Is there a way for schools and businesses to replace the iPad "app launcher" or "home screen" with a customized alternative?
Could an application be developed for iOS that would allow this? Or is the SDK locked down to prevent such an application from being developed.
All pointers and insights greatly appreciated.
You can change the load screen, from the dark black to an image ,but no you can't change the layout of the app menu on the iOSDevice. At least not without jail-braking. This is because apple doesn't want you editing their menu that gives them a nice clean look, or see their software.
The app-launcher is not part of the app, it's different even though it's still mainly made with cocoa in objective c, it's still not accessible by you, legally. So since I frown upon jailbraking, and I'm pretty sure most developers do, I would advise to focus on your app, not the main menu which already works great.
Check out ana App launcher definition here.
The sdk is completely locked down, but you could still make a big app, like an app box that has multiple apps inside. The application could be web-based, allowing more access without updating the app, meaning no waiting for apple to approve an update.
One more alternative is that you could make custom apps that are free, and easy for the students or whoever to download them, but they would require a student password to unlock.
Don't edit an OS, it could do serious damage to the device software forever.
Related
I'm creating a keyboard application in iOS. The usage of this application will be very specific:
1. From the text messaging application
2. From the browser, when I hit 'Share'
So, the app itself won't do anything from the menu. My question is, do we absolutely have to need to have an icon in the menu, or can I not have one? I had an icon and only displayed the company logo, but when I submitted it to Apple, they responded saying it doesn't give good user experience and rejected it.
I have seen similar questions, but these were from way back in 2012-14. I am wondering if something has changed (I'm a novice dev, this is literally my first time doing iOS).
i want to release an iPad application to app store. in my application on dashboard there are six buttons and on tap they open six different screens. but among them one is disabled. User is unable to do anything with it. We just kept it in the app as we are going to implement that feature in the next version. is that fine? is there any chances that my app will get reject by app store guys because of this.
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
As per my experience Apple will Reject your application saying that either you have to implement that functionality or you have to remove that disabled button.
it may be rejected based on AppStore Review Guideline:
2.9 Apps that are "demo", "trial", or "test" versions will be rejected. Beta Apps may only be submitted through TestFlight and must follow the TestFlight guidelines
it would be more reasonable to implement the functionality; or not showing such features which are not part of the application at all – none of those cases cause rejection.
Why don't you add like a simple alertView saying « This feature will be available in the next version, stay tuned ! » or something ? Would be a way better UX overall. Either that, or hide the button for now. Either way, don't let a button do nothing with no user feedback, this sounds terrible.
I don't think app store will reject your iPad application. You should use rather web view control(in Android) in which you can show any web page or something like that, if you want to provide the facility that after installation of your app, uses can get the updated details from it. Just give it a thought.
I am currently developing an ios app for a localization company. The company provides ipads to all his employees so this new app that i'm developing can keep track of them (in case of an emergency and to know if they are really working).
I already finished the app and everything is working fine but now the problem is that anyone can close the app and "hide" his position from us.
It is possible to do something about this?
Also it is possible to start an app on boot. Something like this but on Ios.
Is there anyway to "lock" the app so it can't be closed and only sent to background?
Thanks
EDIT
I tried with the guided access but the employees also need to use other apps (like safari) to do their work. Not only mine. I tried this and effectively you can't close the app but also you can't access other app. Or am I doing it wrong? I want to allow my app to be in background but not close. Sorry if i did not explain myself well.
Many duplicates of this...
Settings - General - Accessibility - Guided Access.
Turn it on and you can limit what the iPad can do.
You can also stop it from closing apps.
At the office where I work we are trying to deploy iPads. We now have 16 iPads all around the company and we use Sophos Mobile Control to monitor and manage those iPads.
However, we found out this is not enough. Everytime I come across an iPad given to an employee, he changed things to the device or the software. Although we do have policies for that, the iPads are NOT covered by a BYOD-policy that would allow such things within the company.
After a lot of desperate tries to disable all sorts of things in the iPad (from trying to disable the Settings App to using a "sort-of" kiosk mode using one app) all solutions I came to didn't fit the whole need for clean devices.
When trying to disable settings, you just can't disable everything, and things like backgrounds etc. are still changeable by the employee. We don't want this since this iPad is kind of like a trademark for our company - we try to maintain a steady pace in developing and implementing new devices and ways to get the job done - and clients must in no way be confronted by the unprofessional backgrounds set on the iPads by those employees.
Whenever things are possible, people will try to (ab)use it. I want to have the control over what apps, settings and web pages can be viewed/used by the iPad users. Is there any way for us to change the way iPads secure themselves?
I think you are after the "apple enterprise configurator"
http://www.apple.com/support/ipad/enterprise/
I've not used it but it sounds like the (only) option.
http://help.apple.com/configurator/mac/1.2/
Have you tried the guided access? I'm not that familiar with it, so it could be that this is just meant for temporary sessions. I understand the employees have longer access to the device?
iOS: About Guided Access
Another option would be to lock the iPad into a single app. I wrote a blog post on this earlier. It worked for iOS 5, not sure about iOS 6. Though the enterprise configuratior might have options to enable this too:
Kiosk mode for iOS
A client of mine recently came up with a few apps he came across while browsing online. Specifically, he discovered that there are apps that call themselves 'screensavers', and now he wants me to make him a screensaver app.
The obvious problem is that I don't know of any way to make my app open (displacing whatever is in the background) based on a lack of user input in another app! In fact, I would have sworn that it was completely impossible to do so.
So, to wrap up the question -- is it possible to make such an app, and if so how? Or are those apps really, really, badly labeled?
I just tested 3 of the top "screen-saver" applications on my iPad. None of these can turn themselves on, without the user launching them. They are really badly labeled products. In a non-jailbroken device, launching the screensaver application without user interaction is not possible.
Cydia Screensaver Application for Jailbroken devices.
You're correct -- it isn't possible to open an app with no user interaction with a stock device, although there are jailbroken packages that will complete a task similar to this.
You should explain to your client that these "screensaver" apps usually gimmick the reader into downloading them as if they function as do screen savers on personal computers.