What people ask most often.

How do I lock an Android tablet to a single app?

Android offers screen pinning, but a user can cancel it by holding two buttons. A tablet is only locked for good by a kiosk app that is the device owner and uses the system Lock Task mode. Home and Overview then stop working, the status bar cannot be pulled down, and the app cannot be uninstalled.

Without device owner, a kiosk holds the tablet by being set as the home screen. That is enough on your own premises — at a customer site the difference between "shouldn't leave" and "can't leave" matters.

What is device owner on Android and why does it matter?

Device owner is an app to which Android hands management of the whole device. It is enabled with a single command over USB, and only on a factory-reset tablet with no account added, Google included. Device owner is what makes the lock system-level, lets updates install without a prompt, and gives the app access to the real MAC address.

Android makes this hard on purpose — otherwise any app could lock somebody else's phone. That is why it is worth doing while the units are still new; on a tablet somebody has already set up, it means wiping it first.

Can an Android tablet be updated remotely without confirmation?

Yes, but only on a device-owner tablet. A factory-reset tablet where the kiosk app is device owner installs a new version silently, with nobody standing next to it. A phone with a Google account added never can, because such a device cannot have a device owner at all.

Even with device owner, silence is not guaranteed: a manufacturer's protection or Play Protect may still ask. Kioskbase does not guess — it captures the system installer's response and sends it back, so the device card shows whether the update really went through quietly.

How do I find a tablet's IP address on someone else's network?

The device reports it itself. Kioskbase sends its IP address, MAC address, Wi-Fi name and gateway every five minutes, so they can be read in a browser without anyone reaching the tablet. On the device there is also a button that copies those details to the clipboard for the network administrator.

The MAC address is a special case: since Android 6 it is hidden from ordinary apps, and since Android 10 it is randomised per network. The real MAC is therefore only visible on a device-owner tablet.

How do I restart a tablet I cannot reach?

With a command from the browser console. You can restart the app alone or the whole tablet; restarting the whole device requires the app to be device owner. The command is acknowledged to the server before it runs, otherwise the device would find it again after booting and restart in a loop.

Why does the terminal not load the page when the network works?

Usually because the network allows port 443 but breaks encryption. It is typically a corporate appliance that unwraps the connection with its own certificate; the kiosk does not trust it and refuses to load the page. The second common cause is a drifting clock on the tablet, which makes certificate validation fail.

That is exactly why Kioskbase runs diagnostics in the order DNS → port 443 → TLS handshake → actual server response, remotely as well as on the device. Clock drift is reported by telemetry, so it shows up before it starts causing trouble.

Can an administrator see what is on the tablet's screen?

No. A remote screenshot captures the kiosk app's own window, meaning the page being displayed. It cannot see the Android screen, other apps or notifications, and cannot be reconfigured to. Seeing the whole device requires launching the remote desktop, which is visible on the tablet too.

The same boundary applies to telemetry: it reports the state of the device and its network, never location, screen contents or anything attributable to a particular person.

Does kiosk mode work on an iPad?

Not the way it does on Android. Apple allows no app to lock an iPad into itself. iPad kiosk mode is enabled either by hand through Guided Access on the device, or through mobile device management, which requires supervised devices and Apple Business Manager. An app cannot solve it.

Which firewall ports does a kiosk tablet need?

The device listens on no port at all; it only needs outbound connections. There are three: 443/tcp for HTTPS, which carries both the page and the status reports, 53 for DNS, and 123 for accurate time. Without accurate time, certificate validation fails and the page will not load.

When a network administrator asks "which port does the tablet listen on", they usually mean something else: they need to know where the device connects out to. Those three lines are the answer.

What happens to the tablet after a power cut?

The kiosk starts itself once the tablet boots and returns to its address. Nobody has to unlock the device or tap anything. The same applies when the page renderer crashes: the app catches it and recovers, so the terminal is never left showing a black screen.

How much does Kioskbase cost?

Between €1.50 and €3.00 per device per month, depending on fleet size: €3.00 for 1 to 5 devices, €2.40 for 6 to 20, €2.00 for 21 to 50, €1.70 for 51 to 150, and €1.50 for 151 and above. A year costs ten months, so two are free.

For comparison: one drive out to a tablet a hundred kilometres away costs around €80 once running costs are counted. That is three years of one device in the most expensive band. Full pricing.

How long does it take to deploy one tablet?

One value is entered on the tablet: a six-digit code. Address, allowed domains, purpose and mode arrive from the server on first contact and are changed in the same place. The only slower part is enabling device owner, which needs a factory-reset tablet and one command over USB.

What happens when the terminal gets signed out?

The sign-in is restored from a backup, with one tap or automatically. Kioskbase backs the signed-in state up on its own and on demand under a name you choose. The contents of a backup never leave the device; only names and dates are sent to the server.

Can a customer see their own devices?

Yes, and only their own. Devices are grouped by company and site, and a customer can be granted access to their units alone, at one of three levels: from a view that changes nothing, up to full control including restart and update.