detection Mechanism

The crash detection system operates across three layers:

In-hook detection — Every beforeHookedMethod is wrapped in try/catch. On exception:
- Logs the error to logcat
- Calls InputBlockerServiceManager.reportCrash(Throwable) which writes the full stack trace to /data/local/tmp/inputblocker/crash_logs/<timestamp>.log
- Increments the crash counter at /data/local/tmp/inputblocker/crash_count
- Re-throws so the system doesn't notice
Boot-time detection — The ServiceManager reads crash_detected on startup:
- If flag exists: enters safe mode (all blocking disabled, overlay shows "SAFE MODE")
- If flag absent: normal operation
3-strike safe mode — On each boot, the crash counter at /data/local/tmp/inputblocker/crash_count is checked:
- If count >= 3: enters safe mode automatically, regardless of other flags
- Counter resets on clean shutdown
- Prevents repeated crash loops from locking the device

Viewing Crash Logs In-App

The companion app includes CrashLogActivity for viewing crash reports directly on the device:

Open the InputBlocker companion app
Tap Quick Actions in the menu
Select View Crash Logs
Each entry shows timestamp, error message, and full stack trace

Crash logs are stored at /data/local/tmp/inputblocker/crash_logs/ and persist across reboots.

Manual Crash Log Access

# List available crash logs
adb shell ls -la /data/local/tmp/inputblocker/crash_logs/

# Read a specific crash log
adb shell cat /data/local/tmp/inputblocker/crash_logs/crash_20260101_120000.log

# Check crash count
adb shell cat /data/local/tmp/inputblocker/crash_count

# Reset crash counter (after investigating)
adb shell echo "0" > /data/local/tmp/inputblocker/crash_count

Exiting Safe Mode

adb shell rm /data/adb/modules/inputblocker/config/crash_detected
adb shell echo "0" > /data/local/tmp/inputblocker/crash_count
adb reboot

Or just clear it from the companion app's settings screen.

ConfigFileObserver (Real-Time Config Reload)

The companion app reloads configuration changes in real time without requiring a service restart. This is powered by ConfigFileObserver, a two-layer file monitoring system:

How It Works

Config File Change → FileObserver (inotify)
                   → On failure/unsupported FS → 2s polling fallback
                   → Config reloaded in memory
                   → Services pick up new region definitions

Primary layer: FileObserver uses Linux inotify to receive instant notifications when config files change, are created, or are deleted.
Fallback layer: On filesystems that don't support inotify (certain FUSE mounts, some MTP or virtual storage), a polling loop checks file modification timestamps every 2 seconds.
Scope: Monitors all .conf files in the profiles directory, plus kill_switch, crash_detected, and paused state changes.

What Triggers a Reload

Editing default.conf or any per-app profile via ADB or PC Designer
Creating or deleting a profile file
Writing paused=1 or paused=0 to the config
Creating or removing the kill_switch file
Crash flag changes

When a change is detected, the relevant service (OverlayService, AccessibilityService, or hook module) reloads its region definitions from disk. No service restart required.

Verifying Config Changes

# Watch for reload events in logcat
adb shell logcat -s InputBlocker:ConfigFileObserver

# Expected output:
# "Config file modified: /data/adb/modules/inputblocker/config/profiles/default.conf"
# "Reloaded 3 regions from config"

Pause/Resume Blocking

The companion app provides a pause/resume mechanism that temporarily suspends all blocking without disabling the profile. This is useful for scenarios where you need full touch access temporarily.

How to Pause

Method	Steps
Quick Actions toggle	Open companion app → Quick Actions → tap Pause
Notification buttons	Pull down notification → tap Pause 5min or Pause 30min
Shell command	`adb shell am broadcast -a com.inputblocker.PAUSE`

How to Resume

Method	Steps
Quick Actions toggle	Open companion app → Quick Actions → tap Resume
Notification buttons	Pull down notification → tap Resume
Auto-resume	Timer expires and re-enables blocking automatically
Shell command	`adb shell am broadcast -a com.inputblocker.RESUME`

How It Works

The MainActivity toggle (or notification action) broadcasts com.inputblocker.PAUSE or com.inputblocker.RESUME as an Android intent.
All three blocking services listen for these intents:
- OverlayService — stops blocking touches in the overlay
- AccessibilityService — stops blocking via accessibility gesture interception
- LSPosed hook — reads paused=1 from the config file and stops filtering at the input dispatcher level
The paused=1 flag is written to the config file, so pause state persists across service restarts and reboots.
Each service runs an auto-resume timer. When the selected pause duration (5 min, 30 min) expires, blocking is re-enabled automatically.

Notification Action Buttons

The persistent notification includes three action buttons:

Pause 5min — Suspends blocking for 5 minutes, then auto-resumes
Pause 30min — Suspends blocking for 30 minutes, then auto-resumes
Resume — Immediately re-enables blocking (only shown when paused)

These buttons work with all three services, not just the foreground service that posted the notification.

Shell Script Automation

#!/system/bin/sh
# Pause blocking for a custom duration (in milliseconds)
am broadcast -a com.inputblocker.PAUSE
sleep 300   # 5 minutes
am broadcast -a com.inputblocker.RESUME

# Check current pause state
grep "^paused=" /data/adb/modules/inputblocker/config/profiles/default.conf

Custom Emergency Gesture

The VolumeButtonListenerService handles emergency gesture detection. By default, it uses:

Volume Down × 3 → Volume Up × 3

The gesture sequence and timing are configurable at: /data/adb/modules/inputblocker/config/gesture.conf

sequence=KEYCODE_VOLUME_DOWN,KEYCODE_VOLUME_DOWN,KEYCODE_VOLUME_DOWN,KEYCODE_VOLUME_UP,KEYCODE_VOLUME_UP,KEYCODE_VOLUME_UP
timeout_ms=3000

sequence: Comma-separated list of keycodes
timeout_ms: Max time to complete the sequence

Building Custom Presets for Sharing

Presets (.ibpreset files) are JSON with metadata:

{
  "version": 1,
  "device_model": "Pixel 6",
  "config_version": "0.1.0",
  "block_count": 12,
  "regions": [
    {"isExclude": false, "type": 0, "x1": 0.65, "y1": 0.0, "x2": 1.0, "y2": 1.0, "minPressure": 0.15, "maxDuration": 300}
  ]
}

To share a preset:

In companion app: Export → name your preset
File saved to /storage/emulated/0/InputBlocker/presets/<name>.ibpreset
Share the file — normalized coordinates make it cross-device

Performance Profiling

To measure the hook's overhead:

# Enable performance logging
adb shell setprop persist.inputblocker.perf_log 1

# Check latency log
adb shell cat /data/adb/modules/inputblocker/config/latency.log

# Each entry shows: timestamp,dispatch_us,hook_us
# dispatch_us: total dispatch time
# hook_us: time spent in InputBlocker filter

Expected overhead: < 50µs per touch event. If you see > 200µs, check for excessive logging or many overlapping regions.

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Advanced Configuration & Power User Guide

Manual Config File Editing

Format

Field Reference

Example: Block a right-side strip, exclude a button in it

DBSCAN Parameter Tuning

Parameters

When to Tune

Adaptive Optimization Internals

Shell Scripting

Read Current Config

Push a New Config

Toggle Blocking

View Filter Stats

Live Monitoring

Remote Management Script Example

Crash Detection Mechanism

Viewing Crash Logs In-App

Manual Crash Log Access

Exiting Safe Mode

ConfigFileObserver (Real-Time Config Reload)

How It Works

What Triggers a Reload

Verifying Config Changes

Pause/Resume Blocking

How to Pause

How to Resume

How It Works

Notification Action Buttons

Shell Script Automation

Custom Emergency Gesture

Building Custom Presets for Sharing

Performance Profiling