[Archer Hexnode 24 February 2022 Archer Moderator]

Hey @kayleigh,

Thanks for reaching out to us!

As you mentioned, Samsung users can directly use the Android Web Content filtering feature to restrict user access to specific websites. This prohibits web access to the specified URLs entirely, and the restriction also applies to the Google Chrome browser.

For other(non-Samsung) users, one can use the App Configurations policy to set parameters to blacklist access to websites on Google Chrome. This feature is supported on Android devices enrolled in Android Enterprise as Device Owner and Profile Owner. Since your devices are already enrolled as Device Owner, you are good to go.

The intended app must be installed on the device for an App Configurations policy to take effect. However, since most devices come with Google Chrome as a system app, you need not explicitly install it on your device unless otherwise.

Blacklist URLs on Chrome:

1. Navigate to Policies > Android > App Configurations > +Add new configuration.
2. Choose the Google Chrome app and navigate to the Block access to a list of URLs option.
3. Specify the URLs to be blacklisted in the following format: [“https://www.espncricinfo.com”, “https://www.amazon.com”]



4. Associate the policy with your target devices.

Hopes this answers your query.

Cheers!

Archer Woods

Hexnode UEM

[Eli Participant 1 April 2022 Eli Participant]

Hey so we want our users to access only certain URLs through Chrome browser.
So in app configurations we filled “Block access to a list of URLs” field wit [“*”] and
“Allow access to a list of URLs” with the URLs in the form [“hexnode.com”]
But now after setting and applying policy, we are not able to access any url at all. Is there something I am doing wrong? Pls help.

[Ivy Participant 1 April 2022 Ivy Participant]

Try leaving Block access to a list of URLs field empty and just add the urls u want to access in Allow access to a list of URLs field.
If you want to verify the same after applying to devices, check in chrome://policy page in chrome app in device and make sure the values are shown correctly against URLWhitelist and URLBlacklist.

[Eli Participant 1 April 2022 Eli Participant]

@ivy we tried out your solution and here’s what happened.  whitelisted urls are displayed for URLWhitelist in the Chrome policy. But here’s the catch. Urls that are not whitelisted could be accessed as well. So still looking for ideas…

[Emma Hexnode 1 April 2022 Emma Moderator]

Hello @eli, we appreciate you reaching out to us.
Our team tested the case you mentioned with “*” in the block list and could not recreate the mentioned error. Therefore, we suggest you configure the policy once again, keeping in mind the following:

• Ensure that you have entered the correct web address. Also, add the alternate web address in the Allow access to a list of URLs field.

Please try this out and keep us posted on any updates. Also, if you have any other queries, feel free to reach out to us anytime!

Regards
Emma Jones
Hexnode UEM

• This reply was modified 2 years ago by  Emma Jones.
• This reply was modified 2 years ago by  Emma Jones.

[Ivy Participant 4 April 2022 Ivy Participant]

@emma-jones Could u explain what are all the right ways to deal with “*” in the url field?

[Emma Hexnode 4 April 2022 Emma Moderator]

Welcome back @ivy, great to see you again!
While filling URLs in the field,  https://*, http://hexnode.com/* and * only provide the desired outcome. “*” anywhere else in the URL does not lead to the expected results.

As an example, for the following entries filled in the “Block access to a list of URLs” field:

• https://* – Denies all HTTPS requests to any domain.
• * – Denies all requests, including URL schemes, except those in “Allow access to a list of URLs”.
• http://hexnode.com/* – Denies all HTTP requests to hexnode.com and any subdomains but allows HTTPS and FTP requests.

Cheers!
Emma Jones
Hexnode UEM

[Justin Participant 10 October 2022 Justin Participant]

I got it figured out, just used the Hexnode Kiosk browser and App Configured that.

[Justin Participant 10 October 2022 Justin Participant]

Can anyone confirm the ability to blacklist all websites using App Configurations on devices that do not have Knox?

I have tried using the following to block all sites without any success:

*

*.*

“*”

[“*”]