here’s a quick and simple way to disable the Navigation Bar completely on Android. It requires root but once you have your smartphone or tablet rooted, then you can get rid of the annoying Navigation Bar(aka Soft Keys).
The Android ecosystem has started to veer away from hardware buttons(except for some OEMs) as Google prefers that everyone uses a software solution to let you navigate/control your smartphone. They call this the Navigation Bar and while it definitely is more diverse(and requires less hardware), it takes up precious screen real estate on your smartphone or tablet.
I will say that I love the idea of unique applications, like SoftKeyZ Root, that let you customize what the buttons in your Navigation Bar look like. Still, they take up space and I just don’t want to see them all the time.
This is why I started to look for a way to disable the Navigation Bar. I feel that the more space on the screen for my applications to use the better. Some custom ROMs like CyanogenMod have the ability to activate Expanded Desktop, some ROMs like Paranoid Android have the ability to use Pie Controls. This is great for people who want to use custom ROMs but what about those that would rather stay on a stock OEM firmware.
I told you about the application GMD Full Immersive Mode a couple of days ago and that definitely is helpful for a certain segment of the community. Some people really love the ability to hide the Navigation Bar and simply make it appear when they need it. I on the other hand want it gone completely. There’s an application in the Google Play Store called Pie Control that gives you a very customizable version of the Pie Controls that you get with Paranoid Android. This application is amazing but for me, since I like to activate it from the bottom, I still need to get rid of the Navigation Bar.
So let’s start talking about how to get rid of those soft keys. Before we can start, you will need to have root access to your smartphone or tablet. If you don’t know how to do this, feel free to send me an email and I will do what I can to help. Once we have root access we can begin this tutorial
Disable Navigation Bar
- Download Build Prop Editor
- Open the Build Prop Editor Application
- Grant Root Access to Build Prop Editor
- Press the Pencil Button at the Bottom(or the 3-dot Menu at the Top Right and then Press Edit)
- Scroll All the Way Down
- Create a New Line at the Very Bottom
- Add in the Following Text. . .
- qemu.hw.mainkeys = 1
- Press the Disk Icon at the Top Right to Save
- Wait for the Spinning Circle to Stop(This Can Take Minutes)
- Close/Minimize the Build Prop Editor
- Download Pie Control
- Configure the Pie Controls How You Want
- Press the Apply Button at the Bottom
- Close the Pie Control Application
- Reboot Your Smartphone or Tablet
Explanation
The first thing we need to do is to download the Build Prop Editor application. Once installed, we need to add that line of code to the very end of the build.prop file. After this is done, we save it and then exit the application. This line is what tells Android to not display the soft keys Navigation Bar at all. This is the line that Samsung uses to get rid of the Navigation Bar so they can use their own hardware/capacitive buttons.
Once that is done, and this is very important, you need to make sure you have a replacement for the Navigation Bar installed and set up before you reboot your device. Again, this is very important. If you reboot without setting up an application to replace the Navigation Bar then you will be stuck and most likely have to perform a factory reset from within the Settings or the Recovery. I can’t stress this enough, make sure you have a replacement ready before you reboot. I’m using the application Pie Control as the way to replace the Navigation Bar and you will need to make sure this is set up and working properly(by pressing that Apply button) before you restart your smartphone or tablet.
This is all there is too it. I will most likely do a completely different article so I can go into detail about Pie Controls. I will talk about how I like to set it up and I will also talk about all the different features that Pie Control has. Be sure to check back if that is something you are interested in. Once you reboot your device though, the Navigation Bar will be gone and Pie Controls(or whatever other application you use) will replace it.
If you have any questions about this tutorial or if you got stuck somewhere, feel free to leave a comment at the bottom of this article and I will help in any way that I can.
Thank you very much…worked for me !!!!
You’re welcome Bryan 🙂 Thank you for the feedback, I’m glad to see that it worked for you
hi.. i have rooted my phone sony xperia c3 dual using king root.. but when i save the given code in build prop its shows error saving build.prop.. do u have any solution??
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Hey, umm, i did this, and whenever i reboot my phone, my wallpaper resets and it gives me error that my system ui has stopped, once i click dont send report, this cycles 5 times and my phone is working. But these are a pain in the ass, cant this be fixed?
Htc one m9
Lollipop 5.0.2
This sounds like something HTC has done to their code. I’ll look into a solution, but I’m not sure that there will be one. It’s sounding like this modification isn’t compatible with the One M9
Which might be because of the new navbar features that HTC put into Sense
ahha! I’m glad to see that you figured it out and thank you for coming back and providing the feedback. Hopefully this will help to stop anyone else from doing the same 🙂
If we disable the navigation bar the option button in some apps like whatsapp disappears so we won’t be able to change the status and other functions in the option.. I’m using HTC desire616
I disable the navigation bar on multiple devices and I don’t have any issue with WhatsApp
I’m trying to rootmy infinix hot2(x510) but I can’t do that with APC cuz ifont own one. I’ve tried king root to no avail framaroot says it can’t bypass. I’ve tried all to no avail yet online they show it works. Maybe on the android one version but for the lollipop version (what I’m using) won’t work.any help? I really wanna disable thenavbar or change how it looks
Thank you.
Oh and I tried the nonroot method to hide them but then I can’t use the keyboard
I’m sorry, I’m not familiar with rooting that device 🙁 I wish I could help more. Have you tried towelroot?
I can’t root with a pc cuz I don’t own one*
Some devices can be rooted with apps like Towelroot or Kingroot and they don’t need a PC
Doesn’t work on Broken Marshmallow ROM 20151123 release
I’m sorry, I’m not familiar with that ROM. I assume you got this from the XDA forums? I would go in there and point the devs to this article and ask why you aren’t able to disable the navigation bar with their ROM
Hello, could you please explain how to root my nexus 4? Thanks 🙂
hi.. i have rooted my phone sony xperia c3 dual using king root.. but when i save the given code in build prop its shows error saving build.prop.. do u have any solution..??
It sounds like King Root is not granting root access to the build prop editor application. I’m sorry, but I don’t have much experience with King Root. If you can find a way to replace King Root with SuperSU (which there might be some guides out there for this), then you should be able to do this with SuperSU granting root access to the build prop editor app
yea i tried to replace king root with SUper SU once and got it successfully installed.. but got hung in a boot loop after restarting my phone.. my phone’s build number ends with 182.. may be thts why.. i also tried searching everywhr for rooting this build.. but cudnt find any solution.. would be glad if u helped.. anyway thanks for the reply.. appreciate it..
I wish I could help. I don’t have the Xperia C3, so I don’t have any hands-on experience with it 🙁
Doing this on the Pixel causes Force Close issues. SystemUI stops responding every now and then 🙁
That’s strange. I was trying to do this on my Pixel XL, and I couldn’t get build.prop changes to stick. I heard using a custom kernel will help this though, but haven’t had a chance to try it out. Google has made a lot of changes to the Android OS with the Pixel, so it’s safe to assume that some things like this will no longer work.
I am actively looking for a solution though, so stay updated with the website here (in the Pixel category), and I’ll write something when/if I am able to get it working
what is the code to disable status bar in sony xperia
If this guide didn’t work for you, I’m not sure how else I can help since I don’t have the phone. Please consider donating at Patreon so that I can afford to buy less popular devices like the Sony Xperia phones – https://www.patreon.com/AndroidExplained
Excellent. Worked for me
What phone/version of Android are you using?
It’s not working while saving it shows error
Now what should I do
Which phone are you trying this on? Which version of Android is it running?
Hopefully this helps someone.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/lineageos-19-1-for-sm-t580-gtaxlwifi-sm-t585-gtaxllte-sm-p580-gtanotexlwifi-and-sm-p585-gtanotexllte.4432957/page-4