Lock Down Your Tablet Kiosk Screens With These 5 Easy Tips

September 15, 2016 by guest author, Ryan Cahoy

Guest Post: Jon Sproule, Armodilo Display Solutions

This blog had a post up recently that showed how easy it can be for pranksters to interfere with your carefully considered tablet kiosk deployment.

Jon Sproule

We think about and protect tablet-powered kiosks all day long, but on the hardware side. It’s not a surprise when security gets overlooked on the software side.

So we’ve compiled key tips and suggestions to help you achieve a seamless digital signage rollout and secure the messaging of your tablet kiosk deployment.

To lock down your tablet deployment, even using an off-the-shelf solution requires some additional work behind the scenes, and even some custom-designed applications require additional tools to ensure your tablet kiosk displays only approved content.

Whether your tablet-powered digital signage runs on iOS, Android, or Windows, here are some basic tools you can use to secure your deployment from pranksters. Each of these three operating systems offers some form of restricted access that can be enabled through the system settings. These settings, in conjunction with software solutions, can prevent the majority of users from tampering with your tablet, once it’s been secured into an enclosure.

Apple iPad / iOS Tablet Kiosks

1. Guided Access

If you’ve deployed Apple products, you can take advantage of the Guided Access feature to add an extra layer of security to your project. Apple’s Guided Access feature allows you to set time limits for use and disable hardware and software buttons as needed. Exiting Guided Access requires the use of a user-defined passcode to prevent workaround solutions.

2. Kiosk Pro

If you don’t have a custom app, try using a readily available option like Kiosk Pro for your kiosk presentation, so that you ensure users have access only to the content you’ve selected. Kiosk Pro lets you block domains, control what’s displayed, limit browsing time, and even lets you make your content available locally when there is no internet access!

Android-Powered Tablet Kiosks

3. Screen Pinning

Every basic Android installation offers a screen pinning solution to restrict users to a single application. With this feature enabled, your users won’t be able to exit your presentation or switch apps. In order to activate the Screen Pinning option, just follow the steps found here.

4. Kiosk Browser Lockdown

Even if you have a screen pinning set on your Android tablet kiosk, users will still be able to surf the web using the browser. To prevent this, try using an app like Kiosk Browser Lockdown, which offers more than 70 configuration options, including password-protection on user browsing, hiding system notifications, and remote management. You can find the Kiosk Browser Lockdown app here, on Google Play.

Microsoft Surface / Windows Tablet Kiosks

5. Assigned Access with Kiosk Browser

Windows 10 offers the Assigned Access setting. This feature allows you to set up a user account that automatically logs into a single application and does not permit access to any other options, so long as that application was installed through the Windows Store. Kiosk Browser is one great tool for displaying websites through digital signage on a Windows tablet.

For Windows tablet deployments, it is important to have a “local standard user” configured, as Assigned Access is not an option for Windows account users.