MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
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My wife had a serious accident a while ago with a traumatic brain injury. She has significant cognitive and communication problems.
I would like to set her up with an Android tablet that has a few apps linked to her Google account (Photos, YouTube Music, BBC Sounds and Amazon Prime Video) but no access to others e.g. GMail.
When I've Googled this I've found lots of info on parenteral controls e.g. age-appropriate content and time limits but that's not really what I'm looking for.
Any suggestions?
If you just don't install the apps would that work or do you need to have more of a lock down than that? default apps can be disabled somewhere in the settings.
if you need more restrictions can you do this https://support.google.com/a/answer/9997133?hl=en
to prevent apps being installed?
Just tested on my Android - long tap the icon for the Google 1 app, and a menu pops up for App Info. From there, I have an option to uninstall. Tried it (I don't think I'll ever need it) and it did uninstall. So if a Google app will uninstall, I guess any app will.
I guess I'll buy one and try it but I was under the impression that some couldn't be uninstalled as they share services with others e.g. GMail and Play Store.
Some tablets may well have their own version of Google apps that can't be uninstalled if that could be a problem op?
A lot of Android implementations have the apps baked into the ROM, this means they cannot be removed.
For example in my Poco X3 I can't uninstall Google 1 as it's baked into the ROM.
If you want to limit what apps and functionality your wife can access, to make things easier, then you can just setup one screen on the launcher with the apps she wants.
If you want it more locked down then some options here...
https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/hide-restrict-apps-android/
I would say a fire tablet may be a good cheap choice but it doesn't work well with the Google Play Store (without a lot of faffing), so you are limited to apps from Amazon, or sideloading.
A lot of Android implementations have the apps baked into the ROM, this means they cannot be removed.
I'm pretty sure they can be disabled though.just not removed.
I did it with youtube when i needed a focus, should have done it on here 😀
Only way to do it, that I'm aware of is to flash a new vanilla ROM.
I was about to say,
If what you're looking for is a tablet without the Store et al, third party ROMs like Lineage (formerly Cyanogen) typically require Gapps to be installed separately for licensing reasons. Of course, there's a degree of work here and you'd need a supported tablet.
The other approach I suppose would be to lock out her Google account. Most of those services you list don't need one.
Sorry to hear about that accident, that must be difficult for all concerned.