Single-task (kiosk) mode
Standalone public devices (kiosks, digital signages, barcode scanners, etc.) are often powered by the Android operating system. When a device is intended for public usage, it must be strongly protected against misusage. The user must only be able to use a single specially designed application, he should not be able to run other applications or enter settings, and ideally he shouldn’t even know there’s an underlying Android.
Enterprise and Premium packages of Headwind MDM include the option to turn on “Kiosk mode”, sometimes referred to as Corporate Owned Single User (COSU) mode. This feature is supported on Android 7 and above, and is therefore available on most Android devices on the market.
To turn on kiosk mode, the admin must add the application running on a kiosk device (content application) to the Headwind MDM configuration, and set the “Kiosk mode” checkbox. In the locked mode, the user can only see the “Back” button, Home and Recents are blocked and invisible, and the status bar appears as a black line. If the content application turns on “Immersive mode” (or full-screen mode), navigation and status bar are hidden, so users can’t even see any Android UI controls.
Kiosk mode options and settings
Headwind MDM proposes three ways of running a device in kiosk mode:
- Single application. The content application is an ordinary Android application whose APK is installed on devices by an MDM agent.
- Web application. Headwind MDM uses a special Kiosk browser to display a web application without an URL bar and block access to other websites.
- Multiple applications. In this mode, the content application is the Headwind MDM launcher itself. The user can switch between applications with minimal restrictions.
If the multi-application kiosk mode is used, the admin can manage the visibility of the status bar and navigation bar buttons (this option is available on Android 9 and above). The only difference with a non-kiosk mode is that, instead of the MDM agent, the operating system itself controls the application run, so this mode is potentially more safe. However, if not properly configured, the multi-application kiosk mode may confuse the user, for example, when an application or a UI control is silently blocked.
Kiosk maintenance: how to exit the locked mode?
The engineer mode on the device is hidden and protected by a password.
Headwind MDM platform permits the administrator to turn the kiosk mode on and off, manage and update the content application, and change the engineer password.
The manual how to exit kiosk mode and perform the device maintenance can be found in the “Q&A” section.