Profile: Single App Lock

The "Single App Lock" profile locks a supervised iOS or tvOS device into a single app, preventing the device user from exiting to the home screen or opening any other app. This is commonly used for kiosk devices, testing stations, and shared devices with a dedicated purpose.

Apple documentation for this feature is available here.

To create a Single App Lock profile:

1. Make sure the target devices are running iOS or tvOS and are supervised.
2. Go to Configs > Profiles and click "Create Profile".
3. From the list, select "Single App Lock".
4. Choose a lock mode and configure the app and options as desired.
5. Assign the configuration to your devices/groups.

Single App Lock settings explained

Single App Lock supports two lock modes. Only one can be used per profile.

• Single App Mode (SAM): Locks the device to one app, selected from installed apps, apps in the SimpleMDM app catalog, or one of the built-in native apps (Clock or Safari). While in SAM, additional accessibility and hardware restrictions can be configured:

  • Enable and disable functionality on the device: Forces the following features on or off for the duration of the lock, regardless of the device user's own settings:
    • Voice Over, Zoom, Invert Colors, AssistiveTouch, Speak Selection, Mono Audio, Voice Control: Enable the corresponding accessibility feature while the app lock is active.
    • Disable Touch: Disables the touch screen.
    • Disable Device Rotation: Prevents the screen from rotating.
    • Disable Volume Buttons: Disables the physical volume buttons.
    • Disable Ringer Switch: Disables the ringer/mute switch.
    • Disable Sleep/Wake Button: Disables the physical sleep/wake (side/top) button.
    • Disable Auto-Lock: Prevents the device from automatically locking/sleeping due to inactivity.
  • Allow the user to toggle the following functionality: Rather than forcing a feature on, these options let the device user turn the listed accessibility feature on or off themselves while the app lock is active: Voice Over, Zoom, Invert Colors, AssistiveTouch, Voice Control.

  Note: If a Single App Mode profile is updated to point to a different app, SimpleMDM automatically replaces the previous app lock profile so the new app can take effect — you don't need to manually remove the old profile first.

• Autonomous Single App Mode (ASAM): Rather than locking the device from the MDM side, ASAM permits one or more specific apps to put themselves into single app mode from within the app itself (commonly used by kiosk and point-of-sale apps that manage their own lock/unlock behavior). Configure this with:

  • Permitted app identifiers: A comma-separated list of bundle identifiers for the apps allowed to invoke autonomous single app mode on the device. Multiple app identifiers can be listed, separated by commas.

  Note: The accessibility and hardware restriction options available under Single App Mode do not apply to Autonomous Single App Mode — those behaviors are instead controlled by the app itself.