How to Disable iPad/iPhone Home Button (Kiosk/Store Demo Mode)

February 25, 2012

How to Disable iPad/iPhone Home Button (Kiosk/Store Demo Mode)

A client that I have asked if it was possible to disable the home button for an app that I am currently developing and I decided to tackle the challenge. All it really requires is a correctly configured mobile configuration plist. Now, a lot of people are probably quickly opening the iPhone Configuration Utility to try and figure out how to do this, but for some reason Apple didn’t put the keys required to disable the home button inside IPCU at all! IPCU can’t even install it on the device because of it.

I have included an example plist that will disable the home button and lock your device into the app. If you would like to just test this mobile config without making your own, feel free to use one I have created and uploaded by clicking here.

BEWARE
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.

You must reboot(power off, power on) the device after installing the profile for the changes to take effect. To remove the profile from the device, you must plug the device into IPCU and delete it, then reboot the device. Everything should go back to normal.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>PayloadContent</key>
    <array>
        <dict>
            <key>PayloadDescription</key>
            <string>Disables the home button.</string>
            <key>PayloadDisplayName</key>
            <string>Home Button Lock</string>
            <key>PayloadIdentifier</key>
            <string>com.zchristopoulos.kiosk</string>
            <key>PayloadOrganization</key>
            <string>Zachary Christopoulos</string>
            <key>PayloadType</key>
            <string>com.apple.defaults.managed</string>
            <key>PayloadUUID</key>
            <string>B2D02E2D-BAC5-431B-8A29-4B91F71C9FC1</string>
            <key>PayloadVersion</key>
            <integer>1</integer>
            <key>PayloadContent</key>
            <array>
                <dict>
                    <key>DefaultsDomainName</key>
                    <string>com.apple.springboard</string>
                    <key>DefaultsData</key>
                    <dict>
                    <key>SBStoreDemoAppLock</key>
                    <true/>
                    </dict>
                </dict>
            </array>
        </dict>
    </array>
    <key>PayloadDescription</key>
    <string>Disables Home Button</string>
    <key>PayloadDisplayName</key>
    <string>Home Button Lock</string>
    <key>PayloadIdentifier</key>
    <string>com.zchristopoulos.hbkill</string>
    <key>PayloadOrganization</key>
    <string>Zachary Christopoulos</string>
    <key>PayloadType</key>
    <string>Configuration</string>
    <key>PayloadUUID</key>
    <string>614D1FE3-F80D-4643-AF6B-D10C4CC8737A</string>
    <key>PayloadVersion</key>
    <integer>1</integer>
</dict>
</plist>

Comments

Rob said on February 26, 2012 at 5:36 pm:

Can a general user do anything with this “plist”, or can this only be utilized by someone writing iOS apps?
Reply ↓
- Zachary Christopoulos said on February 27, 2012 at 11:42 pm:
  
  It can be utilized by anybody, but the only thing it does is disable the homebutton once an app opens.
  Reply ↓
- nickganga said on February 27, 2012 at 11:43 pm:
  
  It can be used by anyone. I installed it by opening it from an email attachment. Using the iPCU doesn’t allow you to load it as it strips the unauthorized config info.
  Reply ↓
nickganga said on February 27, 2012 at 11:12 pm:

Holy Crap! How did you find this?! I’ve been trying to sneak this info out of the Apple store kiosks forever!!!
Reply ↓
Cocoanetics said on February 29, 2012 at 6:48 am:

You can also remove the profile via the Settings app once you don’t need it any more.
Reply ↓
- Zachary Christopoulos said on March 4, 2012 at 9:07 am:
  
  Are you sure?
  Reply ↓
  - Jon said on April 3, 2012 at 8:03 am:
    
    Yep – deleting the profile from Settings.app and rebooting worked for me.
    Reply ↓
lws said on March 3, 2012 at 12:37 am:

What’s left to discover is a way to make the iPad automatically run the desired kiosk app to prevent the users from unlocking by simply restarting the iPad.
Reply ↓
- Zachary Christopoulos said on March 4, 2012 at 9:09 am:
  
  Apple doesn’t even know how to do that yet haha.
  Reply ↓
Ryan Smale said on March 3, 2012 at 3:32 am:

Another method for removing it is just restart again and enter into the settings app > general > profiles
Reply ↓
- Zachary Christopoulos said on March 4, 2012 at 9:09 am:
  
  Are you sure??
  Reply ↓
  - Luis Placid said on March 29, 2012 at 3:23 pm:
    
    Pretty sure. Just did it actually. Added a bit more to the file too so it blocks it with a password thus increasing removal difficulty.
    
    Here is the code if you want
    
    PayloadContent
    
    PayloadDescription
    Disables Home Button of the device and sets it Demo mode
    PayloadDisplayName
    Home Button Lock
    PayloadIdentifier
    com.example.myorganization
    PayloadOrganization
    MY ORG.
    PayloadType
    com.apple.defaults.managed
    PayloadUUID
    0733DC5D-1839-42DF-A743-30F06C962E9A
    PayloadVersion
    1
    PayloadContent
    
    DefaultsDomainName
    com.apple.springboard
    DefaultsData
    
    SBStoreDemoAppLock
    
    PayloadDescription
    Configures Configuration Profile security
    PayloadDisplayName
    Profile Security
    PayloadIdentifier
    com.example.myorganization.ProfileSecurity
    PayloadOrganization
    MY ORG.
    PayloadType
    com.apple.profileRemovalPassword
    PayloadUUID
    C99D3C33-5482-457C-8EFD-B58B272BC48A
    PayloadVersion
    1
    RemovalPassword
    PASSWORD
    
    PayloadDescription
    Disables Home Button of the device and sets it Demo mode
    PayloadDisplayName
    Home Button Lock
    PayloadIdentifier
    com.example.myorganization
    PayloadOrganization
    MY ORG
    PayloadRemovalDisallowed
    
    PayloadType
    Configuration
    PayloadUUID
    71904253-0B19-493A-86D2-D8EF05C65E39
    PayloadVersion
    1
    Reply ↓
    - Luis Placid said on March 29, 2012 at 3:25 pm:
      
      And I guess this is not using standard code flags.
      
      Anyways its not really that hard to figure out based on the code on the post so a little puzzle?
      Reply ↓
- Jeffrey said on May 7, 2012 at 5:57 pm:
  
  He is right. You have to restart the phone after removing the profile, but it works.
  Reply ↓
Shawn said on March 4, 2012 at 8:58 am:

interesting, what version of ipcu were you using. I have 3.4 and it insists on stripping that key upon import and then fails to install on the device
Reply ↓
- Zachary Christopoulos said on March 4, 2012 at 9:11 am:
  
  IPCU does strip it because it doesn’t know the keys used to disable the home button.
  Reply ↓
Jorge Escala said on March 30, 2012 at 5:38 am:

This makes me wonder what other hidden tricks are possible through profiles. The options available though iPCU are a bit limited. How did you discover this? Maybe your methods could be used to discover other undocumented configuration options.
Reply ↓
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Daniel said on April 26, 2012 at 9:10 am:

Thank you! You´re great!
I´ve searched for something like that for weeks.
And I think it can really be used by anyone.
Reply ↓
Tudor said on May 15, 2012 at 5:51 am:

Great, this worked like a charm. Thank you so much for this, will be very handy for an app I’m building for an upcoming exhibition.
Reply ↓
Caio Henrique said on May 16, 2012 at 10:00 am:

thank you very much man..
Reply ↓
Thorsten Jekel said on May 17, 2012 at 6:53 am:

This works perfectly. Thank you very much for the hint!
Best regards
Thorsten
Reply ↓
Eddie said on May 22, 2012 at 6:16 am:

This is great! I’d love to know how you figured this out, but I’m just as happy knowing that I can repeat it on my own device. Excellent find.
Reply ↓
Duy Nguyen said on May 28, 2012 at 1:28 am:

Hey Zach,

Thank you very much for this.

Regards,
Duy
Reply ↓
Simon said on June 6, 2012 at 7:10 am:

great work, thanks – helps me a lot!

regards
simon
Reply ↓
Fin said on June 14, 2012 at 1:53 pm:

You could wait till iOS 6 comes out and use the new dissableing feature on there. I think it’s called Guided Access!
Hope this helps!
PS. iOS 6 comes out “This Fall”.
Reply ↓
- Rob said on June 27, 2012 at 1:33 pm:
  
  The “downside” to the Guided Access feature is that the home button has the triple click on-off bit. I have iPads installed in a museum, and I know if I use the Guided Access feature instead of the trick listed on this site (which may get deprecated with iOS 6), our guests will be endlessly trying to guess the password. I don’t want the little password prompt to be sitting on the screen when another guest comes along. There are iPad frames which completely block access to the physical button, but that’s out of budget at this time for us.
  Reply ↓
Chris said on July 18, 2012 at 1:04 pm:

OK – Dumb question. What is iPCU?
Reply ↓
- Zachary Christopoulos said on July 22, 2012 at 9:21 am:
  
  iPhone Configuration Utility.
  Reply ↓
Nghia said on July 28, 2012 at 11:23 pm:

Thank you.
Reply ↓
Tom H said on July 30, 2012 at 6:30 am:

Awesome. I am deploying multiple iPads for a Audio/Video control system in a place of business, and was thinking I was going to have to rig a bracket to cover the home button. Makes me look like I know what I’m doing now!

Thanks!
Reply ↓
JackS said on August 2, 2012 at 5:45 pm:

I agree with all the positive comments above.
Seems to work perfectly as described. Totally easy install. Overall impressive.
Using it with iOS 5.1.1
Reply ↓
ThruxtonChick said on December 5, 2012 at 1:15 pm:

Maybe you can help me from the other side of this issue. We purchased a couple of iPads at a business liquidation auction and they said they were from a retail establishment that locked the iPads to one app. They said just do a full restore and it will wipe them for our use.

Ugh – I figured out how to do the full restore (hold the home button while connecting to the USB until the connect to itunes screen comes up, etc.) and all I get is an error “This iPad is supervised by another computer and cannot be used on this computer”.

I can’t get past that to do the wipe and restore that is supposed to reset it. Any suggestions?!?
Reply ↓
- Zachary Christopoulos said on February 17, 2013 at 1:11 am:
  
  You are going to want to put the iPad into DFU mode http://lmgtfy.com/?q=dfu+mode+ipad and plug it into USB. That should let you restore.
  Reply ↓
AJ said on December 11, 2012 at 11:30 pm:

It asks for a 4-digit password to install the profile you posted
Reply ↓
- Zachary Christopoulos said on February 17, 2013 at 1:12 am:
  
  Installing profiles require this.
  Reply ↓