Android kiosk: Phone app shows “Access denied” and peripheral settings icon appears on second pageSolved

Hi @schyler-scott,

In Android kiosk mode, peripheral settings behave differently depending on the kiosk layout mode.

1. Peripheral Settings Icon Placement 

1. In Advanced View, the peripheral settings icon may appear on a later kiosk page, and its placement cannot be manually changed to the home screen.
2. If you need to control the icon placement, switch the kiosk layout to Basic View.
3. After switching to Basic View, save and publish the policy again. Once the updated policy is applied to the device, the configured peripheral settings icon should appear without adding the full Android Settings app manually.

2. Phone App “Access Denied” Error 

This usually means the kiosk is allowing the visible Phone app but blocking one or more background packages required for calling. To fix it:

1. Reproduce the error on the device.
2. In the Hexnode UEM portal, open the device details and check the Applications section for blocked packages.
3. Add the required blocked package IDs as apps using Apps > Add Apps > With Bundle ID.
4. Edit the kiosk policy.
5. Go to Android Kiosk Lockdown > Background Apps.
6. Add those package IDs as background apps.
7. Save and publish the policy to the device.

After the policy is applied, try placing a call again.

Best regards,
Eden Pierce
Hexnode UEM

Switching back to Basic View helped with the peripheral settings icon. It appeared after I saved the policy and let it apply to the device. 

For the Phone app issue, I checked the blocked packages section after testing the call, but I don’t see anything listed there. 

Hi @schyler-scott,

If the blocked packages list does not show an entry after reproducing the issue, you can still add the required phone-related packages manually using their bundle IDs and then allow them as background apps in the kiosk policy.

The important part is that each required package must be added separately in Hexnode as a Bundle ID app first. Once they are available under Local Apps, add them under Android Kiosk Lockdown > Background Apps in the same kiosk policy.

This is needed because Android calling may depend on supporting system packages in addition to the visible Phone app. If those supporting packages are not allowed in the background, the kiosk can block the call flow and show the “Access denied” message.

Best regards,
Eden Pierce
Hexnode UEM