I am building an app for Klarity.org (cf. https://www.klarity.org/ ) a Swedish non-profit aiming to reduce petty corruption worldwide, starting with Ghana, where it has established government contacts and is working with activists and journalists.
The aim of the app is to reduce the risk of being beaten and thrown in jail if a police officer catches someone filming a bribe. This happens often, and the beatings are severe.
The app, built in Xamarin Forms, asks a user to set a secret passphrase. When they start filming, we show a modal that is a fully functional web browser. (Later we will make other versions with simple games etc.) If a police officer grabs the phone, all they see is a web browser, and they may use the browser, or close and reopen the app. (`The name and icon of the app will also vary.) Only when the secret passphrase is entered as the url is the browser closed and the recording/reporting app revealed.
This way, the person filming can claim that they were just browsing the web, not filming, and hopefully avoid a severe beating and some time in jail. (It is not illegal to film a bribe, they get thrown in jail without due process.)
My issue is this: I have a working implementation for Android, using custom renderers. But, I would like to use MediaPlugin instead, as it supports more devices and is well-maintained. However, the media plugin opens a screen with a preview (and the user must click the record button). I would like, if possible, to use the media plugin with no preview screen, and start the recording programmatically.
Is this possible?