Block/disable recent apps button

Question

I know that this question was asked before here Android Disable Recent Task Button like in SureLock, but since the answer there is not working, maybe some can share some light on this forgotten mater.

I also tried:

private void closeRecents() {
     activ.sendBroadcast(new Intent("com.android.systemui.recent.action.CLOSE"));
     Intent closeRecents = new Intent("com.android.systemui.recent.action.TOGGLE_RECENTS");
     closeRecents.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK | Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_EXCLUDE_FROM_RECENTS);
     ComponentName recents = new ComponentName(SYSTEM_UI_PACKAGE_NAME, RECENTS_ACTIVITY);
     closeRecents.setComponent(recents);
     activ.startActivity(closeRecents);
}

but no luck

Answer 1

This answer helped me. It is not the best as some methods are now deprecated. It works for me (4.4.2), for now, but I too would like to find a more ideal solution.

    @Override
public void onWindowFocusChanged(boolean hasFocus) {
    super.onWindowFocusChanged(hasFocus);

    if (!hasFocus) {
        windowCloseHandler.postDelayed(windowCloserRunnable, 250);
    }
}

private void toggleRecents() {
    Intent closeRecents = new Intent("com.android.systemui.recent.action.TOGGLE_RECENTS");
    closeRecents.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK | Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_EXCLUDE_FROM_RECENTS);
    ComponentName recents = new ComponentName("com.android.systemui", "com.android.systemui.recent.RecentsActivity");
    closeRecents.setComponent(recents);
    this.startActivity(closeRecents);
}

private Handler windowCloseHandler = new Handler();
private Runnable windowCloserRunnable = new Runnable() {
    @Override
    public void run() {
        ActivityManager am = (ActivityManager)getApplicationContext().getSystemService(Context.ACTIVITY_SERVICE);
        ComponentName cn = am.getRunningTasks(1).get(0).topActivity;

        if (cn != null && cn.getClassName().equals("com.android.systemui.recent.RecentsActivity")) {
            toggleRecents();
        }
    }
};

With this permission:

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