Block specific Android app notifications in multi-app kiosk without hiding the status barSolved

For Android multi-app kiosk devices, there are two practical ways to handle this depending on whether you want a blocklist or allowlist approach. If you want to allow notifications only from selected apps:

1. Open the policy applied to the Android kiosk devices.
2. Go to the App Notifications configuration.
3. Add the apps that should be allowed to show notifications.
4. Enable the option to restrict all other notifications.
5. Save and associate the policy with the target devices.

This keeps the status bar visible while blocking notification alerts from apps that are not explicitly allowed.

If you only need to suppress notifications from one specific app, check whether the app exposes a notification-related permission under App Permissions. For apps that list “Send Push Notifications,” disabling that permission can prevent that app from posting notifications without affecting the whole status bar.

That helps. I was confused because I expected the App Notifications page to let me uncheck “Allow Notifications,” but that option is disabled for every app I select. Is that expected, or is something wrong with the policy UI?

That behavior is expected. The App Notifications policy is meant to manage notification behavior, such as how alerts are displayed, rather than directly turning app notifications on or off with the “Allow Notifications” toggle. That is why the toggle may appear grayed out. For blocking notifications, use one of these methods instead:

• Allowlist method: Add only the apps that should be allowed to notify and enable “Restrict all other Notifications”.
• Single-app method: Use App Permissions and disable “Send Push Notifications” for the specific app, if that permission is available for the app. After changing the policy, allow the device to sync or reapply the policy to confirm the behavior on a test device.

I’ve seen this with VPN or tunnel apps too. Even after restricting notifications, some of them still show a persistent notification while the service is running. Is Hexnode able to hide those as well?

Persistent notifications from certain apps, especially VPN, security, or foreground service apps, may be controlled by the app or Android itself. If the device-level notification permission is disabled through policy or device settings and the notification still appears, it usually indicates app-level behavior that cannot be overridden further from Hexnode.

In that case, check the app’s own settings for an option to suppress tunnel, connection, or foreground service alerts. If the app does not provide such a setting, the app vendor would need to confirm whether those persistent notifications can be disabled.

Also note that persistent Hexnode device lockdown notifications are expected behavior and cannot be hidden while the device is actively managed in lockdown/kiosk mode.