v2.13: On-demand mode, a redesigned screen and a much smaller app

Video Boost no longer needs the accessibility service running all day, the app has been rebuilt around a much simpler main screen, and the download is seven times smaller.

On demand: the service is off until you open the Camera

Until now the accessibility service stayed enabled permanently and filtered events in code. That is still the default (Always on), but there is a second mode under How it turns on:

Only when the Camera opens. The service sits disabled and switches itself on the moment Pixel Camera comes to the front, then off again when you leave, after a grace delay you can set from 0 to 60 seconds. Banks and other sensitive apps never see an active accessibility service, so there is nothing for them to trip over and nothing to turn off and back on.

It needs two special permissions, usage access and WRITE_SECURE_SETTINGS, which the app grants itself once through wireless ADB or Shizuku during setup. If either one goes missing later, the app quietly falls back to Always on instead of leaving you with nothing.

The watcher survives reboots and app updates, and detection is layered: the camera availability callback is the instant trigger, and a slow screen-on poll is the backup if that callback never arrives.

A main screen that shows less

The status hero now carries the master switch, and everything else lives in a settings list with a status summary on each row: mode, sensitive apps, notifications, wireless ADB, and About. Before the service is enabled, the screen shows only the setup guide, so the first run is a short list of steps rather than a wall of options.

About, privacy and source code

A new screen spells out what the app does, what it never does, every permission and why it needs it, why it is not on the Play Store, and where the source lives.

38.2 MB down to 5.4 MB

The APK was mostly dead weight from the embedded ADB client. R8 is now on for release builds, the native libraries are limited to arm64 (every Pixel with Video Boost is arm64), and BouncyCastle's post-quantum tables no longer ship. The dex alone went from 27.8 MB to 2.9 MB.

This also brings the app under the size IzzyOnDroid reserves per app.

Tutorial

Rewritten with fresh screenshots covering the install, both Android warnings, and every screen in the app.

Verification

Checked end to end on a Pixel 10 Pro XL running Android 17: Video Boost found, switched on and confirmed in about 0.4 s in both modes, on-demand turning the service on and off around a camera session, wireless ADB reconnecting and running commands, and Shizuku re-enabling after a sensitive app. Pairing from scratch was exercised separately on a Pixel 7.

v2.12: Grace period, quieter notifications, no more wireless-debugging nagging

Quality-of-life release for the sensitive-apps flow: Video Boost no longer comes back the instant you step out of your bank, the right notification makes the sound, and Android stops nagging about wireless debugging.

Grace period before turning back on

Leaving your banking app for five seconds to check something and going straight back used to be enough for the bank to see a freshly enabled accessibility service and show its anti-fraud block. Now the re-enable waits: 3 minutes by default, adjustable from 0 to 10 under Sensitive apps -> Wait before turning back on.

During the wait:

• Going back into any sensitive app cancels it and returns to the silent paused state.
• Opening Pixel Camera re-enables immediately, so the delay never costs you a boosted video.
• The countdown notification carries Wait +N min and Turn on now, with a live countdown.

Notifications that make sense

• The "service turned off" notice is now silent (it arrives just as you are opening your bank, the worst possible moment for a chime).
• The alerting notification is the countdown, when you close the app.
• When it finally re-enables, that same notification is updated in place, so you get one sound per cycle instead of two.

No more wireless-debugging notification

Android kept re-showing its own "Wireless debugging" notification every few seconds while a sensitive app was open. Two fixes:

• The monitor no longer reconnects ADB when Usage access is granted; it was misreading a quiet foreground app as a dead connection.
• With full-auto on, the app now grants itself WRITE_SECURE_SETTINGS once during setup and re-enables its own accessibility service with a local write. A normal sensitive-app session now opens no ADB connection at all, and full-auto keeps working after a reboot with wireless debugging switched off.

WRITE_SECURE_SETTINGS is a development-level permission: it cannot be granted by tapping something in Settings, only by a shell (pm grant), and it only lets the app write settings it was already writing over ADB. Shizuku and wireless ADB stay as automatic fallbacks when it is not granted.

Also

• Fixed the self-grant path: pm grant needs a longer timeout, and one failed ADB stream used to leave every later command in the batch dead.

Verified end to end on a Pixel 10 Pro XL: countdown accurate to 25 ms, both notification actions working, camera shortcut re-enabling in 2 ms with Video Boost on and verified 570 ms later, and zero ADB reconnects with a sensitive app open.

v2.11: Reliable full-auto re-enable

Full-auto (re-enabling the accessibility service after a banking or other sensitive app closes) worked only some of the time, and when it did recover it often took 15–30 minutes. This release fixes that: on a Pixel 10 Pro XL it now re-enables in about 3 seconds, in 14 out of 14 consecutive open/close cycles.

What was wrong

The embedded ADB client (libadb-android) is racy when it opens a shell stream: it either fails outright or blocks forever waiting on a reply that already arrived. Those calls had no timeout, so a single hang permanently froze the coroutine watching the foreground. The sensitive app's close was then never noticed and only the 15-minute session cap ever fired.

Three things made it worse. The foreground poll pushed the entire dumpsys activity activities output (136 KB) through the TLS tunnel every 1.2 seconds. The initial connection and the reconnect shared one object and closed each other. And the re-enable checked its own command output for success, which fails even when the write went through, so real successes were retried in a loop.

What changed

The monitor no longer uses ADB to watch the foreground. It reads it locally through UsageStats, and the app grants itself that permission with a single privileged command. No network, no streams, no polling over the tunnel.

ADB is now used only for the one thing that genuinely needs privileges: re-enabling the accessibility service. That runs as a single shell command and is confirmed by reading the secure settings locally. Reading them needs no permission, writing does; verifying the effect instead of the command output is what makes this dependable. What remains of the ADB path got a hard per-command timeout, a stream retry over the same connection, and serialized connects.

Turning full-auto off gives the permission back

Because full-auto now grants itself usage access, turning it off hands it back. The app only revokes what it granted itself, so a permission you enabled by hand in Settings is left untouched. Shizuku users are unaffected: that path never self-grants anything, since its binder does not have the fragility this works around.

Camera behaviour is unchanged.

v2.10: Wireless ADB, full-auto without Shizuku

Full-auto without Shizuku

Video Boost can now run full-auto, turning its accessibility service back on after a sensitive (banking) app closes, without installing Shizuku. It pairs once with your phone's own Wireless debugging and does the rest itself. No second app, no root.

Shizuku-style pairing: you never leave the pairing screen

Open "No Shizuku? Use wireless ADB" → Start pairing, then in Wireless debugging tap "Pair device with a pairing code". A notification pops up where you type the 6-digit code inline, so you never have to leave that screen. The IP and port are found automatically over mDNS.

After a reboot you only re-enable "Wireless debugging" once and tap Reconnect, with no new code needed (same one-time-per-boot step Shizuku has).

It can also enable the accessibility service the first time, skipping the sideload "Restricted setting" wall.

Shizuku still works

Shizuku remains fully supported and is preferred automatically if you already have it set up, so nothing changes for existing users.

Nothing leaves your device: the connection is to your own phone over localhost. Built on the open-source libadb-android (includes spake2-android, LGPL-3.0).

v2.8: Full-auto with Shizuku and smarter reminders

What's new

The reminder is now smart, and with Shizuku it's fully automatic.

When a sensitive app (bank, wallet, authenticator…) opens, Video Boost still turns its accessibility service off so you're never blocked, but now:

• Silent while you're in the app. Instead of buzzing the moment the app opens, you get a quiet "paused" notice, and an alerting reminder only when you close the app, exactly when you'd want to turn Video Boost back on.
• Full-auto with Shizuku. If you use Shizuku (no root needed), Video Boost turns itself back on automatically once the sensitive app closes. Nothing to tap. Enable it under Sensitive apps → Full-auto & reminders, with an in-app setup guide.
• No Shizuku? Grant Usage access and you still get the silent-while-open / alert-on-close behavior (you re-enable with one tap). With neither, nothing changes: you get the reminder on open as before.

See the README's "Full-auto with Shizuku" section for setup.

v2.7: All installed apps in the picker

What's new

The sensitive-apps picker now lists every app you have. Previously it only showed a handful of apps because of Android's package-visibility rules. Now the full app drawer is there, split into Automatically flagged (banks, fintech, wallets and authenticators detected on your device, checked by default) and All apps.

Also fixes the Automatically flagged section sometimes appearing empty on first open (a list-scrolling glitch).

No change to the core behavior: the service still turns itself off automatically for sensitive apps so they never block you.

v2.6: Sensitive apps screen

What's new

Redesigned sensitive-apps picker. Choosing which apps turn Video Boost off is now a dedicated full-screen section (with a back button and a search box) instead of a small pop-up.

• See every app you have. The list now shows all the apps you see on your phone (launcher apps plus anything you installed), not just a handful.
• Two clear groups. Automatically flagged lists the banks, fintech, wallets and authenticators detected on your device (checked by default), and All apps lets you add any other app.
• Opt out of any pre-flagged app. Uncheck a built-in bank/sensitive app you don't want the service to turn off for; your choice sticks and overrides the default.
• Search to quickly find an app in a long list.

No change to the core behavior: the service still turns itself off automatically for sensitive apps so they never block you, and reminds you to turn it back on.

Video Boost AO v2.5

What's new in v2.5

• Worldwide sensitive-app coverage. The service now recognizes ~330 banking, fintech, crypto, authenticator and password-manager apps (every country where the Pixel is officially sold), so it automatically turns itself off before any of them can block you. All packages verified against Google Play.
• Re-enable reminder. When it turns off for a sensitive app, you get a notification; tap it (once you're done) to turn Video Boost back on in one step.
• Add your own apps. A "Choose sensitive apps" picker lets you add anything the built-in list misses.

Fully automatic re-enable still isn't possible without root/Shizuku (Android forbids apps from enabling their own accessibility service), so this does the no-dependency version: automatic off + one-tap on via the reminder.

Install

Download VideoBoostAO-v2.5.apk. Setup: tutorial. Auto-updates via Obtainium.

Video Boost AO v2.4

What's new in v2.4

• Works around banking apps. Banks block phones that have an active accessibility service (anti-fraud). The app now detects when a banking app comes to the foreground and turns its own service off, so you're never blocked. Turn it back on with one tap when you want Video Boost.
• New Banking apps card: toggle the auto-off behavior and turn the service off on demand.

Note: fully automatic re-enable isn't possible without root or Shizuku (Android forbids apps from enabling their own accessibility service). This does the no-dependency half: automatic off, one-tap on. Add your bank's package to BankApps.kt if it isn't covered.

Install

Download VideoBoostAO-v2.4.apk. Setup guide: tutorial. Auto-updates via Obtainium.

Video Boost AO v2.3

What's new in v2.3

• New app icon: the camera + sparkle Video Boost mark on a sky-blue circle.
• Guided setup inside the app: a clearer, step-by-step guide that stays available, explains the normal Android warnings, and walks you through the accessibility and "restricted setting" steps.
• Refreshed install tutorial and screenshots.

Install

Download VideoBoostAO-v2.3.apk and install. Full walkthrough (including the Play Protect and "restricted setting" prompts) in the tutorial.

Automatic updates

Add to Obtainium, or the app shows an update card on launch.