A one-tap Quick Settings toggle for Android Developer Options — so your banking apps stop throwing a fit while you're building.
If you're an Android developer, Developer Options is basically always on. But a lot of banking and fintech apps treat that as a red flag and refuse to open, or silently degrade, while it's enabled — even though you're not doing anything shady, you're just building.
The normal fix is: open Settings → System → Developer Options → toggle it off → open your banking app → remember to go back and turn it on again later. Every. Single. Time.
Loophole turns that into one tap from the notification shade.
- Reads and toggles
Settings.Global.DEVELOPMENT_SETTINGS_ENABLEDdirectly - Ships as a Quick Settings tile — pull down the shade, tap, done
- Includes a simple in-app switch as a fallback / status view
- No ads, no analytics, no network permissions at all — it touches exactly one system setting and nothing else
Toggling Developer Options programmatically requires
android.permission.WRITE_SECURE_SETTINGS — a signature-level permission.
Android will never show a runtime permission dialog for it, no matter what
your manifest says. The only way to grant it is once, via adb, with the
device connected:
adb shell pm grant com.shubhang.loophole android.permission.WRITE_SECURE_SETTINGSIf you have more than one device connected, target the specific one:
adb devices # list connected devices/serials
adb -s <serial> shell pm grant com.shubhang.loophole android.permission.WRITE_SECURE_SETTINGSOnce granted, the app can flip the setting instantly via
Settings.Global.putInt(). The Quick Settings tile (TileService) reflects
live state using onStartListening() and updates Tile.STATE_ACTIVE /
STATE_INACTIVE on every toggle.
git clone https://github.com/shubhang-d/loophole.git
cd loophole
./gradlew assembleDebug
adb install app/build/outputs/apk/debug/app-debug.apkGrab the latest APK from the Releases page and sideload it.
This app cannot be distributed on the Play Store as-is. Play doesn't allow apps to instruct users through an adb-based permission grant as part of normal onboarding. This is a sideload / personal-use tool by design.
adb shell pm grant com.shubhang.loophole android.permission.WRITE_SECURE_SETTINGSThen add the tile: pull down Quick Settings → tap the edit (pencil) icon → drag Loophole into your active tiles.
Granting WRITE_SECURE_SETTINGS is not something to do casually, so to be
upfront about it:
- The app touches one setting only:
DEVELOPMENT_SETTINGS_ENABLED. It does not read or write any other secure setting. - There are no network permissions in the manifest — the app cannot phone home even if it wanted to.
- The entire source is here for you to audit before granting the permission. If you don't trust a binary, build it yourself from source.
- Permission doesn't survive a fresh install. If you uninstall and
reinstall (not just update), you'll need to re-run the
adb grantcommand. - This only flips one flag. Some banking apps check more than
DEVELOPMENT_SETTINGS_ENABLED— e.g. USB debugging status, mock-location settings, or root/Play Integrity signals. If a specific app still blocks you with this off, it's likely checking something else. - Some OEM skins cache the Settings UI. The underlying value flips instantly, but the stock Settings app may not visibly refresh until reopened. This is cosmetic only and doesn't affect what banking apps read.
- Kotlin + Jetpack Compose + Material 3
TileService(Quick Settings API), minSdk 24- No third-party dependencies beyond AndroidX/Compose
Issues and PRs are welcome. If you're adding a feature, please keep the permission footprint minimal — that's the whole point of this app.
MIT — do whatever you want with it.
Built by Shubhang (@shubhang-d) — follow build-in-public content at @heyshubhang.
If this saved you from toggling Developer Options manually for the hundredth time, a ⭐ on the repo is appreciated.