How to remove a device from Kiosk Mode?

Description

Kiosk Mode is an advanced security feature that enables IT admin to allow/restrict users to one or a few preselected apps. This helps in device management by locking down the device to a single app or the chosen apps. This will also prevent the user from accessing any other feature of the device.

Problems arise when the device locked into Kiosk Mode loses contact with the MDM server and needs to be removed from it. This can happen because of various reasons such as faulty internet connections or incorrect wifi configurations. Since there is no contact to the MDM server, the server cannot be used to revoke Kiosk Mode from the devices. Follow the steps given below to remove the device from Kiosk Mode manually.

1. iOS devices
2. Android devices

Steps

iOS devices

Follow the steps given below to remove an iOS device from kiosk mode:

NOTE: This method can be used only if the device was enrolled using Apple Configurator, since the device has already enabled trust for that machine.

1. Connect iOS devices to the Mac machine, which was used to enroll the device, using a USB cable.
2. Open Apple Configurator on the machine.
3. The connected device will be listed out. Control-click the device name and click Remove and select Profiles.
4. Select MDM profile and delete it.

Once the profile is removed the device will be unmanaged but retain the data present in it, you can re-enroll the device using either self enrollment or invites to manage the device with supervision. 

NOTE: In case you have applied profiles on the device that restrict the device from connecting to other devices, then the device has to be reset by putting it in Recovery Mode.

Android devices

For Android devices, the device can be removed from Kiosk Mode by following these steps.

1. A Revoke Administration password is to be set on the server. Follow the steps to find the Revoke Administration password.
2. If the device is running a single app kiosk, tap the home button 4 times.
3. If the device is running multi-app kiosk, tap the back button or the top of the screen 4 times
4. Once this is done, the user will be prompted to enter the Revoke Administration password.

Upon entering the correct password Kiosk Mode will be temporarily disabled on the device.