Prevent status bar for appearing android (modified)

We could not prevent the status appearing in full screen mode in kitkat devices, so made a hack which still suits the requirement ie block the status bar from expanding.

For that to work, the app was not made full screen. We put a overlay over status bar and consumed all input events. It prevented the status from expanding.

note:

• customViewGroup is custom class which extends any layout(frame,relative layout etc) and consumes touch event.
• to consume touch event override the onInterceptTouchEvent method of the view group and return true

Updated

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.SYSTEM_ALERT_WINDOW"/> 

customViewGroup implementation

Code :

WindowManager manager = ((WindowManager) getApplicationContext()
            .getSystemService(Context.WINDOW_SERVICE));

WindowManager.LayoutParams localLayoutParams = new WindowManager.LayoutParams();
localLayoutParams.type = WindowManager.LayoutParams.TYPE_SYSTEM_ERROR;
localLayoutParams.gravity = Gravity.TOP;
localLayoutParams.flags = WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_NOT_FOCUSABLE|

            // this is to enable the notification to recieve touch events
            WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_NOT_TOUCH_MODAL |

            // Draws over status bar
            WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_LAYOUT_IN_SCREEN;

    localLayoutParams.width = WindowManager.LayoutParams.MATCH_PARENT;
    localLayoutParams.height = (int) (50 * getResources()
            .getDisplayMetrics().scaledDensity);
    localLayoutParams.format = PixelFormat.TRANSPARENT;

    customViewGroup view = new customViewGroup(this);

    manager.addView(view, localLayoutParams);

In Android M you have to get an extra permission for making overlays. android.permission.SYSTEM_ALERT_WINDOW is not enough! So I used the code from the answer of Abhimaan within disableStatusBar() and had to make an intent to open the right settings dialog. I also added removing view in onDestroy() in order to enable status bar when the app exits. I also reduced the overlay height to 40 as it seems to be enough. Code works with 5.1 and 6.0 here.

public static final int OVERLAY_PERMISSION_REQ_CODE = 4545;
protected CustomViewGroup blockingView = null;

@Override
protected void onDestroy() {

    super.onDestroy();

    if (blockingView!=null) {
        WindowManager manager = ((WindowManager) getApplicationContext().getSystemService(Context.WINDOW_SERVICE));
        manager.removeView(blockingView);
    }
}


@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {

        if (android.os.Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.M) {

            if (!Settings.canDrawOverlays(this)) {
                Toast.makeText(this, "Please give my app this permission!", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
                Intent intent = new Intent(Settings.ACTION_MANAGE_OVERLAY_PERMISSION,Uri.parse("package:" + getPackageName()));
                startActivityForResult(intent, OVERLAY_PERMISSION_REQ_CODE);
            } else {
                disableStatusBar();
            }
        }
        else {
            disableStatusBar();
        }
}


@Override
protected void onActivityResult(int requestCode, int resultCode, Intent data) {

    super.onActivityResult(requestCode, resultCode, data);

    if (requestCode == OVERLAY_PERMISSION_REQ_CODE) {
        if (!Settings.canDrawOverlays(this)) {
            Toast.makeText(this, "User can access system settings without this permission!", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
        }
        else
        { disableStatusBar();
        }
    }
}

protected void disableStatusBar() {

    WindowManager manager = ((WindowManager) getApplicationContext().getSystemService(Context.WINDOW_SERVICE));

    WindowManager.LayoutParams localLayoutParams = new WindowManager.LayoutParams();
    localLayoutParams.type = WindowManager.LayoutParams.TYPE_SYSTEM_ERROR;
    localLayoutParams.gravity = Gravity.TOP;
    localLayoutParams.flags = WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_NOT_FOCUSABLE |

            // this is to enable the notification to receive touch events
            WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_NOT_TOUCH_MODAL |

            // Draws over status bar
            WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_LAYOUT_IN_SCREEN;

    localLayoutParams.width = WindowManager.LayoutParams.MATCH_PARENT;
    localLayoutParams.height = (int) (40 * getResources().getDisplayMetrics().scaledDensity);
    localLayoutParams.format = PixelFormat.TRANSPARENT;

    blockingView = new CustomViewGroup(this);
    manager.addView(blockingView, localLayoutParams);
}