Kioskbase
Features
What Kioskbase can do — and what it can’t.
The list is complete and deliberately includes the limits — a kiosk is deployed for years and a surprise after a year costs more than an extra promise. And every single feature is here for the same reason: so you never have to drive to the tablet.
01 · The lock
Nowhere for the device to wander.
- One address, full screen. No address bar, no system bars, no history.
- Allowed domains. A link outside the list opens nowhere, not even in the browser. Matching is by host, not by string prefix, so yourdomain.com.attacker.net does not pass.
- Lock Task as device owner. A system-level lock: Home and Overview stop working, the status bar cannot be pulled down, and the app cannot be uninstalled.
- The home screen is borrowed, not taken. So that the Home button can't lead out of the kiosk, Kioskbase becomes the tablet's home screen when it locks — Home then leads back into the kiosk. On unlock it hands the role back, so the tablet is never trapped in the app even after you turn the kiosk off.
01b · Protective features
When something fails, the tablet picks itself up.
A kiosk is a device with nobody standing next to it. So every common failure has an answer prepared in advance — no phone call, no drive.
- Power cut. When the tablet boots, the app starts itself, locks and returns to its address. Nobody has to deal with the morning power-up.
- Internet outage. Instead of a white screen there is a human message, and the page retries every half minute — when the network returns, the content loads by itself.
- Black screen. When the page's render process dies, the app catches it and rebuilds it — the content is back within a second. A black screen with nobody next to it is the worst state a kiosk can be in.
- Frozen page. When the content hangs, restarting the app or the whole tablet is one click from a browser.
02 · Setup
Six digits and it's running.
One value is entered on the tablet: a six-digit code. Address, allowed domains, purpose and lock arrive from the server on first contact — and every later change is made in a browser, not at the device.
There is no configuration file to compose and push. The server knows what the device is for and builds the address itself, so nobody can mistype a character.
- A purpose instead of an address — for installations with Modulo. A tablet connected to Modulo doesn't get a link, it gets a job: meal pickup, attendance, ordering, a menu on the wall. The server builds the right address for the job itself, so there is no character to mistype.
- One click to switch. The same tablet becomes an ordering terminal instead of an attendance one and back again — in a browser, with nobody on site.
- A custom address — when you don't use Modulo. Kioskbase doesn't need it: enter any web address — your own system, a booking form, any page. When one is set, the purpose no longer applies; exactly one setting is in force, so the tablet never shows something other than what is written.
03 · Remote management
Everything you would otherwise drive for.
Update
A new version is pushed from your desk. A device-owner tablet installs it with no human involved — it shows the progress on screen and writes it to the log; without device owner it still downloads by itself, and whoever is at the tablet just taps to confirm. The app reports the installer's response back, so the device card shows how it went.
Restart
The app alone, or the whole tablet. The command is acknowledged to the server before it executes — otherwise the device would find it again on boot and loop.
Window screenshot
Shows what the terminal is displaying. It captures the app's own window only, never the Android screen — it is not a surveillance tool and cannot be turned into one. It cannot see the TeamViewer or AnyDesk code either: those run outside the Kioskbase window, so it is always dictated by the person at the tablet.
Network diagnostics
DNS → connection to port 443 → TLS handshake → the actual server response, in the order things fail. The result is a sentence, not a log dump.
Remote desktop
TeamViewer or AnyDesk launched by command, for when a screenshot is not enough. Staff read you the code off the screen and confirm — no passwords to hand out, no unlocking the device for anyone.
Mac, iPad, iPhone and Windows
The same kiosk beyond Android, from one app codebase: paired with the same six-digit code, managed from the same admin — remote commands, sign-in backups and a log you can read remotely. The Mac also takes window screenshots; the iPad signs people in by face through the front camera. The lock is soft (full screen, no quit without PIN); iPad and iPhone lock with Guided Access. Mac is in beta, iPad and iPhone are deployed by us for now, Windows is a downloadable test build.
One-step pairing
Create the device in the admin and enter the attendance (or other service) code right there. The tablet pairs with the admin and the service at once — nobody at the unit types a second code. The code is never shown in a preview, so the admin's own browser cannot use it up.
Slideshow mode
A tablet or a TV becomes an advertising surface with one address: images from an album, the lunch menu, a price list, anything that can be displayed. Switch it on once and it runs — and the same unit serves as a terminal during opening hours and as a shop window after them.
Why diagnostics and not a ping. A network can allow port 443 and still break encryption — usually a corporate appliance that unwraps the connection with its own certificate. Kioskbase does not trust it and the page never loads. Without that last step the fault gets hunted inside the app, where it isn't.
04 · Telemetry
What you know without standing next to it.
The list is complete. The server accepts only the fields below — if a future version of the app sent anything else, it would be discarded.
| Group | Fields | What it's for |
|---|---|---|
| Network | IP, MAC, Wi-Fi name, gateway, mobile carrier | What the site's network administrator will ask for |
| Device | manufacturer, model, Android version, app version | You still know what is out there a year later |
| Condition | battery, battery temperature, charging, uptime | A tablet cooking behind a shop window reports before it dies |
| Resources | free memory, free storage, cores, resolution | A slow terminal usually has a mundane reason |
| Time | clock drift against the server, time zone | A drifting clock breaks certificate validation |
| Lock | kiosk enabled, device owner | Shows which units are really locked and which only in principle |
Location, screen contents, browsing history and anything attributable to a particular person never leave the device. Telemetry describes the device, not the user.
05 · Sign-in backups
The terminal won't log itself out at the worst moment.
A kiosk is usually signed in to the system it displays. When that sign-in is lost — after an update, after a cache wipe, after an outage — the staff are looking at a login page they have nothing to type into.
Kioskbase backs up the signed-in state automatically and on demand, under a backup label you choose. Restoring is one tap.
A sign-in backup stays on the device. Only names and dates reach the server, so there is something to pick from. The credentials stay in encrypted storage on the tablet, with the key held by the Android Keystore.
The one exception is moving to a new tablet (since version 1.25.0): the backup then leaves only end-to-end encrypted with post-quantum encryption, the server cannot read it, and the package is valid for 10 minutes. How it works →
06 · Sites and access
Twenty tablets are not twenty rows.
Devices are grouped by company and site. Somebody running three restaurants does not read one long list — they see three sites, and which one has gone quiet.
A customer can be given access to their own devices only, at one of three levels: from a view that changes nothing, up to full control including restart and update.
07 · Device owner
The difference between "shouldn't leave" and "can't leave".
Kioskbase works either way. What changes is how firmly it holds — and how much it can tell you about itself.
| Without device owner | As device owner | |
|---|---|---|
| Lock | held by the launcher role | system Lock Task |
| Home and Overview | work, Kioskbase returns | do not work at all |
| Status bar | can be pulled down | blocked |
| Uninstalling | possible from settings | not possible |
| MAC address and Wi-Fi name | empty | reported |
| Silent update | needs a tap on the tablet | no prompt |
| Telemetry and commands | work | work |
Device owner has to be enabled while the tablet is still new. Android makes this deliberately hard: the device must be factory reset with not a single account added, Google included. On a tablet somebody has already set up, it means wiping it and starting again.
08 · Limits
What Kioskbase cannot do.
- It cannot lock an iPad or iPhone by itself. Apple allows no app to do that. The Kioskbase app on the iPad keeps the address, the pairing and the sign-in backups, but the lock is Guided Access on the device or mobile device management. And a new app version is installed at the device for now, not remotely.
- On a tablet with a Google account signed in, a new version will not install itself. Android will not hand full management to an app on such a device — you can still push the update remotely, but someone at the tablet has to tap Install. That is why fleet tablets are set up without a Google account: from then on, nobody has to look after them.
- Even in full management we do not promise a hundred percent “hands-off”. A manufacturer's protection or Play Protect may still ask. Kioskbase does not guess — it reports the installer's answer back, so you can see what actually happened.
- It cannot see the Android screen. Screenshots cover the app window only. To see the whole device you launch the remote desktop.
- It cannot make itself the home screen. Android leaves that choice to the person holding the tablet, on purpose.
09 · Deployment modes
Three situations Kioskbase runs in.
Not every tablet can be prepared the same way. Kioskbase works in three modes — they differ in how much can be done without a person at the device.
Recommended for client sites. Kioskbase is the Android device owner — set with one USB command on a factory-reset tablet with no Google account added.
| Lock | system Lock Task — a hard lock; it takes the home-screen role and gives it back on unlock |
| Updates | installs itself — nobody walks to the tablet; the result is reported back |
| Tablet reboot | yes, remotely — the whole device, not just the app |
| Uninstalling | not possible until ownership is revoked from the admin |
| After a power cut | the kiosk comes back up and locks itself |
Even with device owner, silence is not guaranteed every time — a manufacturer's protection or Play Protect may still prompt. Kioskbase does not guess: it reports what actually happened.
When device owner is not possible — a tablet with a Google account added cannot have one, for example. Kioskbase still runs; some things just need a person.
| Lock | held by being the home screen — weaker, but functional |
| Updates | pushed remotely, the install is confirmed by a person on the tablet |
| Restart | of the app, yes; of the whole tablet, no — that needs device owner |
| Uninstalling | possible, as with any ordinary app |
| Telemetry and diagnostics | full — reporting and commands work the same |
No Kioskbase — just the tablet's browser. This is how most terminals run before they get Kioskbase. We list it honestly as a comparison, not as a mode we sell.
| Lock | none — full screen can be escaped, the address bar is within reach |
| Updates and restart | in person at the device only |
| Diagnostics and telemetry | none — "it doesn't work" means getting in the car |
| Window screenshot | none |
The difference between this column and the two above is exactly why Kioskbase exists.
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