Android FAQs Find answers to frequently asked questions related to Android devices. Manual sessions Why do I see a black screen during a manual session? As part of the secure sensitive activities, app developers can choose to disallow screenshots and casting the screen for certain app windows using FLAG_SECURE. When navigating to windows with FLAG_SECURE, the device screen turns black in a manual session. Although the screen is black, you can still use the appium inspector in a manual session or Session Explorer to inspect elements on the screen. Learn more about FLAG_SECURE on Android Developers. Suggested solutions and workarounds for the black screen issue: Request app developers to provide a debug version of the app without enabling FLAG_SECURE. If you know the screen layout, open adb shell in the manual session and send input commands to bypass the black screen. The next question shows this in action for Google Play login on passcode-protected devices. How can I bypass the black screen when logging into Google Play Store (device with passcode)? On passcode-enabled devices with Android 12 and later, during a manual session, the screen turns black when logging into Google Play. The black screen is actually the passcode input screen. This screen has been protected from screen sharing to prevent recording of passcode input. To bypass this screen in a manual session: Copy the passcode in the session information (only for organizations with passcode enabled). Open adb shell terminal in the device action. Type input text <passcode> (replace <passcode> with the copied passcode) and hit Enter on the keyboard. This inputs the passcode into the screen. Type input keyevent 66 and hit Enter on the keyboard. This simulates the Enter key in the virtual keyboard. You can then move on to the next screen, which is no longer protected from screen sharing.