What is a web app?

Web applications (or web apps) help you to access a URL by opening an application directly. A web app appears on the device’s home screen like any other app, along with the specified app icon. Web apps facilitate easy navigation to URLs with numerous characters. On clicking the web app icon, these apps redirect you to the specified URL, eliminating the need to type long URLs manually. You can add web apps in the kiosk mode or use them as web clips.

Add web app to Hexnode app inventory

Hexnode allows you to customize the web app on the device by providing configurations to add icons and include wildcards while specifying the URL. To create web apps on the device, first add them to the Hexnode app inventory.

1. Log in to your Hexnode console.
2. Navigate to Apps > +Add Apps > Web App.
3. Provide a suitable Name, URL, Icon, and Category for the web app.
4. Click Add.

Web app kiosk mode

A web app kiosk mode allows users to access only the permitted URLs, restricting their access to any other URL. Web apps can be added to both single app and multi-app kiosks on Android and iOS devices. You can also configure the browser settings to open the web app on the devices.

Web clips for iOS

A web clip on an iOS device behaves like a web app with a name and app icon. Similar to a web app, when the user opens the web clip, the corresponding URL will open up in Safari. However, unlike web apps, web clips do not require the device to be locked in kiosk mode using web app kiosk mode. Also, not all web clips need to be a website, as in a web app. For example, you can deploy PDFs or videos, add email addresses, add a contact, deploy an App Store app link, etc., to be opened as a web clip.