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.

Creating a Kiosk Policy

You need to associate a kiosk policy with your devices before pushing the action Enable kiosk mode to those devices.

1. Go to Policies > New Policy > Kiosk Lockdown > Android Kiosk Lockdown – Multi App.
2. Click Configure and click on the + icon.
3. 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.
4. Click Done.

If you want to associate the policy to devices right away:

1. Click on Policy Targets.
2. 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.
3. Click Save.

If you want to associate the policy later:

1. Go to Policies and select the kiosk policy.
2. Click Manage and select Associate Targets.
3. 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.

Enabling Kiosk Mode

To enable kiosk mode on your Android devices,

1. Navigate to the Manage Tab and select the Devices/Device Groups/Users/User Groups for which kiosk mode is to be enabled.
2. Click on Actions and select Enable Kiosk Mode.
3. 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.
 

1. In the Hexnode MDM app, tap Activate to enter the kiosk mode.
2. Set Hexnode Kiosk Launcher as default.

Disabling Kiosk Mode

To disable kiosk mode on your Android devices,

1. Navigate to the Manage Tab and select the Devices/Device Groups/Users/User Groups for which kiosk mode is to be disabled.
2. Click on Actions and select Disable Kiosk Mode.
3. Enter the technician password and click on Confirm.

The kiosk mode will get disabled on the selected devices.