Achieve 'Apple' like device lockdown (no stock apps)
Charles.B
I have a rather large question, and so far nobody has been able to provide me with an answer.
I would like to know how to replicate the experience Apple provide shoppers at their stores, by locking down the devices more than usual and having a 'screensaver' that essentially bypasses the lockscreen when tapped.
Normally I would accept the answer "It can't be done" except it has been done, specifically by a company called OTG Experience, who deploy iPads in airport terminals.
OTG PR Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vk9ayjA-5mU
In the video (I have another recorded by a colleague at LaGuardia) you can see a screensaver running, the standard springboard, there are no stock iOS apps, no settings icon etc. From what I have heard, this is all done using Configurator, undocumented features and help from Apple.
It's also clear that Tekserve (who's CTO Aaron Freimark created this site) had a hand in this deployment:
http://www.cio.com/article/718687/The_iPad_Kiosk_Landing_at_an_Airport_N...
You can listen to Mr. Freimark talking about the deployment here, and he specifically says that these "Are Not Jailbroken":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=mvEeh6Phl5c#t=320s
Thanks in advance...
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Aaron Freimark
Charles, Yes, we are proud of
Charles,
Yes, we are proud of the solution we provide to OTG. And although I'm a big believer in sharing with the community, this is one secret that I won't be sharing anytime soon
.
There are other companies that have a similar solution. But if you are curious about working with Tekserve, I invite you to email me.
Aaron
--
Aaron Freimark, Enterprise iOS founder & Tekserve CTO
Charles.B
Hi Aaron, Thanks for your
Hi Aaron,
Thanks for your reply. I've sent you an email.
Cheers
Mitch Boston
I'd bet that is not the iOS
I'd bet that is not the iOS springboard, but an iPad locked down and placed into kiosk mode while running an app that is emulating the iOS interface. No undocumented features are necessary to pull this off.
Charles.B
Hi Mitch, We initially
Hi Mitch,
We initially suspected the same thing, however there are several reasons why we discounted it:
-If it was simulating the springboard it was doing it down to the finest of details, so much that it was indistinguishable from the real one. That would be an incredible amount of work and animation for very little reason.
-Some of the apps shown on various YouTube videos show real apps being launched, such as CNBC. Guided Access does not allow you to switch between apps, so all of these developers would have to have handed over their source code to enable something like this.
Mitch Boston
The videos you posted didn't
The videos you posted didn't show much detail. But, on further inspection, I think you are right. The way the "screensaver" works and the way the springboard is locked down are undocumented hooks or custom code. Sorry for my lazy assumptions.
chrisross
You can do some clever
You can do some clever removing of apps which technically doesn't jailbreak the device.
See
http://www.cydiahacks.com/hide.html
For an example, but the apps come back after a reboot.
Using a Apple Configurator auto restore a backup on boot, MDM, and something like the above you could do this.
Mitch Boston
Does jiggly mode work on
Does jiggly mode work on these devices? Can the app icons be rearranged? How is the screensaver accomplished?
Charles.B
Screensaver mode is actually
Screensaver mode is actually sort of easy to implement as I've discovered. All you have to do is enable it on your master device, back it up through Configurator and it will be applied to all further devices. As it is undocumented however I would be hesitant to rely on this method as a new version of Configurator or iOS could break this.