BBC iPlayer keeps stopping in Android kiosk modeSolved

Hi @wyatt_simmons ,

BBC iPlayer may depend on Chrome Custom Tabs, WebView, or related Chromium components to render content on Android. In kiosk mode, these dependencies must be permitted to run in the background if the app needs them.

Adding Google Chrome as a background app in the Android kiosk policy does not expose Chrome to users by itself. If Chrome is only added under Policies > Android Kiosk Lockdown > Background Apps and is not added as an allowed kiosk app, its icon will not appear on the kiosk launcher and users cannot open it directly from kiosk.

You can try the following:

1. Add Google Chrome to the app inventory from Managed Google Play, if available.
2. Go to Policies > Android Kiosk Lockdown > Background Apps.
3. Add Google Chrome and any required Chromium-related background activities used by BBC iPlayer.
4. Save the policy and wait until the policy status updates successfully on the device.
5. Relaunch BBC iPlayer from kiosk.

If the app still crashes, check whether an Android allowlist policy is also applied to the same devices. A separate allowlist on top of kiosk can block system or background packages required by apps to launch properly.

Regards,
Isabel Lora
Hexnode UEM

We had Chrome-related activities already added as background apps, but BBC iPlayer still crashed. We also have an allowlist configured along with kiosk mode. Could that be blocking something even though the app itself is allowed?

Yes. When Android kiosk mode is already active, a separate allowlist policy is usually not required for app restriction because kiosk mode limits access to the approved apps.

If an allowlist policy is applied in addition to kiosk mode, it can unintentionally block background system components that apps need. This can cause symptoms like:

• “BBC iPlayer keeps stopping”
• “This app failed to launch”
• Immediate crash back to the kiosk screen

There are two ways to handle this:

Option 1: Remove the allowlist policy

If kiosk mode already controls which apps users can access, remove the allowlist policy from the affected devices and test BBC iPlayer again.

Option 2: Keep the allowlist and add required background packages

If you must keep the allowlist policy, add these packages under Policies > Android Kiosk Lockdown > Background Apps:

• com.android.systemui
• com.google.android.webview

Then save and associate the updated policy. Once the policy applies successfully, test BBC iPlayer again.

For apps that rely on embedded browser content, allowing WebView and related system UI components in the background is often necessary in Android kiosk deployments.

Regards,
Isabel Lora
Hexnode UEM