Headwind MDM · For startups
Ship Your Android Product in Weeks, Not Years
A ready-made open-source MDM foundation for Android products — go from idea to a working proof of concept in days.
IDEA TO PRODUCT
Working proof of conceptDay 5
In productionWeek 3
Source codeIncluded
Build from scratch vs build on Headwind MDM
Developing a managed-Android platform in-house is a major investment. A proven foundation collapses both cost and time.
PROOF OF CONCEPT
$0
and months of work
Days
to a working PoC
PRODUCTION-READY MVP
$0+
for a production-ready MVP
Weeks
to production
SCALING & UPKEEP
Ongoing engineering, plus maintaining a forked Android project
Cloud Build
handles routine agent maintenance
Everything that is already built for you
Start from production-ready code instead of reinventing common device-management functionality.
Production-ready foundation
Skip developing an MDM agent and management console from scratch; reduce cost with security-tested code.
Avoid provisioning pitfalls
Sidestep complex Android provisioning that is poorly documented and hard for AI coding assistants to handle.
KEY BENEFIT
Core MDM out of the box
Device inventory, kiosk mode, remote management, and location tracking, ready on day one.
KEY BENEFIT
Launch a PoC in days
Validate a managed-device concept in days instead of months, building on years of Android MDM experience.
Reuse proven configurations
Kiosks, web kiosks, and background services, ready-made.
Focus on your product
Let your engineers build product-specific features instead of reinventing common MDM plumbing.
Faster to ship, cheaper to maintain
Beyond the core platform, Headwind MDM smooths two of the hardest parts of a device project.
Ship to hardware faster
Skip the usual back-and-forth with device vendors.
- Streamlined workflows instead of tiered vendor support
- Flexible integration: ADB, scripting, or system-image
- A shorter path from prototype to production
Spend less on upkeep, every year
Stop paying the ongoing cost of a forked Android project.
- Cloud Build handles routine agent maintenance
- No deep Android platform expertise required
- Engineering time goes back to your product
What founders ask us first
Everything we get asked on the first technical call.
Enterprise or Premium — which license should we pick?
For a hardware or software product you are building, choose Enterprise: it is open-source, includes engineering services, and gives you the source code you need for firmware integration and custom builds. Premium is closed-code and single-domain — better suited to end customers running a device fleet, not to teams shipping a product on top of Headwind MDM.
What does “open source” actually let us do?
The Enterprise codebase can be forked, customized, and rebuilt from source. You can sign the mobile agent with your own platform keys, change the agent’s package name and branding, adapt it to your device, and integrate it into your firmware or AOSP build. What you cannot do is redistribute it as a competing MDM product — the license is source-available, not a permissive open-source license.
How well does it work with a custom AOSP build or a device with a non-standard ROM?
Very well — this is the main reason startups pick Headwind MDM. We publish an integration guide, help you sign the agent with your platform keys, and if your device manufacturer is uncooperative on those keys, we have done that conversation many times and can help you through it. See Integration into AOSP.
Will this pass an enterprise customer’s security review?
Yes — Headwind MDM has been through independent security assessments, uses industry-standard encryption for data in transit and at rest, and signs the mobile agent with real certificates. Because Enterprise runs on your own infrastructure, your customer’s data never touches our servers. We publish the security assessment report, and we will answer a customer’s security questionnaire directly if that helps you close.
Days to a PoC — really? What is the catch?
A working PoC in days assumes off-the-shelf devices with QR-code provisioning and the stock agent. Custom firmware integration, platform-key signing, or a custom device build stretches that to weeks — depending on how cooperative your device manufacturer is. We will walk you through a realistic timeline for your specific device before you commit.
What if we need a feature the platform does not have?
Enterprise includes engineering services — we can add features, adapt the code to your device, or build integrations. For anything larger, we quote it as a customization project. You can also modify the source code yourself; the codebase is documented, and our Q&A forum covers the internals.
What happens to our product if we ever want to leave Headwind MDM?
Because Enterprise ships as source code and runs on your own infrastructure, there is no cloud lock-in. Your device data lives in your database; your fork lives in your repo. If you ever swap MDMs, you re-enroll devices via QR code or install script — the same tools you used for the initial rollout. That is part of why founders pick an open-source foundation in the first place.
Talk to us about your product
Tell us what you are building — we will estimate the return and set up a free trial.
Device type (phone, tablet, kiosk, rugged, OEM) Target scale (10 devices? 10,000?) Timeline to first production releaseUsed by teams building POS terminals, kiosks, TV boxes, rugged handhelds, and custom OEM devices.