How To Hide the Opera Mini 8 Virtual Keypad On Samsung, LG and Other Touchscreen Phones

Opera Mini 8 With Virtual Keypad Opera Mini 8 Without Virtual Keypad

When the Java ME version of the Opera Mini Browser is running on many touch screen phones, an unnecessary virtual keypad appears at the bottom of the screen (image above left). The keypad wastes space, looks ugly and isn’t needed with touch aware apps like Opera Mini. The keypad is not part of Opera Mini. It’s something your phone adds because it doesn’t recognize that Opera Mini is optimized for touch.

There are several ways to get rid of the virtual keypad so your Opera Mini looks like the right hand image above.

I. By using the phone’s menu

Some phones have a menu option for getting rid of the keypad. I’ve only seen it on Samsungs but it may be an option on other brands as well.

  • Open the folder or menu where you launch Opera Mini. On my Samsung Wave it’s called “Games and more“.
  • Look for and tap a button named  “Options“, “Menu” or something similar or has an icon that looks like a menu, stack of papers or three dots. On the Wave it’s  the middle button with the three dots in the left hand screenshot below.
  • In the Options menu (image below, center) look for and tap a button labeled “Use virtual keypad
  • On the next screen tap the check mark next to Opera Mini (image below, right) to remove it and then tap the Save button. Now launch Opera Mini and the virtual keypad should be gone

Samsung Wave - "Games and more" Menu Samsung Wave - Options Menu Samsung Wave - Use Virtual Keyboard Menu

If your phone doesn’t have a menu option to remove the keypad continue reading to see if Opera Mini has a fix for your phone.

II. By using an official version of Mini customized for your phone to remove the virtual keypad.

If Opera recognizes and officially supports your phone it should deliver a modified version of Opera Mini that has code telling your phone to remove the keypad.  Opera can only recognize your phone if you download Mini from m.opera.com using the phone’s built-in browser.  If you download Opera Mini from an unofficial source or downloaded it with your PC and copied to the phone using Bluetooth or a cable you have a generic version that’s not optimized for your phone.

If you download Mini from m.opera.com with your phone’s built-in browser and you still get the virtual keypad, let Opera know so they can fix it in a future release. File a bug report at mini.bugs.opera.com. Also visit m.opera.com/detect with your phone’s built-in browser and fill in the form listing the phone make and model.

If you still have the virtual keypad after downloading from m.opera.com with your phone browser and you don’t want to wait for Opera to get around to fixing it, which can take months, it’s easy to fix it yourself. Read on for instructions.

III. By modifying the Opera Mini jad file to remove the virtual keypad

You will need a PC, some patience and the ability to follow directions to modify Opera Mini. If you lack any of those or want someone else to do the work, skip to the end of this post for a link to an already modified version of Opera Mini.

Obtain an official copy of the Opera Mini jad file. You can download the unsigned versions of Opera Mini directly to your PC from www.opera.com/mobile/download/versions/

The trouble with unsigned apps is that on most phones you will get annoying pop-up messages asking you to allow Opera Mini to connect. On some phones you only get one pop-up when you first start Opera Mini but on others you get pop-ups every time you click a link which makes Opera Mini almost unusable. A few phones won’t allow unsigned apps to connect at all.

Opera will only let you download the signed versions of Opera Mini using a mobile browser. So to download the signed jad file to a PC we have to fool the Opera site into thinking we are using a mobile browser. The easiest way to do that is with the Firefox browser and the User Agent Switcher extension.

  • Launch the Firefox browser
  • Click the Tools menu and Add-on > Extensions. Search for “User Agent Switcher”
  • Install the User Agent Switcher extension by chrispederick
  • Restart Firefox
  • Open the Tools Menu and choose “Default User Agent > Edit User Agents”
  • Click the “New” button and Choose “New User Agent”
  • Enter “Mobile User Agent” in the “Description” field
  • In the User Agent field, enter you phone’s built-in browser’s  user agent. You can find it by visiting ua.yeswap.com with the phone browser which lets you email your browser’s user agent and other headers to yourself.
  • Blank out all the other fields, press the OK button to save.
  • Go to the Tools Menu  and choose “Default User Agent >”Mobile User Agent”
  • Go to m.opera.com using the Firefox browser
  • Click “Other Download Options
  • Click “Select Code-Signing Certificate” under “Options for Opera Mini 7.1:” (or under “Options for Opera Mini 4.5:” if you prefer that version)
  • Click “All Certificates” (works on most phones. If it doesn’t on yours try repeating this process with one of the other signed options)
  • Click “Download Opera Mini 7.1 (or 4.5)” and save the file (named mini.jad) somewhere where you can find it later
  • Open the downloaded mini.jad with a text editor or Windows Wordpad
  • Scroll to the bottom of the file and paste in the following lines:

MIDlet-Touch-Support: true
UseNativeTextButtons: hide
ReverseSoftkeys: hide
UseNativeCommands: hide
Navi-Key-Hidden: true
Nokia-MIDlet-On-Screen-Keypad: no
MIDlet-ScreenMode: ROTATE
MIDlet-Landscape-Support: true
LGE-MIDlet-Width: 240
LGE-MIDlet-Height: 400
LGE-MIDlet-On-Screen-Keypad: no
LGE-MIDlet-Display-Mode: both

Upload the file to Dropbox.com or another file sharing service that is easy to use in your phone browser. Click here to get a free 2GB Dropbox account (by using this referral link I get an extra 250 MB of storage in my Dropbox which I thank you for).

Visit Dropbox with your phone browser and click the modified mini.jad link to download it on your phone.

If that didn’t work or you don’t have a PC or are just in a hurry, here’s are links my modified signed jad files for various Opera Mini versions:

Updated 8-Apr-2014 with new signing certificates as the ones had expired: Opera Mini 8.0, released 12-Mar-2014,  is the latest “full” version of Opera Mini. Changes in this release include:

  • A new minimalist “flat” design
  • Night Mode
  • You can now adjust image quality on the data savings page
  • Private mode

Here’s a modified version without the virtual keypad

https://wapreview.com/dwnld/mini8t.jad or http://is.gd/mini8t

Updated 8-Apr-2014 with new signing certificates as the ones had expired: Opera Mini 4.5, which was released 6-Aug-2013, is latest “lite” version of Opera Mini for phones with limited memory Here’s a modified version without the virtual keypad

https://wapreview.com/dwnld/mini45.jad or http://is.gd/mini45t

Older Versions:

Update 6-Apr-2014: The certificates have expired on all the files below. It’s not possible for me to update the certificates on these files. They will give an error installing. On some phones it may be possible to install these apps by temporarily setting the phone’s date back to 2/1/2013 or earlier. After the app installs you can (and should) set the phone’s date back to the current date and the app will still work.

Updated 25-Jan-2012: Here’s a modified version of the Opera Mini 6.5:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4637247/mini.jad or http://is.gd/mini65

Updated 7-Jun-2012:  Here’s a modified version of the Opera Mini 7.0:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4637247/mini7.jad or http://is.gd/mini7

Updated 20-Sept-2012: If you get out of memory errors installing Opera Mini 7, here’s the smaller but less capable Opera Mini 4.4.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4637247/mini44.jad or http://is.gd/mini44

Updated 26-Nov-2012:  Here’s a modified version of Opera Mini 7.1:

https://wapreview.com/dwnld/mini71.jad or http://is.gd/mini71t

Click any of the above links in your phone browser to install Opera Mini 4.4, 4.5 or 7.0, 7.1 or 8.0 with the virtual keypad disabled.

220 thoughts on “How To Hide the Opera Mini 8 Virtual Keypad On Samsung, LG and Other Touchscreen Phones

  1. no response error for v 7 & 7.1 while v 4.5 installs perfectly but i need v 7.1 for my samsung wave y (bada 2.0)

  2. OM 4.5 was deleted,then reinstalled. Still see display only of “connecting” in response to selecting various choices whether from the url or google search field or setting choices. I cleared the cache, cookie, and history records. Tho’ OM 4.5 no longer gets past the “connecting” msg, I am able to connect to the internet from the browser that was loaded on the lg840g. OM was downloaded from this page’s link. OM was working before. How can I get OM towork again?

    • Try this:
      1. Take the phone battery out for a minute to clear memory and shut down any background processes
      2. Load a page in the built in browser
      3. Start Opera Mini
      4. In Opera Mini, tap Menu > Tools > Settings > “Click here to start the connection test..”
      The connection test tries several connection methods and if it finds one that works configures Opera Mini to use it

    • Thanks for the solution. It worked.
      I did everything you detailed except for doing a “connection test” via the “settings”
      path. I don’t understand why taking out the battery “clears the memory” for OM even though the built in browser was unaffected.

      (As was mentioned before, the URL field for OM 4.5 still results in pages whose language is of Scandinavian origin, although everything else is in English.)

    • The network test often works wonders.
      Taking the battery out probably wasn’t necesary. The main reason I suggested it was to start with a fresh network connection and with no apps running in the background.

      Some of the Opera proxy servers are in Iceland so a few broken sites like Yahoo that use the Opera proxy server’s address to determine the user’s location might serve an Icelandic version of their site. But I can’t see how every site could get automatically translated when you enter its URL.

  3. sir.. my cell is the samsung champ 2 c3330.. i’ve downloaded opera mini 7.1 and i can’t remove the virtual keypad at the bottom of the screen…please help mee… please reply…

  4. Will download 4.5 to replace 4.4 again. Thanks for the description of the changes.
    I noticed that when I entered a URL in the search field located at the top of the displayed opening page for 4.4 (www.yahoo.com), the resulting text was in a language which looked scandinavian, yet when I entered the same text into the search field on the same page for the google search engine, the same resulting text was in English. Maybe v 4.5 will have corrected this language disparity. (I understand English only!)

    • As you stated, Opera Mini 4.5 was, in fact, the version
      which downloaded for the link for hiding the virtual keypad.

      On the top of the page, the field which prompts for a URL still results in what appears to be a scandinavian language. Just below it is a field to do a google search, which does yield English text, so I can just use that and ignore the URL prompted field on the top of the initial window displayed upon opening Opera Mini v. 4.5.

  5. Installed Opera Mini 4.5 on LG840G successfully.
    After clicking on the Aug. 6 dated link provided on this blog for removing the virtual keypad, the removal was done, but
    the version of OM was listed as 4.4, not 4.5, which was displayed prior to the second download. I was prompted for
    using the already installed version. (I selected “no,” thinking that the new download would keep 4.5 as the version.) How can I maintain the 4.5 version of OM? What is the difference between 4.5 and 4.4?

    • Thanks for reporting this. The August 6 link was pointing at the old 4.4 version by mistake. I’ve corrected the link. If you re-download it you will get Opera Mini 4.5.

      The differences between Opera Mini 4.4 and 4.5 are:

      A new download Manager from borrowed from Opera Mini 7.1 with support for downloading multiple files simultaneously and pausing and resuming downloads.

      Better touchscreen support including kinetic (“flick”) scrolling and more room around links, buttons and checkboxes to make them easier to tap.

      A new private browsing option that hides your activity from the browser history and download history and deletes, cookies, cache and passwords when you exit private browsing.

      New skins including a new light default skin

  6. Your blog is great! I have an activated LG840g and unlike other people here I get nothing but “invalid descriptor.” I’ve tried any number of combinations of jar and jad files (including mine modified as you suggest) without success. I have installed other apps via jar+jad files but no luck here. Any ideas?

    • I don’t know why these files aren’t working for you. Several people with 840g’s have reported that the Opera Mini 7.1 here works for them. Have you tried that one?

      If that doesn’t work try removing the Lines:

      MIDlet-Touch-Support: true
      MIDlet-ScreenMode: ROTATE
      MIDlet-Landscape-Support: true

      those are only used by Samsung phones and aren’t valid according to the Java ME spec although most phones will accept them.

    • Okay, I figured it out. I was trying to download the files to pc and transfer to phone then install. When I went directly to your 7.1 file from the phone I didn’t have any problems. Now I have a useable browser. Thanks! Lesson learned, don’t get cute; just follow the instructions.

  7. Thank you Dennis for all your work. You have made a dire lg840 very much more workable.

    is there such a workable statement as:

    LGE-MIDlet-On-Screen-Keyboard: yes

    that can be added to the .jad file to include the keyboard??

  8. Thanx for your help…..
    can i apply it for jar. File…..???
    & what the meaning of invalid discriptn

    • Yes, you can add the modifier lines to the MANIFEST.MF file inside the jar file.
      1. Open the Jar file with 7-Zip (or Winzip)
      2. In 7-Zip, open the META-INF folder
      3. Edit MANIFEST.MF adding the the modifications at the end
      4. Save MANIFEST.MF
      5. Close 7-Zip and say yes when asked if you want to write the changed MANIFEST.MF back to the .jar
      6. Install the app using by clicking on the jar not the jad.

      If you modify the jar the app will no longer be signed so its better to modify the .jad

      Invalid descriptor means that one of the jad attributes is incorrectly formatted or not supported by the device. If you get that error try removing these lines:
      MIDlet-Touch-Support: true
      MIDlet-ScreenMode: ROTATE
      MIDlet-Landscape-Support: true

  9. can u tell me how to switch user in mozilla firefox 21.0……..
    am trying many time but fail to find the defalt user setting…….
    am install the USER AGENT SWITER add on extension

    • There are several User Agent extensions. The one I use is called User Agent Switcher by chrispederik. After you install it, you need to restart Firefox to enable it.

      After you restart, click the Tools menu, then click Default User Agent and choose the User Agent you want to switch to. The Default User Agent menu entry will change to the name of the user agent you selected.

  10. Ok after looking guess i forgot to place the jar file on the memory card i placed it in there but now its saying authorizing failed

  11. and to answer your question im loading the jad but i get a error im geting is invalid descriptor or something like that then it just gose back to file manager

    • I think my modified Opera Mini 4.4 didn’t work because it was missing two lines:

      LGE-MIDlet-On-Screen-Keypad: no
      LGE-MIDlet-Display-Mode: both

      I’ve added those lines and re-uploaded the 4.4 jad to Dropbox. Try it again if you would like. If you do let me know if it works, please.

      Your 4.5 jad has those two lines but I’m wondering how it worked at all because the MIDlet-Jar-URL: line doesn’t contain a full path to the jar file. That will only work if the jar and jad are in the same folder. Are you installing from the phone’s memory card? If you are, be sure you launch the .jad to install not the jar.

  12. Was hoping this worked on 4.5 for a Lg 840g but the java keypad was still there any ideas how to fix it

    Thanks in Advance for any help
    As for the 7.1 posted worked flawlessly just don’t like the layout of it plus seams to run a bit slow for me

    • The modifications described in the post should work for Opera Mini 4.5. Reply to this comment with a link to your modified jad file and I look it over to see I can figure out what might be wrong.

  13. This worked great on my new lg840g…virtual kbd gone!!!
    When I downloaded the modified opera mini browser using
    the native tracfone browser it worked. I wasted time trying to download the modified browser using my older opera mini.

    many thanks.

  14. Sorry for all the questions, Im new to java based phones, Im more of a Android user.
    Anyways, do you know if there are any antivirus apps for java? If there are, Do the really work?
    Just wanted to know, i like to be safe when it comes to viruses.
    Thanks!¡!¡

  15. I downloaded RSSreader from Boostapps and wanted to know if you knew any technology news rss urls that work with this app, not including engadget.
    Thanks!!

  16. “That tends to confirm my theory that the unactivated 390g [840G] blogs [blocks] signed app downloads. Is it possible to set the data and time on the phone?”

    No, the time can’t be set manually. I also think it’s some sort of a time synch problem as I’ve seen that with Windows not synching with a time server if the number date is way out of date, like from a bad CMOS battery. I tried it again after registration once the time was corrected and the Dropbox links worked with no issue.

  17. Just to thank you for your most helpful advice on this issue. I have a Samsung Corby Pro, which cannot deal with .JAD files, so I was unable to activate the .JAD file you supplied. However, this set me on the trail of other solutions, and I found elsewhere how to modify the Manifest.MF file in the underlying .JAR file by adding a line: “MIDlet-Touch-Support: True”. This worked for me, and I was able to apply the same technique to other J2ME programs – thus effectively increasing the screen size of the phone.

  18. OK Thanks…
    You seemed to be willing to help people alot, I ddon’t see that out of a lot of people.

  19. OK, I’ll try the JAR to JAD, But I still can’t find a working English version in .JAR or .JAD. I’ve looked on your boostapps store and on get jar and like 4 other stores…and didt find anything…so if you could provide me with one then I’ll try using the JAR to JAD Tool

  20. Can Sonebody give me a link to TTPod That is a .JAD and is Signed And in English.
    Thanks!

    • I doubt you will find a signed one. Signing Java apps with certificates that work on most devices costs real money (about $500) and the signature must be renewed every year or two for more money. The Java ME version of TTPod seems to be abandoned and with no revenue model so who would pay for signing.

      Also I think the english versions of TTPOD were created the original Chinese version by hobbyist translators probably couldn’t qualify for a signing certificate (you need to verify that you are the original author) and wouldn’t want to pay for a certificate if they did.

      If you have the JAR there are simple online and offline tools that will create a jad from the jar. Here’s an online one that I wrote: http://boostapps.com/apps/utilities/the-universal-app-uploader/ Google “jadmaker” or “online jad creator” to find others.

    • That tends to confirm my theory that the unactivated 390g blogs signed app downloads. Is it possible to set the data and time on the phone? Signing certificates have effective and expiration dates and installation will fail if the phone’s date is out of range or unavailable.

  21. The Dropbox links weren’t working for me with an unregistered 840G. Authorization failure. I didn’t see a .jad download option from Opera Mini’s homepage with the Opera PC browser. Softpedia’s English version of Opera Mini 7.1 did work with the mod code dropped onto the .jad. Their .jad seemed to have an unnecessary referral as the last entry, which was removed before pasting the mod code. Both Softpedia’s 7.1 .jar and the modified .jad were transferred to “Other Files” with a card reader because Bluetooth, USB cable, and wifi/download all acted buggy with the 840G.

    • I don’t have an 840G to test with but others have said the latest Dropbox link works with it. Their phones were activated however.

      Is Softpedia’s app unsigned? Maybe LG or Tracfone is blocking installation of signed apps on unactivated phones although that makes no sense.

  22. I have a question agian. what do you think the top 3 versions that have the littlest amount of lag and have opera keyboard?
    thanks!!!

    • On fast hardware all versions of Opera Mini are free from lag. On slow hardware the older and lighter versions like 4.2 and 3.1 are the snappiest.

      Opera Mini 5 and latter have the Opera touch keyboard option.

  23. I have a question, Iv been Looking around for for a weather app for Java J2ME and cant seem to find any that seem trustable or are in the .JAD format. So i wanted to know what you think the best Weather app for Java J2ME is (In .JAD format!!)
    Thanks!!!

    • It should be. Opera is a reputable company, the form where you enter credit card information is on a secure (https) page and I never heard of anyone having any problems.

  24. Thanks Dennis. Your code was a life-saver. The cursor at the bottom of my screen took up one-third of the display. Thanks again.

  25. Thanks a bunch! Really improved browsing experience on my Tracfone LG 840g, I can type in portrait mode now!!!

  26. Thank you, Dennis, for your efforts. Makes life a little easier for the average user. I’ve found Opera to be slightly better than the default web browser and UC 8.9 on my LG 840G Tracfone. If UC cleans up landscape mode and QWERTY for my phone, I’d use it as it seems to have a slightly cleaner interface (and, perhaps, it’s more responsive on my phone). But the QWERTY alone on Opera makes it my default for now.

  27. Thanks Dennis, this worked and helped a lot. Just got the Tracfone LG840G. Perfect for my needs. I would like to mess about developing my own java apps for this phone. Can you point me to resources on the web for that?

    Thanks again for the generosity of you time.

    Cheers,

    L.

  28. Umm… do you know of any apps for java that let you take screenshots are, because iv been looking and cant find any. Thank!!!!

    • No, and a general purpose screen shot utility for non-smartphones isn’t possible because Java ME doesn’t give apps the low level hardware access required.

      I’ve heard of some Java apps that have been modified to make screenshots of their own screens but I haven’t tried any of them.

      You can also run a java app in an emulator like Microemulator on a PC and use an image capture program to make a screenshot.

  29. I have tryed that many times, but that does nothing except get rid of the menu bar at the bottom, But im talking about the status bar at the top with the time and battery level. But i know there is a way to do it because i have downloaded many apps that remove the status bar when they are runing, i just dont know the MIDlet code or whatever, i have tryed Fullscreen: true and some others, but have had no success. If you dont know thats fine, just asking, iv tried to google it with no results, but think i can find it by looking at an app without status bars Midlet codes, thanks anyway.Im sorry iv been posting so many comments, hope its not annoying you. Im just need some help, and your advice is awesome.

  30. Hi, i got my pc back and wanted to know how to remove the status bar on opera mini 4.4?
    Is there some kind of code to enter when editing the jad file, Thanks!!

    • You you can’t get rid of the status by editing the jad file, but there’s a much easier way. In Opera Mini’s settings menu select “Fullscreen mode” and press “Save” and both the top and bottom bars will be gone.

  31. i understand sir,i was just asking you because i dont have any time. and if i did i dont have a pc. but if you cant do it i will just hope that my pc gets fixed.
    well thanks for replying

  32. if the link does not work thank copy and paste it to your url box and remove all spaces. if it still does not work, than try googleing “opera mini next for java”. sorry about that.

  33. I am suggesting that opera
    mini Next be modifed for
    touch, because i have
    noticed that it runs alot
    smother on phones such as
    the lg 800g and lg 840g,
    making it more easy to use
    the app.
    Here is the download link
    for opera mini Next that
    should be modified for
    touch: http://m.opera.com/
    dl/3L2N4S2-
    I*dKgXf4v*MAbNPlDw8Cb3
    BlcmEtbmV4dC5wbmc=/
    mini.jar?
    vid=0xac372db67f989926 .
    Thanks!!!!

    • I wrote this post to demonstrate the technique and show others how easy it is to do by just editing a text file.

      I have thousands of readers and there are tens of thousands of Java ME apps. If I started taking requests it would quickly become a full-time unpaid job.

      Also, on my phones I don’t see any performance differences between Opera Min and Opera Mini next but if you do you it’s easy enough to make the modifications yourself.

  34. Thank you soo much Dennis! It works perfectly for my LG 840G.

    Matt, did you try the second link that Dennis posted?

    http://is.gd/mini71

    The dropbox link gave me an “invalid descriptor” message, too – but this link worked like a charm :)

  35. Ok never mind, i just had to go to the share page to get it to download.

    IT WORKED!!
    Thanks so much for your help, and for making this awesome blog, your a life saver.

    Thanks

    • I found the problem. There’s is an error in Wattpad’s .jad file. The MIDlet-Jar-URL field is a relative path rather than an absolute path and that won’t work if the jad and jar are on different servers.

      To fix it change the first line of your .jad file from:
      MIDlet-Jar-URL: Wattpad.jar
      to:
      MIDlet-Jar-URL: http://m.wattpad.com/Wattpad.jar

      Then re-upload it to your Dropbox and it should work.

  36. Well i dont have a pulic folder i my dropbox, do i just make one? and i also tryed to copy it to my phones sd card, but when i try to install it, it says invaled descripter.

    • I forgot that new Dropbox accounts don’t get a public folder any more. Instead on the Dropbox Web site:
      1. Click on the file row to the right of the file’s name to select it and Press Share link from the blue bar across the top of the page.
      2. Once the link is created, a preview window appears. Click “Get Link”
      3. Copy the link from your browser’s address field and paste it into a comment

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