Siyag/How to make an Android phone kosher

This is the full kosher Android setup, in the order the Siyag installer walks you through it. Most of the work happens on the phone's own Settings screens; the installer handles the technical part and tells you what to tap and when.

Step 1 — Download the installer on a Windows PC

Download the Siyag installer and run it. It bundles everything it needs, including the app that goes on the phone, so there is nothing else to install. Windows may show an “unknown publisher” warning, because the installer is not yet signed with a Windows publisher certificate. A fake installer would show the same warning, so first check that the file’s SHA-256 (PowerShell: Get-FileHash "Siyag-Setup.exe") matches the value at siyag.app/installer-sha256.txt. Only then choose More info, then Run anyway.

The installer itself is free. A license is required to activate Siyag on a device.

Step 2 — Turn on Developer Options and USB debugging

On the phone:

1. Open Settings.
2. Scroll down and tap About Phone.
3. Find Build Number and tap it seven times, fairly quickly.
4. You will see "You are now a developer!"
5. Go back to Settings and open Developer Options.
6. Turn on USB Debugging.

This is the standard Android developer toggle. It is what lets the PC talk to the phone during setup, and Siyag turns it off again on the phone once setup has finished, and keeps it off.

Step 3 — Turn off Play Protect

Play Protect will otherwise block the install, because Siyag is not distributed through the Play Store. On the phone:

1. Open the Play Store app.
2. Tap your profile picture in the top-right corner.
3. Tap Play Protect.
4. Tap the gear icon in the top-right.
5. Turn off Scan apps with Play Protect and confirm.

This is temporary. You turn it back on at the end, in step seven.

Step 4 — Remove every account from the phone

On the phone, open Settings, tap Accounts (or Users & accounts), tap each account listed, and choose Remove account. That includes Google accounts and Samsung accounts.

Step 5 — Connect the phone and provision it

Plug the phone into the PC with the USB cable and accept the debugging prompt that appears on the phone's screen. The installer then provisions Siyag as Device Owner.

Before it reports success, the installer asks Android directly whether the Device Owner permission was actually granted, and refuses to show a completion screen if it was not. If something went wrong you get told so plainly rather than being left with a half-configured phone.

Once it is done, you can unplug the cable.

Step 6 — Open Siyag, create the PIN and enter the parent email

On the phone, open the Siyag app:

1. Create the parent PIN (4 to 8 digits). From now on nothing in Siyag can be loosened without it.
2. Enter the parent email. If the PIN is ever forgotten, a code sent to this address resets it, so use one the phone's user does not control.

Step 7 — Set up the phone, one step at a time

From version 53.54, Siyag walks you through these steps itself, in this order. Each one shows what is already done, opens the right screen, and can be skipped and come back to later from Siyag's home screen.

1. Turn on protection. Turn on Accessibility for Siyag. Blocking does nothing until it is on.
2. Finish the phone. Sign back into your Google or Samsung accounts and turn Play Protect back on (before you block the Play Store). In Siyag's App Settings, check that Block Unknown Sources is on (it is by default), and turn on Block Hotspot/Tethering.
3. Block apps. Go through the whole list. Out of the box Siyag only closes the ways around itself (extra users, USB debugging, installing from files, the factory reset inside Settings). Every app block is your choice — nothing is blocked until you choose it:
   • Social media and messaging — whichever of them you do not want on the device.
   • Standalone AI apps such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or Copilot.
   • In-app AI assistants — the AI built into apps you are keeping, like Gemini in Google Messages or Meta AI in WhatsApp. This is a separate screen, AI Protection, because it blocks the assistant without blocking the app.
4. Browsers. Block Chrome, Google, and all other browsers (Firefox, Samsung Internet, Edge, Brave, DuckDuckGo, Opera and the rest). Siyag does not filter web pages, so if the goal is no unfiltered internet, the browser is the thing to block.
5. The Play Store. The single most important one. Block it, or hide it entirely, and no new browser, AI app or VPN can be downloaded to work around everything else you just did. While it is blocked, a new app that reaches the phone any other way arrives blocked and opens only with your PIN.
6. Siyag's own settings. Turn on Require PIN for Settings, Prevent Uninstall and Prevent Disabling Accessibility, so Siyag itself cannot be switched off or changed without the PIN.
7. How Siyag works. New apps come one of two ways: you unblock the Play Store with the PIN, or the phone's user picks one from the Apps page inside Siyag, which lists the free apps Siyag has approved for that phone and installs them while the Play Store stays blocked. Apps that are not listed, and short unlocks of a blocked app, are asked for from inside Siyag and answered by Siyag — not by the PIN holder, who is not notified. You can turn the Apps page off on the phone in Siyag's settings.

Leave everything you actually need switched on. Phone calls, navigation, banking, email and work apps all keep working normally.

What this does not do

Two things worth being straight about, because they change whether this is the right tool for you:

• It does not filter website content. Siyag has no VPN, no proxy and no traffic inspection. It blocks the browser rather than cleaning up what the browser shows. If you want a working but filtered browser, you need a filtering service instead — see the comparison of kosher smartphone options.
• It does not survive a factory reset from recovery mode. The reset option inside Settings is disabled, but a hardware-key wipe erases the whole phone, Siyag included. No app on Android can prevent that. It also erases every photo, message and account on the device, so it is a visible and drastic step rather than a quiet workaround — and if it happens, email us at siyagadmin@gmail.com and we will re-issue your licence for the same phone, then run the installer again.

Common questions about setup