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I am currently prototyping an iOS iPad app for my company. Before I go in the details of what I am trying to do, this will be an enterprise app deployed by a local MDM. All the iPads that will have the app installed are supervised with a mobile config that allows the app to be in autonomous single app mode. So far, everything is working fine. The iPads are not (and cannot) be jailbroken.

I am looking for a way to basically switch the app to the foreground whenever the iPad is unlocked. I am aware of this thread (ios open app after screen unlock) from 2013, and I am hoping that 5 years later a solution has popped-up. Since our app is an enterprise app, it does not have to respect the app store requirements. I can successfully detect lock events if the app is opened when the device is locked, but when the app is not in the foreground, I would need it to be awaken from an iPad event.

The basic idea is that whenever the iPad would be unlocked, the app would freeze the iPad in single app mode, and the user need to perform some action inside the app to "reenable" the iPad and disable single app mode. If a user can re-lock the iPad and bypass the app (even if he successfully accessed it once) it's a no-go for us.

Edit

I am trying to awake the app after the unlock of the device. Basically once the iPads is unlocked (after pressing the home button) the app would be started automatically.

Samuel Yvon
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1 Answers1

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That is a loaded question but you could lock the ipad to only use one application with "Guided Access" There is a walkthrough here.

Here are the first steps:

  1. Open “Settings”

  2. Go to “General” > “Accessibility”

  3. Tap on “Guided Access” (Scroll down the page a little, it’s under the “Learning” section)

  4. Flip the switch to “ON”

  5. Tap on “Set Passcode” (this will prevent users from leaving “Guided Access” mode)

  6. Enter a passcode

  7. Launch your App

  8. With your app still open, triple-click the Home button

Jake
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  • I think the OP is looking for some way to enable/disable guided access from application code. (Which I don't believe is possible.) –  Mar 22 '18 at 22:15
  • I’m not sure it is without overriding the functionality of the device... I mean I’ve seen it done. Back when Uber issued phones to its drivers they did that. – Jake Mar 23 '18 at 01:05
  • I can enable guided access from the app code. This is the easy part, but waking the app when the iPad is unlocked is what I am trying to achieve. – Samuel Yvon Mar 23 '18 at 20:12
  • So I don't have an exact answer for you but I found a possible work around. You can have your app ask for a location update when it's in the background and it will reopen the application. IDK if there is another way to do this but so far that is what I've found. There is an answer that describes it [here](https://stackoverflow.com/a/36194283/9333764) – Jake Mar 23 '18 at 22:30
  • are you using an mdm? – Jake Mar 25 '18 at 13:54
  • @Jake Yes I am, using JAMF if that matters – Samuel Yvon Mar 28 '18 at 20:45
  • It may not matter, I was reading through [this answer](https://stackoverflow.com/a/27560356/9333764) an a couple of others on that thread and thought it may be what you're looking for. – Jake Mar 29 '18 at 18:53
  • Between the MDM supervision and the waking the app from closed status using location services I think you should be able to make it launch on unlock. – Jake Mar 29 '18 at 18:57
  • Hi @samuel. I came across this doe similar research and I wondered did you ever solve ? – Ben Jun 20 '21 at 02:10