We have a need for warehouse staff to use an ipad app for stock control.
Is it possible to lock down the ipad and only show/launch our custom app on screen. So i want to remove/hide/disable all other apps except ours.
Cheers,
Trav.
Almost.
You can use Apple's official iPhone Configuration Utility to lock down most features of the iPad so that only your app can be installed, render many of the built-in apps useless, and prevent (re)configuring wifi, email, etc. But the user will still be shown a whole bunch of other stuff they can't use. You can move all the apps other than your own to the second page. An enterprise account is not required to run this utility.
A firewall in conjunction a VPN that all the iPads are configured locked to might also be helpful.
ADDED:
There is also a trick to hide all the other icons on stock OS devices, but it requires a fair amount of work.
It's not certainly not possible without jailbreaking the device.
As far as i know it's not possible to boot in a specific app, but it is possible to 'lock' the iPad in one app using Guided Access:
http://www.imore.com/how-restrict-access-specific-app-guided-access-iphone-and-ipad
Note that this even works with a website, provided you have made a 'web app' using these meta tags.
not really, but if you set the iPad up with parental controls you can probably lock it down to some degree.
Look into Guided Access which will allow you to lock it on one app and act like a kiosk.
Related
I'm searching a way to restrict my iOS device to a particular app.
I have found a good way to disable my iPad Home button functionality through Kiosk Mode for iOS
So is it possible to restrict my iOS device to a particular app without jail-breaking?
Will App-Store reject my application if I done this?
Phew... Finally I found.Guided Access is a new feature in iOS 6 that will do the functionality .It's a built-in feature.
Guided Access is activated for a particular app, iOS device will automatically launch that app every time.
You can power off the device by holding down the "Power + Home" button.
If you’d like to learn how to use Guided Access in iOS 6, You can see more details here
That is a huge security violation as far as the App Store would be concerned. For an enterprise applications its possible you could find a way. But for a public App Store download this is not only next to impossible its also a guaranteed rejection.
So is it possible automatically launch my app every time after iPad booted without jail-breaking?
No. Jailbreaking only will allow you to mess with the default behavior of the system such as Launch Items
Will Apple-Store reject my application if I implement the behavior?
If you somehow find a way to circumvent the issue, (i.e. exploit a security breach) then your app will be rejected.
App review guidelines, section 2.4, 2.5
I'm interested in a way to restrict access to the build-in iOS applications(Settings,Calendar,Contacts,etc).
I've seen a lot of solutions but i don't want to jailbreak my devices.Also, the "Restrictions" setting isn't enought since it only blocks a few apps.
Could be anything from removing the icon or setting a passcode to access it.
Thanks,
Cearnau Dan
You can set a passcode to access the device, but not for individual applications, and there's not built in way to hide icons that I'm aware of. Your only option is to jailbreak it or live with them not being restricted.
I know this has been asked previously however I would like to disable the home button for an in-house app which will be distributed internally across iPads.
I have searched for a solution both on here and Google and would like to stop users from putting the app into the background. I have seen one solution which doesn't seem to work under iOS 4.0 which opens the app up again when the home button is pressed.
Could I make use of any private APIs to do this seeing as this is an internal app and won't be reviewed by Apple for the App Store?
Thanks
I don't know why this is down voted so much it is a perfectly legit use case for an internal enterprise application. Kiosks, POS etc.
Anyway anyone wanting to know how to do this should see my answer here Lock-down iPhone/iPod/iPad so it can only run one app
Whatever your reasons are you are not able to do this.
Apple provides no functionality to perform this action through their API. You might want to re-think your strategy. Look maybe instead for a physical barrier.
Additionally you might want to look into JailBreaking and iPhone since you say it is only for internal development and won't go to the appstore. A jail broken phone might allow you access to change the home button behavior, though I cannot confirm this since I have never had need to code on a jail broken device.
If it's your iPad, glue or bolt a cover over the home button. Connect the iPad to Xcode or iTunes to halt and/or reload your app.
But note that knowledgable users will still be able to reboot the device by holding down the lock button.
Jailbreak and add incarcer app can disable the home button (admin has a code to allow activation). Then you're locked in your app. If you're up for jailbreaking, seems like a great solution.
There's a new hardware solution, adhesive-backed aluminum home button covers. They allow home button activation through a pinhole, using a paperclip (similar to many popular metal encosures). http://bubcap.com/bubcap-pro.html
I would find useful, in some cases, and under the user's permission, to block the device so only the running application can be accessed unless the usrer's password (pattern or whatever is used to unlock the session) is introduced.
I guess the mecanism should be something like: The application asks the os to do this, the OS asks the user for permission and then the application asks the device to block the application on "exit" or standby (or both).
This would be useful for using an iPhone or iPad as a device for public use. One example could be a Library where visitors can see the book list and some previews in the device. In this case, you don't want the user to access any other resource/application in the system.
Does it make sense?
What your asking is there any type of kiosk mode for iOS devices.
The short answer in no. The longer answer is if you're using a Jail broken device you might be able to relaunch the app on exit, but it would take significant R&D.
I hade a client ask about this last week, after some investigation and thinking I told her,
It's best to look for a case that blocks the home button. Or some kind of security bracket. It'll be cheaper and easier.
Also any App you create with this functionality would be rejected form the App store.
If your looking for advice on programming Jail broken devices there is a Stack Exchange proposal you can follow.
Supposedly there's a way to have a "kiosk" mode with a .mobileconfig file. Both of these articles talk about it, basically covering the same territory:
http://joris.kluivers.nl/blog/2012/03/02/kiosk-mode-for-ios/
http://rick-hawkins.blogspot.ca/2012/01/turning-ipad-into-kiosk-device.html
I was looking into this again and found out that iOS already supports the feature. It is called Guided Access, it was incorporated on iOS 6, it does not require jailbreak and can be used for any app installed on the device.
It makes sense, but I don't think you can do that without jailbreaking the phone. In iOS, the home button cannot be overridden by applications. Besides there is cheaper hardware out there for kiosk-style applications.
It seems like Info.plist file has an ability to declare different roles for the same application bundle through the UIRoleInfo key. SpringBoard can recognize these roles after installing an app and may display separate icons for each application role.
For instance, iPhone shows MobileSlideShow.app as 2 different programs: Photos and Camera.
Unfortunately, there is no official Apple documentation about the subject at the moment. Would anybody advise how to organize the same behavior in a custom app?
This feature is going to be used in the Enterprise product for ad hoc distribution.
This isn't a supported feature, so if you do this you might have a hard time getting your app through the approval process. I wouldn't recommend using it.
Have you tried it to see if it works? If it doesn't work, you could create a second app that does nothing but launch the first one, with a custom URL scheme. The first app can recognize when it is being launched with that URL. This is not ideal as you will see the second app launch & quit (though it should be really fast).