how do i prevent my users from deleting MP3 files from iPod

Question

My app uses MP3s from the users library on the iPod. (To be specific: the app is used as an audioguide. A QR-code codes for a track number in the library. User scans QR, iPod plays the selected track. IPods are managed by the museum.)

But users can easily delete tracks from the Music.app (swipe in playlist, Delete). How do I prevent the users from deleting the audiofiles?

I searched for a setting in Restrictions (and internet), but there seems to be no setting that prevents a user from deleting music files. (Preventing a user from opening Music.app would also work in our case.)

Thanks in advance!

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 01 '12 at 14:03

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You cannot affect the behavior in Music.app. Consider storing the songs where Music.app cannot access it.

answered Mar 01 '12 at 14:03

Raptor

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score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 01 '12 at 14:13

If you were willing to jailbreak your iPods then there are various kiosk mode solutions you could employ that would keep your app as the only one running and stop the user doing anything but running your app.

I think if you have an enterprise developer level subscription then you may be able to use a kiosk mode without jail-breaking . However that is more of a guess from things I have read that alluded to it, but didn't say anything explicit.

The alternative would be to keep the mp3's in the App itself.

But I would expect that your user experience is to have your App running at all times and turn the iPod into a dedicated device, so jail-breaking may actually be your best bet in this case.

score 0 · Answer 3 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:48

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Counterquestion: How do you prevent your users from deleting your app?

I think for your solution to be safe against digital vandalism, you need to consider packing the devices into some sort of case which will prevent the users from pushing physical buttons.

Or jailbreak the devices and modify / lock the buttons behaviour.

Edit: It appears like there is a pretty easy way to put iDevices into some sort of kiosk mode, no jailbreaking required.

See this SO answer.

edited May 23 '17 at 11:48

Community

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answered Mar 01 '12 at 14:14

Toastor

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@Toaster the only thing that concerns me from that solution is "Once this profile is installed the first app that is launched when the device is rebooted will be the only app that will run **until you reboot the device again**." For 99% of users this will be OK .. its those damn 1%'ers that you have to look out for. – Peter M Mar 01 '12 at 14:28

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Mar 01 '12 at 14:17

The easiest non-jailbreaking solution is to include the audio files as resources inside your app. Since this isn't an app that you need to keep under 20MB it shouldn't be a problem.

However, then you need to consider how to prevent them from deleting your app.

how do i prevent my users from deleting MP3 files from iPod

4 Answers4