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bobbygill asked Jacob Abrams answered

Is it possible to create a Clover app that operates in kiosk mode?

We are interested in building a Clover app however one of the requirements is that it would provide end-user self service functionality and we are wondering if it is possible to create a Clover app that will in essence operate in kiosk mode? Meaning that when the app is active that is the only app available visible to be running on the Clover device and the user isn't able to switch out of it and open anything else. Is this possible with the Clover SDK?

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davecutts avatar image davecutts commented ·

Just wondering if you had any answers on this one?

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davecutts answered

Just wondering if you had any answers on this one?

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bobbygill answered

Dave, we are looking into using the Kiosk app that is already in the Clover Market:

Order Kiosk by Abreeze Technology

https://www.clover.com/appmarket/apps...

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Jacob Abrams answered
We have a feature called customer mode ( CustomerMode.java) in our clover-android-sdk which allows your app to take up the full screen and disables the ability for the operator of the device to escape the app using typical gestures. However even when this mode is enabled in some cases other screens could appear over your app such as notifications or activities started by services running the background. The user could thus escape customer mode in certain circumstances. Customer mode was intended for customers to use the device for short interactions such as signing their name or choosing tips, it was not really meant to be enabled for extended lengths of time.

Android 5.0 offers screen pinning https://developer.android.com/about/versions/andro... which will prevent notifications from appearing and not allow other activities to launch. If the app is not locked via a device admin app it can be exited using gestures on the navigation bar. When an app goes into pinning mode it warns the user and allows them to cancel. However if a device admin app starts the pinning there is no way for the user to exit at all. Remember that our devices reboot every day and thus would need to manually be re-entered into screen pinning unless you also develop a device admin app if you didn't want merchants to have to do that.

Currently (as of Summer 2018) Clover Station and Clover Mini/Mobile are running Android versions less than 5.0, so that makes screen pinning much less useful as Clover Mini is currently our most popular device.
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