Data exchange between apps broken in multi-app kiosk mode

Petofi
Level 1.5: Cupcake

I am provisioning a fleet of fully managed devices (running Android 10) via AMAPI, and due to our specific use-case, I'd prefer to set them up in multi-app Kiosk mode. However, while I was evaluating Kiosk mode, I noticed something strange: data exchange between apps seems to be broken.
Example #1: User scans a QR code containing a website URL, and taps "open link" in the QR scanner app -> Chrome opens, but does not attempt to open the website, it just shows the last opened pages.
Example #2: User searches for an address via google.com in Chrome. Then taps on the map thumbnail in the  search results. Google Maps opens, but the Google Places details are not shown, GMaps just displays the last location.

I tested (separately, of course) both the built-in Kiosk launcher (via KioskCustomLauncherEnabled=true) and a 3rd party one (via InstallType=KIOSK), and in both cases the outcome was the same.

As soon as I disable Kiosk mode in the test policy (while leaving all other parameters intact), data sharing starts working normally. As soon as I reenable Kiosk mode, the shared data no longer reaches its destination.
Am I missing something here? Is this some kind of deliberate limitation in Kiosk mode? Is there a solution or workaround?
Might be related (?): Share Photos inside Android KIOSK between Google Photos & any other email client 

2 REPLIES 2

ReeceK
Google Community Team

Hey @Petofi 

 

Hope you are well?

It seems you are doing the correct steps, let me confirm with my internal teams to get a better understanding on this issue and I will report back to you here. 

 

Thanks,

Reece

ReeceK
Google Community Team

Hey @Petofi 

 

How are you? 

I was able to get an update from a colleague 

 

They said the following: 

 

It seems the issue might be related to restricted URLs or site destinations, possibly due to conflicting policies when enabling Kiosk Mode or Multi-app Mode. Check the active profiles applied to the device after enabling Kiosk Mode and review any blacklisted or denylisted websites. If using the Google Chrome restrictions profile, check the denylist for blocked web URLs. Consider allowing access to all URLs/sites on the device to test if this resolves the issue with accessing scanned sites via QR codes. Additionally, if using an EMM/MDM, I'd like to know which one is used to enable multi-app kiosk mode. Regarding the QR Scanner app, is this a third party app? can you please share the app ID to understand if enabling the Native Camera and Gallery app is necessary alongside it.

 

Hopefully this helps, let me know if you need further support. 

 

Thanks,
Reece