Install Pi as a Device Owner

Install Pi as a device owner, for hand-me-down tablets and phones that you want to run only Pi.

Do not follow these instructions on any device that you want to run anything other than Pi. You will not be able to make phone calls, browse the web, play games, or open other apps after you follow this procedure. If you wish to install Pi on a device and have it co-exist with other apps, then install Pi from the Google Play Store, or use the Side-Load Installation procedure.

We support this installation method only on a best-effort, as-available basis by e-mail to support@greenleaf.nu.

This procedure will allow you to install Pi on a hand-me-down Android device, allowing you to "lock" the device to running only Pi. This is useful if you want to install an old tablet in your child's room as a clock, and prevent them from using the tablet to play games or do other things.

Reset the device to factory defaults by going to the settings menu, and then tap System, followed by Reset Options, followed by Erase All Data (Factory Reset). If the device is new, and has never been logged in to, then you can skip this step.
On the very first screen Android shows, before choosing a language, tap it six times in the same spot.
When prompted, scan the code below with the device's own camera. You'll need this page open on a second device or computer to show it to the camera.

The device will download Pi, and install it. This process will take several minutes.

Android will likely show a message somewhere in this process, and later in Settings, saying this device is "managed by your organization" or something similar. That is standard Android wording for any device set up this way, the same one a school or a company uses to manage its own devices; it's not specific to us.

Along the way, Android may also list things an organization managing a device this way could do, such as seeing its location or other private data. That list describes what the underlying Android feature is capable of in general, not what Pi actually does. We do not access your location, read anything on the device, change its settings remotely, or monitor how it's used. All this gives Pi is the ability to lock the device to itself and to reset it back to normal, described below.

If you decide later to restore the device back to normal Android mode, go to the settings menu by long-tapping the screen, and then go to the App tab. From there, click the reset button.

Questions? Drop us a line at support@greenleaf.nu.