Is there a way to force "Display over other apps" Android 10 Go?

Question

I have a Hisense U963 running Android 10 Go edition

I am trying to install Bolt Driver

I cannot complete the install as when I try to select the required "Display over other apps" is returns with "Feature not available" "This feature has been turned off because it slows down your phone"

While I understand and accept that the U963 has a meagre 1GB RAM, I have run the Bolt Driver app on several phones running Android 4.4, 6, etc with the same or less RAM capacity.

Am I being naive to think that the OS has the ability, just someone somewhere wanted to be clever and give a headache to millions of app users globally that require overlay?

Many thanks.

Answer 1

YES, someone somewhere wanted to be clever, and that one is Google. There are thousands of people who find this neat "feature" infuriating on the android support forum.

There is a workaround, though, for specific APKs of which you know the package name, and I found it in this reddit answer. But you need to use adb, hence have an adb that works with your device, which might or might not be an easy task. For my KT1006 device (a cheap tablet from a chinese company called "Kid's Tablet") I just used the adb I had lying around (the one I installed from the Lenovo site to use it with my other tablet, which is a Lenovo) and it accidentally works fine.

Basically, it boils down to:

adb shell pm grant <package-name> android.permission.SYSTEM_ALERT_WINDOW

You can get the package-name in a number of ways, but the dumbest and easiest is looking up the app you want to unlock in the play store and check out the id query field in the url.

e.g. for Touch Protector (which is a must-have app on tablets that are literally designed for childrens), the play store url looks like this:

play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=biz.obake.team.touchprotector&gl=US

You take the id from there, and (provided you can get an adb shell) just type this into your terminal and you're done.

adb shell pm grant biz.obake.team.touchprotector android.permission.SYSTEM_ALERT_WINDOW`

Answer 2

If you're looking for a solution in 2025: You'll need Shizuku and App Opps from the play store to "restore" these functions that should have been in the settings to begin with.

This video shows it all: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuAvEP7BOUE