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How to Enable Kiosk Mode on Android Devices
Kiosk mode is a lockdown mechanism to limit your Android smartphone or tablet to a single app or a handful of applications of your choice. You can enable/disable the kiosk mode using remote actions from the Hexnode portal. Hexnode provides you with complete control of your devices running in kiosk mode.
With Kiosk mode turned on, the Android device gets restricted to just the chosen applications. Other apps, device settings or even the notifications bar won’t be accessible to the user.
- Kiosk mode can be activated on devices running Android 5.0 and above, with a working internet connection.
- For devices enrolled in Android Enterprise program, kiosk activation is available only on devices enrolled in Device Owner mode.
Creating a Kiosk Policy
You need to associate a kiosk policy with your devices before pushing the action Enable kiosk mode to those devices.
- Go to Policies > New Policy > Kiosk Lockdown > Android Kiosk Lockdown – Multi App.
- Click Configure and click on the + icon.
- Select either of the options:
- Add apps: To add the apps you wish to set in multi-app kiosk mode.
- Add file shortcuts: Add PDFs and video files as file shortcuts to access them from devices in Kiosk mode. To add file shortcuts to the Kiosk lockdown policy, first add them in Apps > File Shortcuts.
- Click Done.
If you want to associate the policy to devices right away:
- Click on Policy Targets.
- Click on +Add Devices and select the devices from the list and click OK. You can also choose users, groups or domains as policy targets.
- Click Save.
If you want to associate the policy later:
- Go to Policies and select the kiosk policy.
- Click Manage and select Associate Targets.
- Select the devices from the list and click Associate.
Kiosk policy has been assigned to the target devices with the selected apps. Now you have got to turn on Kiosk mode on the devices.
- If you are adding Store apps in kiosk mode, ensure that the application is already installed on the device.
- Enterprise app will be installed silently on Samsung Knox, LG GATE, Kyocera business phones, devices with Hexnode MDM app as system app, devices with platform signed Hexnode MDM System Agent app, and on devices enrolled in the Android Enterprise program as device owner.
- Web apps can also be added to devices in Kiosk mode. To add web apps to the app inventory, head onto Apps > Add Apps > Web App in the Hexnode MDM portal. You can choose a browser to open web apps and whitelist other websites in Website Kiosk Settings and configure additional settings on Advanced Website Kiosk Settings.
- In case of Android Enterprise enrolled devices, add the app under Android > App Management > Mandatory Apps as well. If the apps are not pre-installed on the device, doing so installs the app on the device.
- For devices running Android 10+, disable ‘Gesture Navigation’ by moving to Settings > System > Gestures and enable ‘three-key navigation’ instead.
For all devices running MIUI versions that have MIUI optimization turned on, Write System Permissions cannot be enabled. This leads to several issues including kiosk exiting unexpectedly, apps not getting installed silently, and so on. MIUI optimization must be disabled to fix such issues. To disable MIUI optimization:
- Go to Settings > Build Number.
- Tap on the build number 6 to 8 times to enable Developer options.
- Select Developer Options from Settings > Additional Settings.
- Disable MIUI optimization from the list of available options.
Enabling Kiosk Mode
To enable kiosk mode on your Android devices,
- Navigate to the Manage Tab and select the Devices/Device Groups/Users/User Groups for which kiosk mode is to be enabled.
- Click on Actions and select Enable Kiosk Mode.
- Enter the technician password and click on Confirm.
The kiosk mode will get enabled on the selected devices.
Activating Kiosk Mode on Android Devices
Once the kiosk policy is associated with the device, the device will get prompt to activate the kiosk mode.
- In the Hexnode MDM app, tap Activate to enter the kiosk mode.
- Set Hexnode Kiosk Launcher as default.
In Device Admin enrolled Android 10 or later devices, Hexnode UEM cannot be set as the default home app (launcher). You have to manually grant Hexnode UEM home app permissions, whenever kiosk is activated on the device.
Follow this procedure to activate kiosk in an Android 10 device enrolled as Hexnode UEM Device Admin,
-
In devices which do not permit silent kiosk activation:
- Once the policy gets associated with the device, the Hexnode MDM app opens up automatically.
- Activate kiosk mode by clicking on Activate.
- Now a pop-up tab opens up stating that the kiosk activation is incomplete and asks you to set Hexnode UEM as the Home app.
- Click on Set Default, this will take you to the Default home app pane.
- Click on Hexnode UEM, now the kiosk activation is complete.
You have to repeat the whole procedure while enabling kiosk again.
- In Samsung Knox devices, kiosk mode will get automatically activated upon policy association.
Disabling Kiosk Mode
To disable kiosk mode on your Android devices,
- Navigate to the Manage Tab and select the Devices/Device Groups/Users/User Groups for which kiosk mode is to be disabled.
- Click on Actions and select Disable Kiosk Mode.
- Enter the technician password and click on Confirm.
The kiosk mode will get disabled on the selected devices.
