Hey everyone. Recently, we noticed a few of our managed Android phones going into Safe Mode after users restarted them on their own. Once the device was in safe mode, managed apps stopped working, and our restrictions weren’t enforced until the phone was rebooted normally.
Has anyone found a way to stop users from entering safe mode on managed devices?
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Yep — we hit this too. Turns out safe mode was basically the “escape room” for our policies 😅.
We restricted safe mode in our Android policy, and after that, our Android Enterprise devices stopped sneaking into safe mode completely.
That’s the right approach @leo_scott . @stevenhere , this is a common scenario on managed Android devices, and it can be resolved by disabling Safe Mode through a policy in Hexnode UEM.
Here’s how you can configure it:
Open the Hexnode UEM console.
Create a new policy or edit an existing one.
Go to Android → Restrictions → Basic.
Turn off the Safe Mode option.
Save the policy and apply it to the required devices or groups.
Once applied, supported devices won’t be able to boot into Safe Mode.
Best Regards,
Isabel Lora
Hexnode UEM
We applied the same setting, but on a few older Android devices users can still enter safe mode using hardware buttons. Is that expected?
Yes, that can happen.
On some older devices, Android doesn’t allow Safe Mode to be blocked at the system level, so even with the Safe Mode restriction applied, users can still enter it using hardware buttons. To prevent this, you can set a Device Password under the Safe Mode restriction in the policy. This managed password is different from the regular device unlock password. When someone tries to enter Safe Mode, Android will prompt for this password, and Safe Mode won’t start unless it’s entered correctly.
Keep in mind that if the password is forgotten or entered incorrectly multiple times, the device may reset, so it’s important to have recovery options and communicate this to users.
Best Regards,
Isabel Lora
Hexnode UEM
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