Single App Mode

Single App Mode operates similarly to Guided Access, disabling the Home button and locking the device to Kiosk Pro, but there are a few differences that make it a better choice for many kiosk projects, specifically: 

  • In the scenario where an iPad becomes disconnected from power and the battery drains completely, the iPad shuts down.  When it is reconnected to power and rebooted, an iPad in Single App Mode will relaunch the app and remain locked, where a device in Guided Access mode will return to the Home screen and disable Guided Access. 
  • For projects where the Home button is exposed, an iPad in Guided Access mode will show an on-screen alert each time the Home button is pressed, where an iPad in Single App Mode will not.
  • Guided Access prevents the device from going to sleep automatically (if using Plus or Enterprise with 'Enable Auto-Lock' > ON), where Single App Mode allows auto-lock.

Requirements

Placing a device in Single App Mode requires that that device be supervised.  Supervision is a mode designed by Apple specifically for institutionally-owned devices that unlocks a number of management features, including single app mode and silent app push. 

For reference, some MDMs require the bundle ID of the app to place it in Single App Mode - these are as follows: 

  • Kiosk Pro Lite: com.kioskgroup.kioskproliteapp
  • Kiosk Pro Basic: com.kioskgroup.kioskproapp
  • Kiosk Pro Plus: com.kioskgroup.kioskproplus
  • Kiosk Pro Enterprise: com.kioskgroup.kpenterprise


Standard Single App Mode

iOS/iPadOS functionality, works in:

Kiosk Pro Lite, Basic, Plus and Enterprise

Once a device is supervised, it can be placed in standard Single App Mode in one of two ways:

  • through Apple's Configurator software. Using Configurator to supervise and start a Single App Mode session links the iPad to the Mac computer running Configurator.  To exit this type of Single App Mode session, you must be able to physically connect the iPad back to that specific Mac, which can make it a poor choice for projects with kiosks in multiple locations. 
  • remotely through a Mobile Device Management (MDM) solution. To exit this type of Single App Mode session, the device must be able to connect to the MDM - if the device loses its network connection and is unable to reconnect (for example, if the password changed on the WiFi network), you would need to wipe the device with a factory restore or remove the MDM profile through Configurator to exit.


Autonomous Single App Mode

iOS/iPadOS functionality, supported in:

Kiosk Pro Plus and Enterprise

Our Plus and Enterprise versions also support a feature called  Autonomous Single App Mode, which allows you to start a Single App Mode session directly in Kiosk Pro's settings or automatically when the app is launched. 

Use of an MDM is required to install a required configuration profile, but the session is started and stopped locally on the device, rather than remotely, so it does not rely on a network connection.  To exit a session, you open the app's settings using the standard touch gesture and passcode and tap a button to unlock or use a secondary passcode to allow exiting without access to the app's settings.

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